Syria opposition soft on Israel airstrike

Foreign-backed opposition in Syria has stopped short of throwing its weight behind the Syrian government’s possible retaliation against the Israeli airstrike on a research center near the capital Damascus.

On Friday, the opposition contented itself with promising the Syrians to use political and diplomatic means to bring a halt to such attacks by the Israeli regime.

In a letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that “Israel and those who protect it at the [UN] Security Council are fully responsible for the repercussions of this aggression.”

According to a statement issued by the Syrian Army on Wednesday, Israeli fighter jets “carried out a direct strike” on the research center in Jamraya in the early hours of the day, killing two people and injuring five others.

Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali said on Thursday that his country had the option to respond to the Israeli airstrike.

He said Damascus was likely to take “a surprise decision to respond to the aggression of the Israeli warplanes.”

Also on Thursday, Syria called on the Security Council to issue a “clear condemnation of the flagrant Israeli attack on the territories of a sovereign state and the Israeli violation of the UN Charter, the international law, the [Agreement on] Disengagement… in 1974 and the relevant UNSC resolutions.”