Claudio Cordone, deputy special envoy of the UN secretary-general for Syria, has condemned an Israeli air strike on the Abu al-Duhur airbase, calling it a “deplorable escalation” of Israel’s attacks on Syria.
In a brief statement on social media, Cordone called for diplomacy and respect for Syria’s territorial integrity.
The Israeli strike on Tuesday hit the airbase in Syria’s eastern province of Idlib, damaging its runway and other facilities. No casualties were reported.
Israel said it launched the attack after believing that Syria was preparing to violate the status quo between the two countries by allowing Turkish troops to deploy at an airbase near Aleppo, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office.
Syria, Turkiye, the United States and several other Middle Eastern countries condemned the Israeli attack.
With inputs from Al Jazeera