Iran: Israel will regret Syria air strike

Ynetnews - Iran warned Israel Monday that it would "regret" its air strike against Syria last week, without spelling out whether Iran or its ally planned any military response.

"They will regret this recent aggression," Said Jalili, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told a news conference in Damascus, a day after holding talks there with President Bashar Assad.

Jalili likened Israel's alleged attack on a military compound northwest of Damascus on Wednesday to previous conflicts, including the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

"Today, too, both the people and the government of Syria are serious regarding the issue. And also the Islamic community is supporting Syria," he said.

Jalili said Iran, in its current role as head of the Non-Aligned Movement, would work on Syria's behalf on the international stage in response to the attack.

The alleged IAF strike in Syria is proof that "Israel is doing the rebels' bidding," Syrian Defense Minister Gen. Fahd Jassem al-Freij said Monday.

"When the Israeli enemy realized that its puppets were failing, it interfered on their behalf," he said.

Assad's regime has been steadily denying that a civil war is tearing through the country. Assad recently declared the revolt to be "fictitious" and reiterated claims that Damascus is fighting Syrian terror groups aided by the West.

The rebels, which al-Freij called "terror groups," have targeted the research center dozens of times in the past, he said. "Faced with their failure, Israel took the lead."

Asked about the possibility that Syria will launch a counterstrike, he said that "The Syrian Army has already proven that it cannot be broken."

Regional equation complex

Former MI Chief Amos Yadlim commented to the foreign reports linking Israel to the alleged attack on a weapons convoy in the area, rumored to be transferring SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles, saying that Israel "would know how to deal with them."

SA-17 missiles are highly sophisticates projectiles described as "game changers" – should the fall into Hezbollah's hands.

"The IDF will know how to deal with this weapon and any other weapon," Yadlin said.

"Having such weapons in Lebanon would be in volition of UN Resolution 1701. It's not for nothing that they insist that it was a research center that was bombed. If the (Syrians) admitted that they were transferring such weapons to anyone they would be in violation of their deal with the Russians, as well."