Alwaght- Russia is demanding explanation from the Israeli regime over its illegal airstrikes conducted near the Syrian city of Palmyra last week.
The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the Israeli ambassador in Moscow, Gary Koren, on Friday after news about the strike emerged.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov confirmed earlier media reports that the Tel Aviv envoy had been summoned.
The Israeli regime’s embassy in Moscow refrained from commenting on Koren’s visit over the weekend, but the Russian Foreign Ministry did say that the ambassador’s visit “was mostly to discuss the latest events in Syria and around it.” On Friday morning, Israeli regime war planes attacked several targets in Syria. During the illegal incursion, Syria’s air defense force fired anti-aircraft missiles at the planes as they were returning from the mission.
On Sunday, Israeli regime’s war Minister Avigdor Lieberman brazenly threatened to destroy Syria’s air defenses if the country attacked Israeli warplanes again.
“Next time, if the Syrian aerial defense apparatus acts against our planes, we will destroy it,” Avigdor Lieberman told Israeli Public Radio on Sunday. “We won't hesitate. Israel's security is above everything else; there will be no compromise.”
The Israeli regime has been regularly violating Syrian airspace with impunity when the country’s current armed conflict began early 2011.
Syria lodged a complaint at the United Nations saying the Israeli incursions are a flagrant defiance of the international legitimacy and UN resolutions and the sovereignty and the inviolability of the Syrian territory.
The statement added that all Israeli security, military, and political resources have been harnessed directly and indirectly in order to enable terrorists to weaken Syria and to prolong the terrorist war as much as possible.
“The Israeli aggression this morning comes as a new Israeli attempt to boost the collapsed morale of terrorist groups after they were defeated recently by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies in many areas,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry said.
Syria reiterated its right of self-defense by pointing out that it shot down one of the intruding Israeli regime warplanes. “As part of its right to defend the sanctity of its territory, the Syrian air defense responded to this aggression and shot down one of the planes while the rest of them were forced to flee,” the Syrian foreign ministry added.
