evidence: The Golan Heights is a strategic plateau that Israeli seized from Syria during the Six-Day War in 1967, before formally annexing it in 1981. The hilly landscape, which spans some 500 square miles, also shares a border with Jordan and Lebanon. [...] The Golan Heights is considered to be occupied territory under international law and UN Security Council resolutions, and Syria continues to demand it be returned. [...] Israel sees the Golan Heights as key to its national security interests and says it needs to control the region to fend off threats from Syria and Iranian proxy groups there.