Russia warns Israel concerning Syrian airstrikes

Since October 7, Israeli aircraft have been systematically attacking Syrian airports.

While speaking with his Syrian counterpart on Tuesday about a recent wave of Israeli bombings, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that it is “unacceptable” to spread violence to other Middle Eastern nations.

In a phone conversation with Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, Lavrov took up the subject of Israeli bombings, “which have become more frequent against the backdrop of events around the Gaza Strip,” according to a summary of the conversation released by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The statement further stated that both ministers “emphasised the danger of attempts by external forces to turn the Middle East, in its current explosive situation, into an arena for settling geopolitical scores.”

Mekdad called Lavrov to address the state of affairs in Gaza, other bilateral matters, and the progress being made towards putting an end to the Syrian war. The north and northeast of Syria remain uncontrolled by the Damascus government, despite the failure of the 2011 effort at violent “regime change,” which was supported by the West and certain regional powers.

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Israel has bombarded Syria at least three times since the Hamas incursion from Gaza on October 7, routinely closing the airports in Aleppo and Damascus in the process. An Israeli ambassador to Germany acknowledged one of the assaults and stated that it was meant to stop “weapons deliveries from Iran.”

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, once admitted that over the previous ten years, there had been “hundreds” of strikes into Syria. When the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) do comment on the attacks, it is infrequent and they do so by claiming that they were acting in self-defense operations against Iran, blaming Tehran of providing the militants from Hezbollah. To no avail, Damascus has continuously objected to the raids as a breach of Syrian sovereignty.

Lavrov and Mekdad reached a consensus over the necessity of a “short-term cessation of the violence” in Gaza as well as a resolution to every humanitarian issue brought about by the conflict.

Although Russia denounces the Hamas attack, it regards Israel’s response to Gaza as an intolerable instance of “collective punishment” directed towards defenceless civilians. Moscow has advocated for the establishment and acceptance of an independent Palestinian state as a means of achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinians.