Syrians in regime-held areas protest Israeli wind project that threatens Golan land

Syrians in regime-held areas protested on Thursday against Israeli efforts to further the occupation of the Golan Heights.

The Golan is Syrian territory that Israel began occupying in 1967 and which it has illegally annexed.

The construction of a controversial wind energy project there would lead to the confiscation of 4,500 dunums (over 1,000 acres) of agricultural land that thousands of families rely on for their livelihoods. It has been in the works for years.

Syrians protested in various regime-held provinces, including Damascus, Daraa and Quneitra, against "the Israeli occupation's brutal attacks" on Golan Syrians and "its attempt to seize their lands", the regime's official SANA news agency reported.

The religious, party political and trade union sectors of society were among those in attendance, SANA said.

A statement was presented to a United Nations representative during a protest outside the world body's Damascus headquarters.

A local official from the Baath party, whose leader Bashar al-Assad rules Syria, read it out.

SANA said the statement "included condemnation of the aggressive Zionist entity's [Israel's] attempts to seize the property and lands of our people in the occupied Syrian Golan under the pretext of installing wind turbines".

The statement said this breaches international law and UN Security Council resolutions.

The Israeli wind energy project has also proven highly controversial in the Golan itself, where residents have demonstrated against the move.

"The project targets the people's presence in the Golan and their income," said Syrian community activist Majid Qadamani.