Lebanon says Israel’s use of its airspace to attack Syria clear breach of international law

Lebanon has condemned “in the strongest terms” Israel’s use of its airspace to carry out a missile attack near the Syrian capital, Damascus.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry expressed its "condemnation, in the strongest terms, of the air attack carried out by the Israeli enemy,” Lebanese National News Agency reported.

"While denouncing any attack on the sovereignty of brotherly Syria, and refusing to use the Lebanese airspace to target it, the Ministry expresses its full solidarity with Syria in the face of the repeated attacks carried out by the Israeli enemy."

The ministry called for international action to end the repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanon’s sovereignty which “constitutes a clear violation of international law, the Charter of the United Nations, and resolutions of international legitimacy."

The official Syrian Arab News Agency cited a military source as saying on Thursday that Syria had intercepted missiles fired by the Israeli regime from the Lebanese airspace towards the Damascus countryside.

It added that the attack by “the Zionist enemy” targeted the vicinity of the capital in early Thursday local time while the Syrian air defenses shot down “most” of the projectiles.

Following the attack, Syria renewed its call for the United Nations Security Council to take a “firm and immediate” action against acts of aggression by the Tel Aviv regime, urging the world body to hold to account Israeli authorities over their support for terrorism, crimes against the Syrian and Palestinian nations as well as their backing of Takfiri terror outfits.

“The Israeli act of aggression comes at the time when the world is celebrating Easter, which carries the message of love and peace. Israel, however, has proven though its incessant attacks on the Syrian soil that it does not believe in peace but rather in the law of the jungle,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement released on Thursday.

Israel frequently violates Lebanon’s airspace. Lebanon’s government, Hezbollah and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) have repeatedly condemned Israel’s overflights, saying they are in clear violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and the country’s sovereignty.

The resolution, which brokered a ceasefire in the war Israel launched against Lebanon in 2006, calls on the Israeli regime to respect Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah said in February that it has intercepted and shot down an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle as it crossed into Lebanon's airspace near the border village of Blida in the south of the Arab country.

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