Damascus to Repel Any Israeli Attack: Syrian Envoy


Damascus to Repel Any Israeli Attack: Syrian Envoy

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Syrian diplomat said Damascus views any Israeli attack on the Arab country as an act of aggression and will confront it.

"Syria has its own sovereignty. Any outside aggression against the Syrian territory is an aggression,” Syrian Ambassador to Moscow Riad Haddad told reporters in the Russian city of Sevastopol on Saturday.

“Our forces, including the air defense, protect the Syrian sky and land. We will repel any aggression against Syria, regardless of where it will take place," he added, Press TV reported.

The ambassador was commenting on a May 10 incident, in which Israel conducted what it called its most intensive airstrikes on Syria in decades.

According to Russia's Defense Ministry, Israel used 28 warplanes in the attack and fired 70 missiles. Both Damascus and Moscow said the Syrian army had managed to shoot down more than half of the missiles.

Tel Aviv has claimed that its assault was a response to an attack from Syria at Israeli military outposts in the occupied Golan Heights.

Israel has stepped up its attacks on Syrian military positions in what is considered an attempt to prop up terrorist groups that have been suffering heavy losses and retreating on multiple fronts, most recently from their strongholds in Damascus suburbs.

Israel has been acting as a de facto air force of the militants for some time but its extensive raids on May 10 were its most brazenly direct engagement in Syria's fight on terrorism. 

Tel Aviv has been occupying the Golan Heights since 1967. It has been lending arms support to Takfiri terrorists, besides treating them in the mountainous region.

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