The Syrian government has condemned the new Israeli airstrikes on Syrian territory and called on the United Nations Security Council to take immediate and decisive action to prevent the recurrence of such attacks.
According to the official Syrian news agency SANA, the Israeli regime launched airstrikes on the eastern parts of Syria near the Iraqi border in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The attacks targeted the city of Deir az-Zor and the town of Bukamal.
In a letter to the United Nations Secretary General and the President of the Security Council later in the day, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said the Israeli aggression is in sync with the criminal practices of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against Syrians in Hasakah, Deir az-Zor and Rakka.
“The government of the Syrian Arab Republic, with the support of friendly countries and allies, reiterates its determination to recover every inch of the Syrian soil and liberate it from terrorism and rebuild what has been destroyed by terrorism,” the ministry said, according to SANA.
It called on the Security Council to take responsibility within the framework of the United Nations Charter, stressing that the Israeli regime must be held accountable for its crimes against the Syrian people, which violate the United Nations Charter and relevant Security Council resolutions, particularly resolutions 242, 338, 350 and 497.
Separately, a senior U.S. intelligence official said the Israeli airstrikes were carried out with the help of United States intelligence.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed the attack Monday with Yossi Cohen, the head of Israel’s spy agency, Mossad.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrikes killed 57 people and were the deadliest such attacks since the conflict began in 2011.
Israel frequently carries out attacks on Syria in apparent violation of the Arab country’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity to prop up militant and terrorist groups fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Wednesday’s Israeli attack came at a time when protesters had gathered outside the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to demand his resignation over corruption and mismanagement of the COVID-19 breakout.
Netanyahu was indicted on four corruption charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
by Basit Abbasi – FN