Syria complained on Wednesday to the United Nations against Israel, after the Israeli Air Force launched airstrikes against Syrian targets on Tuesday night.
The airstrikes, in which Syria claimed a soldier had been killed, targeted artillery batteries and a Syrian army training camp which had aided terrorists in the detonation of an explosive charge on the Israeli-Lebanese border Tuesday, wounding four soldiers.
In a letter to the UN Security Council, Syria’s foreign ministry demanded that “measures be taken to deter Israel so it does not repeat the violation of the separation of forces agreement.”
“Israel provides direct and indirect assistance to armed terrorist organizations in the border area,” said the letter, in a reference to the rebels fighting President Bashar Al-Assad, to whom the Syrian regime refers as “terrorists”.
“This is done in part by treating wounded [terrorists] and then bringing them back to the battlefield so they can continue to fight against the residents who live in this area,” claimed the Syrian letter.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Wednesday warned Assad that he would “regret his actions” in threatening Israeli security, by allowing terrorists a free hand.
“We see the Assad regime as responsible for what happens in its territory, and if it will continue to cooperate with terrorists striving to harm the state of Israel, we will continue to collect a heavy price from him, in such a way that he will regret his actions,” warned Ya’alon.
Sources in Hezbollah, the Lebanese-based terror group fighting in Syria alongside Assad, revealed Tuesday that the border attack was a failed kidnapping attempt targeting the soldiers.
Also on Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki backed Israel’s right to self-defense.
“Assad’s desperate efforts to cling to power increases the propensity for spillover violence,” she told reporters in Washington, according to AFP. “Israel has a right to defend itself.”
“We continue to call upon the regime to avoid any action that would jeopardize the long-held ceasefire between Israel and Syria,” added Psaki.
