Syria Warns Of ‘Grave Consequences’ To Israeli Retaliatory Fire

Tensions along Israel’s shared northern border with Syria ratcheted up Saturday, as the Israeli army destroyed multiple Assad regime assets in response to their firing of five rockets that landed on the Israeli side of the Golan Heights. Syria’s Foreign Ministry thereafter sent a letter to both the United Nations secretary-general and to the Security Council president “warning of grave consequences [to] such repeated aggressive acts.” The exchange follows an incident last week in which Israeli fighter jets destroyed a Syrian SA-5 anti-aircraft battery east of Damascus, after the missile defense system engaged Israeli reconnaissance planes conducting routine aerial flights in Lebanese airspace. Meanwhile, Iranian army leader Mohammad Bagheri made a rare visit to Syria this weekend, signing a memorandum of understanding to upgrade coordination with Assad’s forces, including a plan to counter “Zionist-American schemes.” For their part, both Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and military chief Gadi Eizenkot are currently in the United States, where they are pressing Jerusalem’s positions vis-à-vis Tehran and Damascus to their American counterparts. Israel has repeatedly made clear that it will not allow the Islamic Republic to gain a permanent foothold in Syria, from which it could open up a second front in a future war between the Jewish state and Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hizbullah.