Syrian FM Says Israel 'Playing with Fire'

Smoke rises from a fire in a container storage area, after Syrian state media reported an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian port of Latakia, Syria, in this handout picture released by SANA on December 7, 2021. SANA/Handout via REUTERS
Smoke rises from a fire in a container storage area, after Syrian state media reported an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian port of Latakia, Syria, in this handout picture released by SANA on December 7, 2021. SANA/Handout via REUTERS
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Syrian FM Says Israel 'Playing with Fire'

Smoke rises from a fire in a container storage area, after Syrian state media reported an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian port of Latakia, Syria, in this handout picture released by SANA on December 7, 2021. SANA/Handout via REUTERS
Smoke rises from a fire in a container storage area, after Syrian state media reported an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian port of Latakia, Syria, in this handout picture released by SANA on December 7, 2021. SANA/Handout via REUTERS

Syria's foreign minister said on Thursday that Israel was "playing with fire" following Israeli strikes near Damascus and on Aleppo's international airport the previous evening.

The strikes resulted in material damage only, according to state news agency SANA, which said Syria's air defenses shot down a number of Israeli missiles around the capital.

In comments reported by SANA on Thursday, Syria's top diplomat Faisal al-Meqdad said Israel was threatening regional security.

"Israel is playing with fire and is putting the regional military and security situations at risk of an explosion," the agency reported him as saying.

"Syria will not remain silent regarding the repeated Israeli attacks and the Israelis will pay the price sooner or later."

Israel has staged numerous strikes in Syria in recent years, mainly targeting weapons convoys or stores belonging to allied fighters from Iran.