TPC Staff
The Palestine Chronicle / August 12, 2026
Colombia has become only the second country after the US to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
Colombia has recognized Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, marking a dramatic reversal in Bogotá’s policy toward Israel just days after far-right President Abelardo de la Espriella took office.
The decision makes Colombia only the second country in the world, after the United States, to recognize Israel’s claim over the Syrian territory it occupied in 1967 and effectively annexed in 1981.
“The Government of Colombia recognizes Israeli sovereignty over this territory, as well as that State’s right to protect itself against external threats,” Colombia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“Colombia recognizes that maintaining Israel’s control and sovereignty over the Golan Heights is an essential component of its national defense,” it added.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar welcomed what he described as the “historic” recognition and thanked de la Espriella, whom he called his “good friend.”
According to Saar, the two had agreed on the decision in Barranquilla one day before de la Espriella’s inauguration.
Sweeping reversal on Israel
The Golan decision represents one of the clearest indications yet of Colombia’s abrupt foreign policy shift following the end of Gustavo Petro’s presidency.
Petro had severed diplomatic relations with Israel over its genocidal war on Gaza and suspended imports of Israeli weapons. His government had also planned to establish a Colombian embassy in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
De la Espriella, who campaigned on restoring close relations with Israel and the United States, has moved rapidly in the opposite direction.
His government has cancelled the previous administration’s plan for an embassy in Ramallah and is now formally recognizing Israeli sovereignty over territory considered occupied Syrian land by the United Nations and virtually the entire international community.
The United States had previously become the only country to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights when President Donald Trump made the decision in 2019 during his first term.
Syria takes protest to UN
Damascus responded by formally protesting Colombia’s decision to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the president of the UN Security Council.
According to Syria’s state news agency SANA, Damascus conveyed its “protest, condemnation and categorical rejection” of Bogotá’s recognition of what Colombia described as Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan.
Security Council Resolution 497, adopted unanimously in 1981, declared Israel’s decision to impose its “laws, jurisdiction and administration” on the occupied Golan “null and void and without international legal effect.”
Guterres reiterated the UN position last month, describing Israel’s continuing occupation as “totally unacceptable.”
Oman, Saudi Arabia condemn move
Colombia’s decision also prompted condemnation from Oman and Saudi Arabia.
Oman said the recognition “constitutes a violation of international law” and directly contradicts Security Council Resolution 497.
Muscat reaffirmed its position that “the Golan is occupied Syrian territory” and expressed support for Syria’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity.
Saudi Arabia similarly said Colombia’s recognition explicitly contravenes Resolution 497 and warned that such decisions entrench a “fait accompli” rather than contribute to regional peace.
Riyadh called on Bogotá to reconsider the decision, stressing that measures seeking to alter the Golan’s legal status create no rights and confer no legitimacy on Israel’s occupation.
The diplomatic controversy comes as Israel has expanded its military occupation inside Syrian territory following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024.
Israeli forces subsequently moved beyond the occupied Golan into the UN-monitored buffer zone and seized additional strategic territory, including positions on the Syrian side of Jabal al-Sheikh, or Mount Hermon.
Israel captured most of the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 war and effectively annexed the territory in 1981, a move that has never been recognized by the United Nations.
(Anadolu, TPC, AJA, Saudi Media, Omani Media)
