ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Syria on Saturday condemned what it described as an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle southwest of Damascus that left “a number of civilian casualties.” The latest attack comes days after Israel struck an airbase northwest of the country, amid reports of rehabilitation efforts at the facility purportedly backed by Turkey.
Syria "condemns in the strongest terms" Israel's drone strike on "a civilian vehicle on the Mazraat Beit Jinn - Beit Jinn road in the western part of Rif Dimashq [province], which resulted in a number of civilian casualties," Damascus’ foreign ministry said in a statement.
"This attack constitutes a flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic and a blatant breach of international law," the ministry said, censuring what it called "repeated Israeli aggressions against Syrian territory."
Damascus held Tel Aviv "fully responsible for the consequences" of the attacks, warning that their continuation "will further escalate tensions and instability in the region and endanger the security and safety of civilians."
It further urged the international community and the UN Security Council "to assume their legal and political responsibilities, work to halt these attacks, and put an end to Israel's repeated violations of Syrian sovereignty.”
The incident comes days after Syria on Tuesday deplored “Israeli airstrikes targeting Abu al-Duhur Military Airbase in Idlib province," Damascus foreign ministry said in a previous statement, calling the strikes an "unjustified act of aggression.”
The statement said "the continuation of these Israeli attacks" since the late December 2024 ouster of longtime Syrian president Bashar al-Assad aims to "undermine" Syria's efforts to "consolidate stability and avoid escalation," accusing Israel of attempting to "drag the region towards further tension and instability."
Earlier on Tuesday, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, reported that the strikes came amid "ongoing Turkish rehabilitation work inside the facility," pointing to a recent visit by "a Turkish military delegation" to "inspect the ongoing rehabilitation work."
Citing its sources, SOHR also reported that "non-Syrian fighters" had been deployed to the base, describing the activity as part of "synchronized Turkish military and technical moves involving multiple sites," after Turkish forces deployed radars across northern and western Syria.
However, Ankara on Thursday affirmed that “no Turkish military delegation was present at the base prior to or during Israel's attack on the Abu al-Duhur airbase,” Turkish Defense Ministry spokesperson Admiral Zeki Akturk said during a press briefing.
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