Israel annexes Golan Heights (seized from Syria in war of 1967)

The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in the north and Wadi Raqqad in the east. It hosts vital water sources that feed the Hasbani River and the Jordan River. Two thirds of the area was depopulated and occupied by Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War and then effectively annexed in 1981. In 2019, during the first Trump administration, the United States became the first country to recognize Golan Heights as part of Israel. No other UN member state has formally recognized Israeli sovereignty over the territory, and the international community largely considers it Israeli-occupied Syrian land.