Germany today called on the Israeli government to abandon its plan to double the population in the Israeli-annexed part of the Golan Heights, reports Agence France-Presse, quoted by BTA.
"From the point of view of international law, this territory controlled by Israel belongs to Syria," a German government spokesman said.
Berlin also stressed that it is essential, in the context of the current political turmoil in Syria, that all actors in the region respect the country's territorial integrity and not question its sovereignty.
Germany calls on all countries in the region to exercise restraint. Syria has been devastated by more than a decade of war and has become a "plaything of foreign powers", the German government spokesman said.
Around 30,000 Israeli citizens live in 34 settlements in the annexed part of the Golan Heights, while an additional 23,000 Druze - a community with Islamic roots, who are mostly considered Syrians but have permanent resident status in Israel, AFP reported.
Israel captured part of the Golan Heights during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and annexed the territory in 1981. Only the United States, under Donald Trump, recognized this annexation in 2019.