New Delhi (PTI) Syria on Thursday described US President Donald Trump’s proclamation recognising Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights as a “dirty deal” between him and Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu which will “not change anything on the ground”.

Syria’s Ambassador to India Riad Kamel Abbas also said his country would welcome if India wants to play a more pro-active role in Syria or in the Middle East peace process.

“This dirty deal which happened between Trump and Netanyahu, happened for their personal benefit. Mr Trump got clearance from his department on the Russian issue and Prime Minister Netanyahu got guarantee to win elections,” Abbas said at a press conference here.

He said the Syrian government condemns this “dirty declaration” and it “will not change anything on the ground”.

Abbas said Syria condemns the declaration and will make “all efforts — political or in any other way — to turn back this territory to itself”.

Asked what these measures could be, the Syrian envoy said they were already taking up the matter aggressively, diplomatically and if all else fails they will be forced to take military action as they have done in the past.

Golan is part of Syria and Trump has no right to give the territory to Israel, he said, alleging that America was “behind all the terror groups” and unrest in the region.

Abbas praised India for its position on the Middle East and asserted that it trusts India’s stance on key issues concerning Syria.

“We highly trust the Indian position in this regard and especially if they want to play a proactive role in Syria or in the Middle east peace process. We will be happy to see an Indian role in that,” the envoy said, when asked what role it expects India to play on the issue.

India has been a unique country in the world which has never had a colonisation policy and has always been a victim of colonisation and never interfered with anybody’s internal affairs, Abbas said.

“If India wants to play a role we welcome it,” he said.

“The declaration by Mr Trump is proof about who creates unrest in the Middle East. It proves America is behind the Arab Spring, it was not the Arab Spring but ‘Arab fire’ created to destroy Arab countries to control our natural resources,” he alleged.

US President Trump on Monday signed a proclamation recognising Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights and told the visiting Israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu, that his country has “absolute right” to self defence.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war but its sovereignty over the territory is not recognised by the international community. Trump’s proclamation reversed more than a half-century of the US policy over the issue.