CAIRO

The Arab League on Monday denounced U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

"The American announcement does not change the legal status of the Golan in any way," the Cairo-based league said in a statement.

"The Golan Heights remains occupied Syrian territory," it added. "All this will be addressed at next week’s [Arab League] summit in Tunisia."

The league goes on to assert that "Legitimization of the [Israeli] occupation is the new orientation of U.S. policy… which has become fully compatible with the positions and desires of Israel."

Tel Aviv had long lobbied Washington to recognize its claim to the occupied Golan Heights, but previous U.S. administrations had refrained from doing so, citing earlier UN resolutions.

Israel has occupied roughly two-thirds of the wider Golan Heights region since its 1967 conflict with Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq.

In 1981, the self-proclaimed Jewish state formally annexed the territory in a move unanimously rejected at the time by the UN Security Council.

The UN, for its part, says the legal status of the Golan Heights remains unchanged -- despite Trump’s announcement -- and will still be considered "occupied territory" under international law.