Alwaght- Syrian air defenses confronted an Israeli airstrike in the Damascus countryside on Thursday, a Syrian state TV reported.
"The Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression this evening with bursts of missiles from the direction of southeast Beirut" in Lebanon and "targeting some points in the vicinity of the city of Damascus and the vicinity of the city of Homs", a Syrian military source said in a statement.
The sound of aircraft could be heard in and around Beirut.
"It blatantly violated Lebanon's airspace at low altitude, causing a state of panic among citizens," said Lebanon's defense minister Zeina Akar condemning the attack.
The attack violated UN Security Council resolution 1701 to resolve the 2006 Lebanon war and she called on the UN to deter Tel Aviv from carrying out airstrikes on Syria using Lebanese airspace. Akar said she had sent a complaint to the UN, Reuters news agency cited her as saying.
The frequent Israeli air attacks on Syria pose danger to civil aviation in Lebanon and Syria.
During the airstrike, a plane belonging to Lebanese carrier Middle East Airlines coming from Abu Dhabi had to hold in Syrian airspace for about 10 minutes before landing in Beirut, as did a plane from Turkey's Pegasus airlines, said Fadi Alhassan, acting general manager for Lebanon's civil aviation authority.
During the Syrian conflict, Israel repeatedly launched attacks on the Syrian soil, arguing that they are part of its deterrence.
The Syrian and Lebanese governments repeatedly sent complaints to the UN Security Council for the Israeli violations. But the UNSC fails to make a move as it is under influence of the Western powers as staunch Israeli allies.
