Syria to UN: Israel Struck Targets to Distract From Coalition Breakup

Syria complained to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday night about what it said was an Israeli air attack on the country earlier in the day, the Syrian state news agency reported.

"This aggression was aimed at covering up the internal conflicts in Israel and diverting attention from the collapse of the coalition," the Syrian foreign ministry wrote in a letter to Ban and the Chadian ambassador, current president of the Security Council.

Syria called on the Security Council to "severely condemn the Israeli attack and impose punitive sanctions on Israel due to its support of Syrian terrorist organizations."

Israeli officials have neither confirmed nor denied reports of the attack and it is unclear how reliable they are.

Official Syrian media reported that Israeli jets had bombed targets near Damascus International Airport and in the town of Dimas, north of Damascus and near the border with Lebanon.

There were no reports of casualties in the reports, but the general command of the Syrian army said in a statement that several facilities had been hit, both at the Damascus International Airport and in the area of Dimas.

According to the reports, the Israeli air force flew at least 10 sorties over the Dimas area and attacked several military targets. Residents of Damascus reported hearing loud explosions on the outskirts of the city.

Al-Mayadeen, a pan-Arab television channel that is regarded as being close to both Hezbollah and the Syrian regime, reported that Syrian anti-aircraft batteries stationed at the airport had fired two missiles at the planes during the attack. 

Salim Idris, a former commander of the Free Syrian Army, speculated that the targets of the attack may have been Hezbollah arms dumps. Western intelligence agencies are making a similar assumption, according to Arab websites.