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.



US Ambassador to Lebanon 'Very Happy' over Aoun's Election as President

People carry national flags as they hold a moment of silence marking the one-year anniversary of Beirut's port blast, near the site of the explosion in Beirut, Lebanon August 4, 2021. REUTERS/Emilie Madi Purchase Licensing Rights
People carry national flags as they hold a moment of silence marking the one-year anniversary of Beirut's port blast, near the site of the explosion in Beirut, Lebanon August 4, 2021. REUTERS/Emilie Madi Purchase Licensing Rights
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US Ambassador to Lebanon 'Very Happy' over Aoun's Election as President

People carry national flags as they hold a moment of silence marking the one-year anniversary of Beirut's port blast, near the site of the explosion in Beirut, Lebanon August 4, 2021. REUTERS/Emilie Madi Purchase Licensing Rights
People carry national flags as they hold a moment of silence marking the one-year anniversary of Beirut's port blast, near the site of the explosion in Beirut, Lebanon August 4, 2021. REUTERS/Emilie Madi Purchase Licensing Rights

US ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson said she was "very happy" over Lebanese army commander Joseph Aoun's election as president on Thursday, ending a more than two-year vacuum in the post.

Johnson and other foreign envoys had attended Thursday's session at the Lebanese parliament in which Aoun was elected.

For its part, France's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday said the election of a new Lebanese president turns a new page for the country and must now be followed by the appointment of a new government capable of carrying out reforms.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine said that a new government will have carry out reforms necessary for Lebanon's economic recovery, stability, security and sovereignty, and added that France calls on all Lebanese political leaders and authorities to work towards those goals.