DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Faisal Mekdad has strongly condemned the latest Zionist air strikes that hit targets in the vicinity of the capital Damascus, emphasizing that his country will definitely give a crushing response to such acts of aggression at some point in the future.
“Under the cover of passenger planes, they carry out attacks against their designated targets either from underneath or above the aircraft,” Mekdad said in an exclusive interview with the online Omani Arabic-language newspaper ‘Atheer.
He noted, “Had Syrian air defense units sprung into action and induced a knee-jerk reaction, a civilian plane could have been targeted and everyone would lay the blame on the Damascus government. We decide, therefore, to exercise self-restraint and not to show any reactions in such cases.”
“Our position concerning such attacks is fairly clear. We warn the Tel Aviv regime that an adequate response to such hostilities should await them and it will be given sooner or later,” the Syrian foreign minister underscored.
The Syrian military said Zionist missiles were fired in the early hours of October 27 at sites near Damascus and that the country’s air defenses had “confronted the missile aggression and downed most of them.” There were no casualties reported.
“At around 00:30 a.m. local time (2130 GMT), the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial aggression from the direction of the occupied Palestinian territories targeting several positions in the vicinity of Damascus,” the Syrian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The Zionist regime mostly keeps quiet about its attacks on Syrian territories, which many view as reaction to Syrian government’s increasing success in confronting terrorism.
The Zionist regime has been a main supporter of terrorist groups that have opposed the government of President Bashar al-Assad since foreign-backed militancy erupted in Syria.