The United States says it will oppose for the first time an annual resolution at the United Nations calling on Israel to rescind its authority in the occupied Golan Heights, drawing praise from Israeli officials.
The Golan Heights form a buffer between Israel and Syria of about 1200 square km. Israel captured most of it from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. It annexed the territory in 1981, a move not recognised internationally.
The US has abstained in previous years on the annual "Occupied Syrian Golan" resolution, which declares Israel's decision to impose its jurisdiction in the area "null and void", but Washington's UN envoy Nikki Haley said it would vote against the resolution in Friday's vote.
"The United States will no longer abstain when the United Nations engages in its useless annual vote on the Golan Heights," she said in a statement on Thursday.
"The resolution is plainly biased against Israel. Further, the atrocities the Syrian regime continues to commit prove its lack of fitness to govern anyone."
Her comments came after the US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, said in September that he expected Israel to keep the Golan Heights in perpetuity, in an apparent nod towards its claim of sovereignty over the territory.
Since early in Donald Trump's presidency, Israel has lobbied for formal US endorsement of its control of the Golan.
Trump has recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital, breaking with other world powers, though his national security adviser John Bolton told Reuters in August a similar Golan move was not under discussion.
Israeli officials praised the latest US decision on the Golan issue.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan called it "extremely important", saying on Twitter that "no sane person can believe that it (the Golan) should be given to Assad & Iran".
Tehran has supported Assad during the civil war and Israel has been warning against Iranian military entrenchment in Syria.
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