‘US decision on Golan Heights is highway to war’: Russian Duma speaker

The US decision to recognize the Golan Heights as Israel's territory was taken bypassing the UN Security Council and ignoring the UN dialogue on the issue, said Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia’s Lower House.

“All members of the international community should voice their stand on the matter,” he said during the meeting with Lebanese President Michel Aoun.

Such a development could lead to a situation where “everyone is fighting each other,” he stressed. “The rule of force would dominate. This is a highway to war.”

On Monday, US President Donald Trump signed a declaration recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, seized by Israel from Syria during the Six-Day War of 1967 and formally annexed by the Jewish state in 1981.

In response to the US decision the UN reminded that the UN Security Council in a December 1981 resolution called Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights “null and void and without international legal effect" and this position hasn’t changed. Russia, Turkey, and the Arab League have also condemned the move.

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