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Syria warns of attack on Tel Aviv airport if UN fails to halt Israeli aggression

Wednesday, 23 January 2019 9:24 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 23 January 2019 10:07 AM ]

The picture taken on January 21, 2018 shows a view of Israel's Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv. (By AFP)

Syria has warned that it could use its right to respond in self defense to recent Israeli air raids against a civilian airport near Damascus by striking Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport if the UN Security Council fails to shoulder its responsibilities and act against the regime’s aggression.

Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar al-Ja’afari said on Tuesday that “the unlimited support” provided by some permanent members of the Security Council, namely France, Britain and the US, has encouraged Israel to continue its air raids on Syria, preventing the entire UN body from assuming its responsibilities.

Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East, Ja’afari said that if the 15-member body fails to adopt measures to stop Israel, Syria would practice its “legitimate right of self-defense” and retaliate against the regime's attacks.

“Isn’t time now for the UN Security council to stop the Israeli repeated aggressions on the Syrian Arab Republic territories?” he asked.

“Or is it required to draw the attention of the war-makers in this Council by exercising our legitimate right to defend ourself and respond to the Israeli aggression on Damascus International Civil Airport in the same way on Tel Aviv Airport?” he continued.

Earlier this week, Syria wrote protest letters to the United Nations, urging the world body to take a decisive step against Israel after the regime launched fresh air raids against targets near Damascus, including an airport.

PressTV-Syria urges UN to stop Israel’s strikes in its territory

Syria has urged the UN to stop Israeli aggression against the Arab country, saying these strikes are attempts to prolong Syrian crisis.

Israel frequently attacks targets inside Syria in what is considered as an attempt to prop up Takfiri terrorist groups that have been suffering heavy defeats at the hands of Syrian government forces.

In a recent interview with The New York Times, Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot, the Israeli army’s outgoing chief of staff, said that the regime had carried out “thousands” of aerial assaults in Syria in recent years.

In a separate interview with The Sunday Times, he also confirmed long-running reports of Israel's collaboration with anti-Damascus militants, admitting that it had provided weapons to them.

Foreign Ministry: Israeli aggression on Syria part of attempts to prolong crisishttps://t.co/9cKyXZABTM
— SANAEnglishOfficial (@SANAEnOfficial) January 21, 2019

Elsewhere in his remarks, Syria's UN envoy stressed his country's firm and non-negotiable right to wrest control over the occupied Golan Heights, urging Israel to completely withdraw from the region.

He further said that Israel's attempts to change the status in Golan were “doomed to failure”and would not affect Syria's sovereign right to the territory.

The Tel Aviv regime has for decades occupied and annexed Syria’s Golan Heights, a move never recognized by the international community.

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