Damascus has called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the General Assembly to condemn “the attacks of the Israeli occupation on Syrian sovereignty,” said the country’s official news agency.
By Erin Viner
In a letter sent to UN Secretary General António Guterres, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates alleged that Israel targeted “some points in the central region” at 8:23 PM on Friday.
The attack on the Masyaf area in Syria’s Hama countryside killed five and injured seven including a child, claimed state media, citing a military statement.
Missiles fired over the over the Mediterranean Sea from the direction of the west Banyas direction sparked fires in nearby forested areas and left some material damage, the military statement added.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry called for the UN Secretary General and the UNSC to issue a “clear condemnation” of the strikes and to demand that “the Israeli aggressor abide by the relevant Security Council resolutions and the provisions of the Separation of Forces Agreement signed in Geneva on May 31, 1974.”
“The Syrian Arab Republic hopes the United Nations General Secretariat and the Security Council to adopt a clear position on the Israeli attacks on Syrian sovereignty away from politicized considerations and calculations that the contradict the well-established and clear legal and political position of the United Nations and its bodies toward the issue of the [so-called] Israeli occupation of the Occupied Syrian Arab territories,” said the statement.
Two anti-government sources and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the strikes targeted weapons depots belonging to forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad forces, who is combatting insurgents in the Civil War that erupted in 2011.
While Syrian state TV did not specify whether the area hit was a military zone, the Britain-based SOHR, the airstrikes severely damaged Syrian Armed Forces (SAF) army bases.
The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit declined to either confirm or deny involvement in the morning’s reported strike.
For the past several years, Israel has allegedly mounted hundreds of attacks on Iranian-linked targets in Syria, where Islamic Republic-backed forces and proxy terror groups, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, have become entrenched in deployments aimed at attacking Israel in addition to assisting Assad battle anti-government fighters.
While the Jewish State rarely confirms such missions, the country’s political and defense leaders have repeatedly stated that Iran’s presence just over the northern frontier will not be tolerated.
According to a tally by the SOHR, so far this year the Israeli Air Force (IAF) has launched 12 attacks, destroyed 33 targets, and killed 28 Syrian and foreign soldiers.