Syria flag (flickr).
Syria will not back down and Israel is playing with fire, Syria’s Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said on September 1, commenting on the last Israeli strikes on Aleppo and Damascus.
The unprecedented strikes, which took place late on August 31, targeted Aleppo International Airport and allegedly the Damascus International Airport. The strikes caused some heavy material losses. However, there were no casualties.
It was reported that the Israeli strikes were a response to an Iranian weapons shipment that arrived earlier in Aleppo International Airport.
Syria has been the main supply route for Hezbollah for decades. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ships its most advanced weapons to the Lebanese group through the country with help from the Syrian military and intelligence. This provoked hundreds of attacks by Israel over the past ten years or so.
On the Twitter account of the Syrian Foreign Ministry, Mekdad said that Syria will not site idle in the face of Israel’s repeated attack, stressing that Israelis will pay the price “sooner or later”.
“Syria has persevered, and will stand, and will not back down from its positions,” the minister said. “The Israeli enemy must not bet or miscalculate, under the illusion that Syria will change its positions.”
Mekdad went on to hold the United States and other Western states responsible for encouraging Israel to escalate its attacks on Syria, which “threatens peace and security in the region and the world”.
Syria has been refraining from responding to Israeli attacks as a result of its fragile security and economic situation. Mekdad remarks suggest that could change soon.
A recent report by the New York Times said Damascus and its allies, who are known as the “Axis of Resistance,” have agreed to respond to Israeli attacks by striking US bases in Syria. The Syrian foreign minister may be hinting at this agreement. Iranian-backed forces in Syria and Iraq have already responded to the August 14 Israeli attack on Tartus and Damascus by targeting the US al-Tanf garrison, which is located in southeastern Syria, with a number of suicide drone on the very next day.
