‘Extremely critical’ to avoid Syria being dragged into war: UN evnoy

It is “extremely critical” to end Israeli aggression against Syria to avoid the Arab country being pulled into a regional war, the United Nations' special envoy for Syria says. 

“We need now to make sure that we have immediately a ceasefire in Gaza, that we have a ceasefire in Lebanon, and that we avoid Syria being dragged even further into the conflict,” said Geir Pedersen ahead of a meeting with the Syrian foreign minister in Damascus on Sunday.

“We agree that it is extremely critical that we de-escalate so that Syria is not further dragged into this,” he said.

Since the Western-backed Takfiri militancy erupted across Syria in 2011, the Israeli regime has carried out hundreds of strikes in the Arab country, mainly targeting residential areas and civilian infrastructure. 

The Israeli military recently intensified its strikes on Syria since its aggression against neighboring Lebanon escalated into full-scale war in late September. 

Israeli strikes on the central city of Palmyra earlier in the week killed dozens of people, mostly civilians. 

Syria has strongly condemned Israel’s airstrike on Palmyra, saying the brutal aggression reflects the occupying entity’s ongoing crimes in the region.

Syria: Israel’s deadly strike on Palmyra reflects Zionist crimes in region

Syria has strongly slammed Israel’s latest airstrike on Palmyra city that left three dozen people dead.

Also over the weekend, Israeli warplanes carried out another act of aggression against Syria, targeting a main border crossing between the Arab nation and Lebanon. The air raid targeted the Jusiyah crossing in the al-Qusayr area of the central province of Homs.

The attack came amid the outflow of thousands of Lebanese civilians crossing into Syria and fleeing Israel’s full-scale bombardment of Lebanon.

On October 25, Israeli airstrikes targeted the border crossing, leaving it unable to function.

The UN’s refugee agency estimates that around 560,000 individuals have sought refuge in Syria, fleeing Lebanon since September 23, after the Israeli army intensified its air attacks on Lebanon in an escalation of conflict with Hezbollah.

The Israeli airstrikes against Syria come amid the Zionist regime’s bloody onslaughts against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, and the Lebanese nation.

Iran FM warns of desperate Israeli PM’s plot to drag entire region into war

The Iranian foreign minister says the desperate Israeli prime is now attempting to drag the entire region into a war.

EU top diplomat seeks more pressures on Israel to end war 

Also on Sunday, the European Union's foreign policy chief called for exerting more pressure on Israel to stop its brutal aggression against Lebanon. Josep Borrell was speaking to reporters in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

He said the EU must acknowledge the failure of its approach toward Israel, as the regime keeps committing more massacres in Lebanon.

He also said the EU is ready to support Lebanon both financially and technically, adding the bloc must push the Israeli regime to agree to an immediate ceasefire.

Borrell said the number of the Lebanese killed by Israel is three times higher than that of the Israel-Hezbollah war back in 2006.

He then slammed the Israeli law which bans activities of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in the besieged territory, emphasizing the important role UNRWA plays in providing Palestinians with their basic needs.

The war has claimed the lives of more than 44,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded over 104,000 others, in Gaza, while the escalation has killed about 3,700 people across Lebanon.

Observers say Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed to achieve any of his objectives in its genocidal war in Gaza and is now trying to escalate tensions across the entire region.

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