Bashar al-Assad has accused Israel of trying to destabilise Syria by attacking a military research base outside Damascus last week, and said his country was able to confront “current threats … and aggression”, according to state media. The Syrian president made the remarks on Sunday in a meeting with Saeed Jalili, Iran’s national security council secretary, in Damascus. It was Assad’s first reported response to the attack. According to diplomats, Syrian rebels and security sources, Israeli jets bombed a convoy near the Lebanese border on Wednesday, apparently hitting weapons destined for Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group backed by Syria and Iran. Syria said the target was a military research centre in Jamraya, northwest of Damascus. Assad’s accusations came as Ehud Barak, Israel’s defence minister, gave the first hint of Israeli involvement in the air attack, during his appearance at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. “I cannot add anything to what you have read in the newspapers about what happened in Syria several days ago,” he said. Barak said: “It’s another proof that when we say something we mean it. We say that we don’t think that it should be allowable to bring advanced weapon systems into Lebanon, the Hezbollah from Syria, when Assad falls.” During his meeting with Assad, Jalili reaffirmed Iran’s “full support for the Syrian people … facing the Zionist aggression, and its continued co-ordination to confront the conspiracies and foreign projects”, Syrian state media said. Assad, who is Iran’s closest Arab ally, is battling a 22-month-old uprising in which 60,000 people have been killed. Assad maintains the rebels are terrorists funded and armed by Turkey and Sunni Muslim Gulf Arab states.
Assad says Israel destabilising Syria
