MOSCOW: Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday that Israeli missile strikes in Syria the previous day had directly threatened two civilian flights, Interfax news agency reported.
The ministry, which did not specify which flights had been threatened, added that Syrian air defences had destroyed 14 of 16 Israeli missiles launched against unspecified targets near Damascus on Tuesday.
Moscow also said that Israel had violated Syria’s sovereignty with airstrikes on Tuesday, after Israel and Damascus blamed each other for the hostilities.
“We are very concerned by the attacks and how they were made. This is a gross violation of the sovereignty of Syria,” the Russian ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.
Three Syrian soldiers were injured in the strikes, Syrian state media reported.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the reported missile strikes and the Russian allegations.
Addressing a graduation ceremony for new pilots at an Israeli air force base on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made no direct reference to specific attacks or Moscow’s criticism.
But he reiterated Israel’s intention to prevent “Iranian military entrenchment, which is directed against us” in Syria.
“We will act against it, vigorously and continuously, including during the current period,” Netanyahu said.
During the more than seven-year war in neighbouring Syria, Israel has grown deeply alarmed by the expanding clout of arch-enemy Iran, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Israel’s air force has struck scores of targets it describes as Iranian deployments or arms transfers to Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement in the Syrian conflict.
