In a first reaction to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's declaration that "Israel will never leave the Golan Heights," Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad said Sunday that Syria is prepared to use every possible means to recapture the area, including military means. "The Syrian Golan is an occupied Arab land according to the UN Security Council's resolutions, and the presence of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Forces proves this," Miqad said in an interview with the Lebanon-based TV channel al-Mayadeen. "We have never renounced the resistance and we are ready to recapture the Golan in all possible ways, including military ways. Israel wants to provoke us, but we will never surrender," Miqdad added. Regarding Syria's cooperation with Russia, he stated that "the daily communication between the Syrian leadership and the Russian leadership continues. We believe that the Russian policy leans on the international law and on UN Security Council resolutions. "Neither Russian President Vladimir Putin nor any other president in the world would have accepted the indecent Israeli logic regarding the Golan," Miqdad argued. At the opening of a special cabinet meeting held for the first time ever on the Golan Heights on Sunday, PM Netanyahu declared: "The time has come after 40 years for the international community to finally recognize that the Golan Heights will remain forever under Israeli sovereignty."
