Russia cautions Israel against airstrikes on Syria
During a briefing, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that it is necessary to stop Israeli airstrikes on Syria. A video of her speech was published on the Russian Foreign Ministry's Facebook page.
“The practice of arbitrary strikes on the territory of a sovereign state—in this case, we are talking about Syria—should be stopped,” Zakharova stated. According to Zakharova, such strikes added to tensions in the region that were not in the long-term interests of any country there, including Israel. “We should never allow Syria, which has suffered years of armed conflict, to be turned into an arena where geopolitical scores are settled.”
Zakharova urged the sides to think about the possible consequences of provoking a new cycle of chaos the Middle East region.
The Israeli air force conducted a raid on Syria on the night of January 21. According to a representative of the Israel Defense Forces, Iranian weapons depots and an intelligence facility, a training camp, and Syrian aerial defense batteries were attacked.
Israel stressed that the airstrikes were a response to a surface-to-surface missile attack launched from Syria. Syrian authorities, commenting on the incident, stated that Damascus can launch a symmetrical strike against Tel-Aviv airport in response.