Border area was farmed by Lebanese but registered as part of Syria

FINTAN LANE (Irish Examiner letters, August 30) accuses me of being utterly incorrect in my assertion (Irish Examiner letters, August 18) that the area known as Shebaa Farms is generally considered to be a part of Syria. He also claims it is widely accepted to be part of Lebanon.

Until the Six Day War in 1967, the area belonged to Syria. The legal base for Syrian sovereignty was the edict issued by General Henri Gouraud, the French high commissioner, on August 31, 1920, defining the territory and boundaries of the ‘State of Greater Lebanon’, separating it from Syria.

Between 1920 and the capture by Israel of the Golan Heights in 1967, the Syrian territory, including the Shebaa Farms, was farmed mainly by Lebanese from their local villages.