Russia, China express alarm after Israeli air raids on Syria
Source: Agencies |
May 7, 2013, Tuesday
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Print Edition
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RUSSIA and China expressed alarm yesterday over the regional repercussions of two Israeli air raids on Syria, while Israel played down the strikes which its officials said targeted Iranian missiles bound for Lebanese Hezbollah militants.
Oil prices spiked above US$105 a barrel, their highest in nearly a month, yesterday morning as the air strikes on Friday and Sunday prompted fears of a wider spillover of Syria's two-year-old civil war that could affect Middle East oil exports.
Israel, whose prime minister visited China yesterday in a sign of business-as-usual, sought to persuade Syrian President Bashar Assad that the air strikes did not aim to weaken him and dismissed the prospects of an escalation.
"There are no winds of war," Yair Golan, the general commanding Israeli forces on the Syrian and Lebanese fronts, told reporters yesterday while out jogging with troops.
"Do you see tension? There is no tension. Do I look tense to you?" he said.
The attacks hit targets manned by Assad's elite troops in the Barada River valley and Qasioun Mountain. They included a compound linked to Syria's chemical weapons program, air defenses and Republican Guards' facilities.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 42 soldiers were killed and 100 more were missing, while other opposition sources put the death toll at 300 soldiers.
Russia said it was concerned the chances of foreign military intervention in Syria were growing.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said the reported air strikes "caused particular alarm."
"The further escalation of armed confrontation sharply increases the risk of creating new areas of tension, in addition to Syria, in Lebanon, and the destabilization of the so-far relatively calm atmosphere on the Lebanese-Israeli border."
Assad's government accused Israel of effectively helping al-Qaida terrorists and said the strikes "open the door to all possibilities." It said many civilians had died.
Israel has not confirmed the attack officially, but has reinforced anti-missile batteries in the north. Israeli officials said the raids were not connected with Syria's civil war but aimed at stopping Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, acquiring weapons to strike Israeli territory if Israel were to attack Iranian nuclear sites.
Iran denies Israeli and Western accusations that it is bent on acquiring atomic weapons, a long-running dispute that now threatens to intersect with the bloody strife in Syria.
China, hosting Netanyahu, urged restraint and the respect of sovereignty, without mentioning Israel by name.
"We oppose the use of military force and believe any country's sovereignty should be respected," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in Beijing.
"China also calls on all relevant parties to begin from the basis of protecting regional peace and stability, maintain restraint and avoid taking any actions that would escalate tensions and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability," Hua told news briefing.
Oil prices spiked above US$105 a barrel, their highest in nearly a month, yesterday morning as the air strikes on Friday and Sunday prompted fears of a wider spillover of Syria's two-year-old civil war that could affect Middle East oil exports.
Israel, whose prime minister visited China yesterday in a sign of business-as-usual, sought to persuade Syrian President Bashar Assad that the air strikes did not aim to weaken him and dismissed the prospects of an escalation.
"There are no winds of war," Yair Golan, the general commanding Israeli forces on the Syrian and Lebanese fronts, told reporters yesterday while out jogging with troops.
"Do you see tension? There is no tension. Do I look tense to you?" he said.
The attacks hit targets manned by Assad's elite troops in the Barada River valley and Qasioun Mountain. They included a compound linked to Syria's chemical weapons program, air defenses and Republican Guards' facilities.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 42 soldiers were killed and 100 more were missing, while other opposition sources put the death toll at 300 soldiers.
Russia said it was concerned the chances of foreign military intervention in Syria were growing.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said the reported air strikes "caused particular alarm."
"The further escalation of armed confrontation sharply increases the risk of creating new areas of tension, in addition to Syria, in Lebanon, and the destabilization of the so-far relatively calm atmosphere on the Lebanese-Israeli border."
Assad's government accused Israel of effectively helping al-Qaida terrorists and said the strikes "open the door to all possibilities." It said many civilians had died.
Israel has not confirmed the attack officially, but has reinforced anti-missile batteries in the north. Israeli officials said the raids were not connected with Syria's civil war but aimed at stopping Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, acquiring weapons to strike Israeli territory if Israel were to attack Iranian nuclear sites.
Iran denies Israeli and Western accusations that it is bent on acquiring atomic weapons, a long-running dispute that now threatens to intersect with the bloody strife in Syria.
China, hosting Netanyahu, urged restraint and the respect of sovereignty, without mentioning Israel by name.
"We oppose the use of military force and believe any country's sovereignty should be respected," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in Beijing.
"China also calls on all relevant parties to begin from the basis of protecting regional peace and stability, maintain restraint and avoid taking any actions that would escalate tensions and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability," Hua told news briefing.
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