The Syrian government announced Sunday that it reserves the right to invade the Israeli-held Golan Heights at any time, and accused Israel of violating the terms of the 1974 ceasefire that ended the Yom Kippur War.
During a speech in Damascus, Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi accused Israel of attacking sites near the Syrian capital, allowing rebel groups to operate in the demilitarized zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, and letting those groups kidnap UN observers on multiple occasions.
Four Filipino soldiers belonging to the UN peacekeeping mission in the Golan Heights were released Sunday after being detained by a rebel group for several days amid intense fighting between government and opposition forces along the border. In March, the same rebel group, the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, kidnapped 21 Filipino peacekeepers and held them hostage for several days before releasing them to Jordan.
Zoubi said that in light of Israel's alleged airstrikes against Syrian targets in the past few weeks, Damascus "has the right at this time and at any other time to deal with the Golan issue in the way the owner has the right to deal with his property, because the Golan is and has always been a Syrian Arab land." |