Syria calls for urgent action to stop Israeli deadly raids

Syria’s official news agency SANA cited the country’s foreign ministry as making the call in a statement on Sunday, after Israeli missiles hit a number of residential buildings mostly in the Kafr Sousa neighborhood in central Damascus.

The Syrian air defenses reportedly intercepted most of the missiles, with al-Mayadeen news agency saying that the Israeli strike targeted also areas in Damascus countryside, including Tal al-Masih near the city of Shahba, north of al-Suwayda in southwestern Syria.

The Israeli assault came just a day after Syrian state media outlets said as many as 53 people had been killed in an ambush carried out by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group near a central Syrian city.

“At a time when Syria was trying to heal its wounds, bury its martyrs, and receive condolences, sympathy and international humanitarian support in facing the devastating earthquake, the Israeli entity launched an air aggression today targeting the civilian-populated residential neighborhoods in Damascus, causing, in a primary toll, the martyrdom of five civilians and injury of 15 others and the destruction of a number of houses,” the statement said.

“The aggression comes in the context of the systematic Israeli attacks against the Syrian civilian targets, including homes, service centers, airports, and ports, intimidating the Syrians who are still suffering from the catastrophic effects left by the earthquake and working to support those affected by it,” it added.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry stressed that the hostile action also coincided with the attacks carried out by Daesh, which claimed the lives of dozens of innocent civilians in the eastern countryside of Homs Province.

“The continuation of these brutal attacks and crimes against the Palestinian and Syrian people constitutes an explicit threat to peace and security in the region and requires urgent international action to stop the Israeli aggressive actions on Syrian territory,” the statement read.

“Syria expects the United Nations Secretariat and Security Council to condemn Israeli aggression and crimes, take the necessary measures to deter them, hold them [Israelis] accountable, punish their perpetrators and ensure they do not recur,” it noted.

Israel frequently carries out missile attacks on targets in Syria, mostly using the airspace of Lebanon or the occupied territories.

Syria has repeatedly complained to the UN over Israeli assaults, urging the Security Council to take action against Tel Aviv’s crimes. The calls have, however, fallen on deaf ears.

In early November 2022, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad emphasized that his country will definitely give a crushing response to such acts of aggression at some point in the future.