The US special envoy to Syria and ambassador to Turkey on Sunday attempted to walk back his comments from two days ago that Israel “still” occupies the Golan Heights, in violation of UN resolutions, remarks that went against US President Donald Trump’s position on the disputed territory.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed it in 1981. The UN considers the territory occupied Syrian land.
In 2019, Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over the territory, reversing decades of US policy. That recognition was maintained by the Biden administration.
Ambassador Tom Barrack said in a Friday interview with Lebanese-Australian entrepreneur Mario Nawfal that “in the Golan, with Syria, they still occupy the Golan against the UN resolutions, against all the international order, which has said the Golan is Syria’s.”
Barrack claimed that was a description of the territory’s historical status, “not an endorsement of the United Nations’ position” on the Golan.
