Lebanon Denounces Zionist Aggression Against Quake-Hit Syria

Date: 20 February 2023 - 22:17

News ID: ۱۱۲۵۹۱

BEIRUT (Dispatches) – Lebanon has strongly condemned the latest Zionist airstrikes on the Syrian capital Damascus that heavily damaged residential buildings and caused civilian casualties, saying the aggression confirms the regime’s indifference to human suffering.
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry, in a statement, denounced the “attack on the sovereignty of Syria, which is still reeling from the repercussions of the devastating earthquake that struck it” on February 6 and killed thousands.
The ministry called the airstrikes a “violation of the most basic rules of international law.”
“It comes to reaffirm Israel’s indifference to the human suffering resulting from its attacks on the peoples of the region in all circumstances, especially in times of tragedies, which doubles its moral condemnation,” the statement read.
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad called for immediate international condemnation of the Zionist regime’s missile attack.
During a meeting with ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions on Sunday, Mekdad emphasized that such attacks constitute a crime against humanity, particularly in light of recent earthquakes.
Mekdad called on the UN Secretary General and the Security Council to immediately condemn the regime and hold it accountable for its crimes, and to exert pressure to lift the unilateral sanctions against Syria, which have impeded relief efforts for victims of the earthquake by preventing the delivery of equipment, medicine, and other essential medical supplies.
At least five people, including a soldier, were killed and 15 others wounded in the Israeli airstrikes early on Sunday, the Syrian army said in a statement.
The attack was launched from the occupied Golan Heights and targeted several military sites in Damascus, including the southwestern residential neighborhood of Kafar Sousah, the statement noted.
It added that many of the wounded are in critical condition, and many residential homes in Damascus and its countryside were damaged.
Social media reports circulated the news, saying pharmacist Lilian Ouda, cardiologist Asif Mahmoud, and engineer Dean Sharaf Amjad Ahmed Ali were killed in the aggression.
The Syrian air defenses reportedly intercepted most of the missiles, with al-Mayadeen news agency saying that the Israeli strike targeted also areas in Damascus countryside, including Tal al-Masih near the city of Shahba, north of al-Suwayda in southwestern Syria.
The attack came 12 days after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Syria, which is already shattered by more than a decade of war and draconian U.S. sanctions, leaving more than 5,800 people dead and a lot more injured.