Trump decision 'null and void'
The United States faced sharp criticism Wednesday at the UN Security Council over its decision to recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territory, which big powers denounced as a violation of UN resolutions.
President Donald Trump signed a proclamation Monday in which the United States recognized Israel's annexation of the strategic plateau that it seized in 1967 and annexed in 1981.
Britain, Washington's closest ally, said the decision was in violation of Resolution 497 that declared Israel's annexation of the Golan as "null and void."
France warned that any attempt to turn away from international law was "doomed to fail" as the United States prepares to unveil its Middle East peace proposals.
Russia appealed to governments to reject the US decision and to continue to view the Golan as Israeli-occupied territory.
Three Security Council resolutions call on Israel to withdraw from the Golan, which it seized from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed, in a move that was not recognized internationally.
Despite its decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, the United States called for a UN peacekeeping mission deployed in a buffer zone there to remain in place.
Meanwhile, Syria said Wednesday that Israel had attacked targets just north of second city Aleppo and that its air defences had intercepted several missiles.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, the strike hit an arms depot used by Iranian forces and killed seven people.
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