Syria on Monday condemned Israel's plan to double within five years the number of Jewish settlers in the Golan Heights captured from Syria in 1967 as a "dangerous and unprecedented escalation," Syrian state media reported. 

Israel announced on Sunday a multimillion-dollar plan to develop the Golan Heights, including the establishment of two new settlements. 

"Syria strongly condemns the dangerous and unprecedented escalation by the Israeli occupation authorities" in the Golan, the state-run SANA news agency said, adding Damascus would seek to use all legally available means to retake the territory. 

Speaking to Syrian TV station al-Ekhbariya, Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad called Israel's actions against Syria "criminal" and said they violated the 1981 United Nations Resolution 497 declaring Israel's effective annexation of the Golan as "null and void." 

Under the Israeli plan, two new settlements, Asif and Matar, will be established in the disputed territory, each with about 2,000 new housing units. Meanwhile, 576 million shekels (about $183 million) will be allocated to build 7,300 new housing units over the next five years in the town of Katzrin and the Golan Regional Council. 

Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in the 1980s, but the international community has never recognized the move. 

Former U.S. President Donald Trump announced in March 2019 that he recognized Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights. 

On November 5, 2020, the UN General Assembly confirmed Syria's sovereignty over the area. 

(With input from Reuters, Xinhua)