CAIRO, 29 December 2021, (TON): The head of the Arab League has criticized Israel's announcement to expand its settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the secretary-general of the pan-Arab organisation, said “the Israeli plans to expand its settlements were a flagrant violation of international law, which recognises the Golan Heights as Syrian territory that fell under Israeli occupation in the 1967 war.”

Aboul Gheit also said that the fact that some countries would recognise Israeli sovereignty over the Syrian plateau did not change the “reality” that it is an occupied territory.

He highlighted that Syria's territorial integrity is not subject to compromise irrespective of the current developments in Syria and its status in the Arab League.

Israel's cabinet approved a blueprint on Sunday to build some 7,300 additional housing units on the strategic plateau in a move that could tighten its hold on the territory.

Syrian state media reported “Syria on Monday also condemned Israeli plans in the Golan Heights as a “dangerous and unprecedented escalation.”