Syria has called upon the United Nations to take immediate steps against Israel following yesterday’s air strike on its territory, which according to reports has claimed the lives of two soldiers and injured at least five. The Foreign Ministry in Damascus turned to UN secretary general Antonio Guterres and to the acting president of the world body’s Security Council, saying it was unthinkable that no response had been taken until now to what Damascus called “the repeated Israeli strikes intended to support Syrian terror organizations.” A source close to the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad said last night that Damascus, under several international agreements, had already destroyed the chemical weapons that were in its possession, and there was no foundation to Israel’s allegation that the facility attacked yesterday served to manufacture weapons of mass destruction. He explained that the site was one of several centers for scientific research in which the Syrian regime is developing, among other things, long-range precision missiles.
Even though Israel refrained from claiming responsibility for the strike and refrained from commenting on whether it was or was not behind the attack, Israeli Defense Minister Lieberman hinted that Israel would not sit by idly when faced with an Iranian-Syrian threat. In an interview to Israel’s state radio, the Israeli top defense official emphasized that the Jewish state was “not seeking a military adventure,” yes declared that Jerusalem remains “determined to prevent (its) enemies from attacking (it) or even from creating the possibility of undermining the safety of Israel’s citizens. That is why Israel will continue to do everything in its power ” to prevent a Shi’ite (Muslim) corridor being created from Tehran to Damascus.”
Meanwhile, Professor Eyal Zisser of Tel Aviv university said that the alleged Israeli strike was probably aimed as a signal to both world and regional powers that Jerusalem will not allow Iran to base itself in Syria He assessed, “Probably this is some sort of a signal, a message to the Americans, to the Russians, to the Iranians, to the Syrians: Will not let the Iranians base themselves in Syria. Now the question is of course what does this Syrian research center had to do with such a message.” Professor Zisser, who closely monitors the war in Syria, emphasized that while Syria is fully aware that it cannot engage in a war with Israel, it would not be able to seek such a conflict as the decision making on such matters does not end in Damascus, but rather in Moscow.