On January 30th, Israel launched an airstrike inside Syria targeting what U.S. officials said was a military research facility and a convoy carrying anti-aircraft weapons. The weapons, Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles, were said to be bound for Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group allied with Syria and Iran. However, Syria denied that any such convoy had been attacked and said the target of the strike was a scientific research centre (Bassem Mroue, “Syria threatens retaliation for Israeli airstrike“, Associated Press, 1 February 2013).
The attack further heightened tensions in the region, which have been at especially high levels since the beginning of Syria’s 22-month-old civil war. The Syrian government has suggested the possibility of a military response to the strike.
Syria sent a letter to the U.N. Secretary-General stressing the country’s “right to defend itself, its territory and sovereignty” and holding Israel and its supporters accountable.“Israel and those who protect it at the Security Council are fully responsible for the repercussions of this aggression,” the letter from Syria’s Foreign Ministry said.
Russia, the Syrian government’s most important international ally, took a similar position, describing the strike as “an unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation.”
If this information is confirmed, we have a case of unprovoked attacks on targets in the territory of a sovereign state, which grossly violates the U.N. Charter and is unacceptable. Whatever the motives, this is not justified.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on all sides to respect international law (“Ban calls for preventing further tensions after reported Israeli air strikes on Syria,” United Nations News Centre, 31 January 2013):
“The Secretary-General notes with grave concern reports of Israeli air strikes in Syria. At this time, the United Nations does not have details of the reported incident. Nor is the United Nations in a position to independently verify what has occurred. The Secretary-General calls on all concerned to prevent tensions or their escalation in the region, and to strictly abide by international law, in particular in respect of territorial integrity and sovereignty of all countries in the region.”
United Nations efforts to bring the conflict in Syria to an end have been largely ignored by all parties.
Photo credit: caspis
February 12, 2013 at 7:06 pm
DIMITRI:
Congratulations for your lines. It is right on! There are two rules in the MEDIA today.
1. The one that cries “WOLF” and everybody listens to (unlike the story)
2. The other,- when atrocities are committed by the “CRIER”, no attention is paid to it, as it is deemed “Not Important” by the same media.
While the offender’s crying is heard around the world with great intensity, aggressive actions by them is hardly ever mentioned. Obviously the news writers must feel that such actions were justified? Some people call this the “Two Way Measure”. Which means: I am OK ! but you don’t DARE!
February 4, 2013 at 1:35 pm
Lemme get this right. This aggressive action is not confirmed unless israel ADMITS having done it. So as long as it keeps mum, it gets away with violating international and humanitarian law, even as the USA acknowledges it. Even more absurd is that if the tables had been turned and israel had been attacked, we wouldn’t have heard the end of it! It’s quite disturbing how much israel has been getting away with, and how much the western media just sits on its hands and does practically nothing. Equally troubling is how the harper government is so chummy with this rogue state. They’re often in bed together, but it’s always the other party getting screwed! I hope ceasefire prints this comment, but i’m not holding my breath.