Israel Attempts to Legitimize 'Annexation' of Golan Heights - Hezbollah

Israel is using the chaos created by the Syrian conflict to legitimize its annexation of the Golan Heights, head of Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said on Sunday.

“We… know well how Netanyahu put a great deal of effort with the American leadership and Western governments in the past years and still does till today, to obtain international recognition of Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights under the excuse of the Syrian conflict,” Nasrallah said in a weekend speech.

Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria after the 1967 Six-Day War, which created an armistice line under Israeli military control.

Israel unilaterally annexed the Golan Heights in 1981 – a move that is not recognized internationally – and has built more than 30 Jewish settlements in the area over the last three and a half decades.

There have been some media reports claiming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently raised the issue of the Golan Heights with US President Barack Obama. A number of Israeli politicians have also floated the idea of legitimizing Golan’s annexation.

Nasrallah also threatened “retaliation” for Israel’s killing of Samir Kuntar, a Hezbollah commander in Syria, who died in a suspected Israeli airstrike on his home in Damascus.