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Syrian foreign minister says country ‘can respond any day’ to Israeli airstrikes

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israel reportedly targeted Iran-backed militia posts and weapons warehouses.

An Israel Defense Forces map of where it carried out airstrikes against Iranian and Syrian targets on Nov. 20, 2019. Source: IDF Spokesperson's Unit.
An Israel Defense Forces map of where it carried out airstrikes against Iranian and Syrian targets on Nov. 20, 2019. Source: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said that a reprisal by Damascus to reported Israeli airstrikes on Iranian-linked targets in his country could occur at any time, Kan News reported on Monday.

“We can respond any day; we will not forget,” Mekdad told the Lebanese pro-Hezbollah Al-Mayadeen television channel.

According to the news report, Mekdad said Syria “is able to respond” but refused to say when an attack would come. Mekdad said Syrian civilians dissatisfied with a lack of retribution “have truth in their words. We do not forget our victims.”

Earlier on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the explosions that occurred in Damascus and other areas at 5 a.m. occurred when “Israeli missiles fired from the occupied Syrian Golan [Heights]” struck “posts and weapons warehouses of Iran-backed militias in the vicinity of Damascus international airport.”

Two people were killed in the strikes, reported Syrian state media.

It added that “this is the seventh Israeli attack on the Syrian land since early 2022.”

“I think they allowed it to go on too long—the protests, everything,” Jonathan (“Jay”) Sures, one of 26 regents of the public school system, told JNS.
“It’s not about improving Israel’s image. It’s not about fighting back the media war,” Talia Dekel-Fleissig told JNS. “It’s about making sure that the public understands what’s actually going on.”
“It’s not a decisive shift to a new phase of the war,” Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran, told JNS. “Rather it is a reminder that the U.S. has the will to police the Strait of Hormuz.”
The film was also nixed by both of Australia’s national public broadcasters.