DAMASCUS 22 Mar (ANA) - Syria has condemned as "irresponsible" US President Donald Trump's comments that it was time to recognise Israel's sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights.

A statement published by the Syrian state news agency said it showed the "blind bias" of the US towards Israel.

It said Syria was determined to recover the area "through all available means".

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and annexed it in 1981 in a move not recognised internationally.

Israel wants to contain the military presence of its arch-enemy Iran in Syria, which has grown stronger throughout eight years of conflict.

Mr Trump's remarks on Thursday overturned decades of US policy on the issue. In a tweet, he said the plateau was of "critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and regional stability!"

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the US president in a phone call, telling him "you've made history".

The statement carried by the Sana news agency said Mr Trump's comments had shown "contempt" for international law and that they would not change "the reality that the Golan was and will remain Syrian, Arab".

"The Syrian nation is more determined to liberate this precious piece of Syrian national land through all available means," the unnamed foreign ministry source added.

Mr Trump's remarks come as Mr Netanyahu faces a closely fought general election on 9 April, as well as a series of possible corruption charges.

The two leaders are due to meet in Washington DC next week, when Mr Netanyahu is due to address the pro-Israel lobbying Aipac group.

In 2017, Mr Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital and ordered the relocation of the US embassy to the city from Tel Aviv.

The decision was condemned by Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future Palestinian state, and the UN General Assembly demanded its cancellation.(ANA)

FA/ANA/22 March 2019--------