The Syrian regime’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar al-Jaafari, warned Tuesday that Damascus could attack Tel Aviv’s airport in retaliation to Israeli strikes against Syria.
He told a Security Council briefing on the Middle East: “If the council does not take measures to stop repeated Israeli assaults against Syrian territories, then Syria will practice its legitimate right of self-defense and respond to the aggression against Damascus International Airport in kind by attacking Tel Aviv airport.”
Moreover, he criticized a report by Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, for deliberately ignoring daily Israeli crimes against residents of the occupied Golan Heights.
“Isn’t it time that the Security Council take the necessary measures to stop the repeated Israeli attacks against Syria?” he asked.
These attacks would not have taken place had the council implemented its resolutions and had member states not shown unlimited support for Israel, which has only encouraged its criminality, said Jaafari.
Israel has carried out several attacks against Iranian and Hezbollah targets since the eruption of the Syrian conflict in 2011.
Israel struck in Syria early on Monday, the latest salvo in its increasingly open assault on Iran’s presence there, shaking the night sky over Damascus with an hour of loud explosions in a second consecutive night of military action.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the air raid had mostly targeted Iranian forces, but also hit Syrians helping them. “We will strike at anyone who tries to harm us,” he said.
