Moscow on Wednesday cautioned Israel to halt its "arbitrary" airstrikes against targets in Syria, lest the Jewish state spark wider conflict in the region.
"The practice of arbitrarily launching strikes on the territory of a sovereign state, in this case Syria, should be simply excluded," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. "We urge everyone to think about the possible consequences of provoking a new round of chaos in the Middle East."
Zakharova was addressing a press briefing following a rare daytime Israeli aerial assault on Iranian military targets near Damascus. Iranian forces responded by
firing a surface-to-surface missile at Israel, which was promptly intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile shield.
The Russian statement failed to address the Iranian military build-up in Syria, which Tehran has acknowledged serves to further threaten the Jewish state, which Iran's leaders have in turn openly admitted they wish to annihilate.
