Syria: Barbaric zionist aggression on Damascus proves regime’s criminal nature

“The racist Israeli entity launched a brutal act of aggression on Saturday, January 20, 2024, against a residential neighborhood in Damascus. The inhumane act resulted in the complete collapse of a building, damage to nearby structures, and death and injury of civilians,” the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said in a statement.

It added, “This barbaric aggression, together with the mass murder that the Zionist enemy is perpetrating in the occupied Palestinian territories, proves beyond any doubt the criminal nature of the entity and its leaders.”

Five Iranian military advisors of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) were killed in the Israeli missile attack on a building in the Mazzeh neighborhood of Damascus.

An eyewitness living in the area said he heard four to six missiles passing through the sky in quick succession.

The Syrian ministry also called upon the international community to take an immediate action aimed at stopping the crimes and massacres that Israel is committing against ordinary people and civilian facilities.

Such acts undermine regional and international security and peace, are in flagrant violation of the principles of the UN Charter, and openly flout the purposes and goals for which the world body was established, the statement noted.

The Syrian foreign ministry stressed that attacks on civilians and demolition of residential buildings, with utter disregard for women, children or elderly people inside, has become a regular approach of the Israeli regime.

The latest Israeli attack on Damascus reflects the policy of extermination instituted by fascist Zionism, which has its roots in the denial of existence of other peoples and their rights, the ministry said.

“Syria reiterates that this act of aggression will only strengthen its determination to stand up to these inhumane Zionist plots, and the policy of genocide and ethnic cleansing which the Israeli entity is practicing without any consideration for international law and conventions,” the statement read.

The Syrian foreign ministry finally urged the international community to stand up to Israel’s genocidal policies in the Arab world, asking the UN Security Council to shoulder its responsibilities as to safeguarding international peace and security, hold Israeli political and military officials to account, and put an end to their inhumane and immoral policies.

Iran maintains an advisory mission in Syria at the request of Damascus to help the war-torn Arab country fight off the foreign-backed militants who have been fighting the democratically-elected Syrian government since 2011.

The Israeli regime has ramped up its airstrikes on Syria since early October, when it launched the ongoing genocidal war against the Gaza Strip.