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Damascus Threatens to Strike Tel Aviv Airport in Retaliation to Israeli Strikes

What is believed to be guided missiles are seen in the sky during in an attack in Damascus, Syria, January 21, 2019. (Reuters)
What is believed to be guided missiles are seen in the sky during in an attack in Damascus, Syria, January 21, 2019. (Reuters)
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Damascus Threatens to Strike Tel Aviv Airport in Retaliation to Israeli Strikes

What is believed to be guided missiles are seen in the sky during in an attack in Damascus, Syria, January 21, 2019. (Reuters)
What is believed to be guided missiles are seen in the sky during in an attack in Damascus, Syria, January 21, 2019. (Reuters)

The Syrian regime’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar al-Jaafari, warned Tuesday that Damascus could attack Tel Aviv’s airport in retaliation to Israeli strikes against Syria.

He told a Security Council briefing on the Middle East: “If the council does not take measures to stop repeated Israeli assaults against Syrian territories, then Syria will practice its legitimate right of self-defense and respond to the aggression against Damascus International Airport in kind by attacking Tel Aviv airport.”

Moreover, he criticized a report by Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, for deliberately ignoring daily Israeli crimes against residents of the occupied Golan Heights.

“Isn’t it time that the Security Council take the necessary measures to stop the repeated Israeli attacks against Syria?” he asked.

These attacks would not have taken place had the council implemented its resolutions and had member states not shown unlimited support for Israel, which has only encouraged its criminality, said Jaafari.

Israel has carried out several attacks against Iranian and Hezbollah targets since the eruption of the Syrian conflict in 2011.

Israel struck in Syria early on Monday, the latest salvo in its increasingly open assault on Iran’s presence there, shaking the night sky over Damascus with an hour of loud explosions in a second consecutive night of military action.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the air raid had mostly targeted Iranian forces, but also hit Syrians helping them. “We will strike at anyone who tries to harm us,” he said.

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Red Cross Concerned by Drone Attacks on Critical Infrastructure in Sudan

People collect food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organization to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
People collect food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organization to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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Red Cross Concerned by Drone Attacks on Critical Infrastructure in Sudan

People collect food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organization to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
People collect food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organization to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

The Red Cross raised alarm on Thursday at the growing use of drone attacks by warring parties on hospitals, electricity and water infrastructure in Sudan, which it said was contributing to widespread human rights violations.

Some 70-80% of hospitals in Sudan were not running and there were concerns cholera could surge due to damage caused by the war to water infrastructure, the International Committee of the Red Cross told reporters in Geneva.

"A recent drone attack stopped all the electricity provision in an area close to Khartoum, which means critical infrastructure is being damaged," said Patrick Youssef, the Red Cross's Regional Director for Africa, in a new report.

"There is a clear increased use of these technologies, drones - to be in the hands of everyone - which increases the impact on the local population and the intensity of attacks," Youssef said.

After two years of fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, some people are returning to Khartoum after they were forced to flee when war broke out on April 15, 2023 amidst a ongoing power struggle between the army and the RSF ahead of a transition to civilian rule.

Some 12 million people have been displaced by the conflict since 2023.

"We have seen violations of the law left, right and center,” Youssef said, urging the warring parties to allow the Red Cross access so it can offer humanitarian support and document atrocities.

In March, aid groups told Reuters that the RSF had placed new constraints on aid deliveries to territories where it was seeking to cement its control. Aid groups have also accused the army of denying or hindering access to RSF-controlled areas.

Both sides in the conflict deny impeding aid.