Fresh tensions flared across the Middle East with Syria vowing to take back control of the Golan Heights after U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that it should be formally recognized as Israeli territory. The Syrian region was captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab War, and annexed it in 1981. Reuters quoted Russian state media saying Trump’s comments “risked seriously destabilizing the region.” Turkey, traditionally an U.S. ally, also expressed concern, warning that Trump “had brought the Middle East to the edge of a new crisis.” The Syrian government warned, “The Syrian nation is more determined to liberate this precious piece of Syrian national land through all available means.” The EU, Germany, France and other countries all chimed in Friday to reject the move. Meanwhile, Trump’s upending of decades of policy caught top U.S. and Israeli officials off-guard, and came as a surprise to the State Department and his own Middle East peace-negotiation team. “We all found out by tweet,” one Israeli official told McClatchy News.
