Israel threatens Syria with more attacks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened that Israel would carry out more assaults against Syria, following recent airstrikes and shelling against targets inside the Arab country.
Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel would respond with even tougher force if Syria retaliates.
“Last night we operated with great force against Syrian targets that acted against us, and if needed we will use additional force,” he told members of his extremist Likud Party. “We will continue to forcefully hurt anyone who attacks us or tries to attack us.”
According to the Israeli military, airstrikes hit nine targets in Syria. Reports said that the attacks killed at least 10 people in the Arab country. The Israeli strikes are said to have destroyed two tanks, two artillery batteries and the headquarters of Syria’s 90th brigade.
Syria slammed the deadly attacks from the air and the ground as a “blatant violation” of its territory and urged the United Nations to condemn the aggression.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry sent two identical letters to the United Nations secretary-general and president of the UN Security Council, saying, “Israel carried out a new aggression on sites inside the Syrian territories on Sunday and Monday, when they fired tank shells, mortar shells, rockets at posts of Syrian law enforcement forces.”
The ministry also said that Israel’s acts of aggression “threaten the peace and security in the region and the world as a whole,” calling on the UN Security Council to shoulder its responsibility toward the “dangerous” Israeli acts.
According to reports, the Israeli attacks came hours after the death of an Israeli teenager in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israeli forces claimed the death was apparently caused by a missile fired from Syria.
This is while al-Qaeda-linked militants are fighting the Syrian government forces and mortar rounds fired by them have hit the Golan Heights on several occasions.