If they’re not a country you’d have to say that Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Myanmar, Yemen and so on are also not coutcries. Country is a country if it’s internationally recognized as a country which is why Somaliland and Western Sahara are generally not considered countries but Lebanon is.
Just because a country doesn’t think another is not does not justify an invasion.
US supports Israel to a ridiculous deglee, rest of the world say they’re a war crime. Only two countries in the UN voted to make food not a human right, guess which.