Israel strike on Syria ‘unacceptable’ - Russia
SYRIA: Russia warned on Thursday that any Israeli air strike against
Syria would be “unacceptable” after the Damascus regime said a military
research centre had come under Israeli fighter jet attack.
Russia's foreign ministry said it was “deeply concerned” by the
Syrian claims and that it was taking “urgent measures” to clarify the
situation.
“If this information is confirmed, then we are dealing with
unprovoked strikes against targets located on the territory of a
sovereign state, which brazenly infringes on the UN Charter and is
unacceptable, no matter the motive used for its justification,” said a
ministry statement.
The strident Russian statement came after the Syrian army accused
Israel of launching a strike at dawn on Wednesday targeting its military
research centre in Jamraya, near Damascus.
“Israeli fighter jets violated our airspace at dawn today and carried
out a direct strike on a scientific research centre in charge of raising
our level of resistance and self-defence,” the general command said.
The warplanes entered Syria's airspace at low altitude and under the
radar, the army said, adding that two site workers were killed.
“They... carried out an act of aggression, bombarding the site,
causing large-scale material damage and destroying the building,” state
television quoted the military as saying.
Residents told AFP that six rockets hit the complex, leaving it
partially destroyed, causing a fire and killing two people.
The army, meanwhile, denied reports that an Israeli air strike had
targeted a weapons convoy from Syria near the border with Lebanon.
The attack came after Israel expressed concerns that Damascus's
stockpile of chemical weapons could fall into the hands of Lebanon's
Shiite Hezbollah group, an ally of Assad's regime, or other militant
organisations.
Israel, whose officials have said such that a transfer would be a
casus belli and likely spark an attack, has refused to comment on the
attack.
The United States, which is currently hosting Israeli military
intelligence chief Aviv Kochavi, also declined to comment.
As well as concerns about Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, Israel
has accused Syria of supplying long-range Scud missiles to Hezbollah.
It has also warned about the dangers of other advanced weaponry
falling into the Lebanese militia's hands, such as anti-aircraft systems
and surface-to-surface missiles.
The attack took place just days after Israel moved two batteries of
its vaunted Iron Dome missile defence system to the north and at a time
of rising fears that the Syria conflict could see chemical weapons
leaking into Lebanon. A former intelligence chief with Israel's Mossad
spy service said the Jewish state “should make any effort to prevent any
weapons systems of that kind going out to terror organisations.” In
comments before reports of the attack emerged, Amnon Sofrin said Israel
was unlikely to hit chemical weapons stocks from the air because of the
environmental risks. “When you go and attack a... chemical weapons
depot, you're going to do unwarranted damage because every part will
leak out and can cause damage to many residents.
“But if you know of a convoy leading these kind of weapon systems
from Syria to Lebanon, you can send a unit to the proper place and try
to halt it” on the ground, he said. Russia has outraged Western and Arab
nations by refusing to join international calls for Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad to step down and continues to supply its Soviet-era ally
with weapons.
It has vetoed three Security Council resolutionssanctioning Assad for
violence that the United Nations estimates has killed more than 60,000
people since it broke out in mid-March 2011.
A top Russian official on Thursday rejected the idea of the Security
Council taking action because “the Council has already made a number of
important decision” on Syria.
AFP |