A U.S. special envoy to Syria and ambassador to Turkey retracts comments made two days earlier about the Golan Heights. The envoy had said Israel “still” occupies the territory in a way that violates U.N. resolutions. In a clarification on Sunday, he walks back that phrasing.
The disagreement centers on how the United States describes the status of the Golan Heights. Israel captured the area from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981. The United Nations and most of the international community consider the Golan Heights occupied Syrian territory and do not recognize the annexation. Sources describe the envoy’s earlier wording as conflicting with the position attributed to U.S. President Donald Trump, prompting the subsequent clarification.
