Less than 24 hours after Israeli fighter jets retaliated against Iranian forces in Syria following a rocket attack on northern Israel, Israel appealed to the United Nations Security Council to hold Tehran responsible for the escalation.
One Wednesday night, Iranian forces operating out of Syria fired 20 rockets at northern Israel. Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system shot down four of the projectiles, while the remainder fell inside of Syrian territory.
Israeli fighter jets responded later that night, hitting a dozen targets inside of Syria, killing 18 Iranian soldiers and 5 Syrian troops.
On Thursday, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon sent letters to the Security Council and UN Secretary-General calling on them to condemn Iran’s acts of aggression.
“Israel holds the government of Iran, together with the Syrian regime, directly responsible for this attack and we will continue to defend our citizens vigorously against all acts of aggression,” Danon wrote.
“Israel is not interested in escalation, but under no circumstances will we allow Iran to establish a military presence in Syria whose purpose is to attack Israel and to deteriorate an already fragile situation in the region.”
“This brazen attack on our sovereignty does not come in a vacuum,” Ambassador Danon continued. “We have cautioned repeatedly of Iran’s alarming entrenchment in Syria and this act of aggression is regrettably a realization of these very warnings.”
“I call on the Security Council to immediately condemn this attack and demand that Iran remove its military presence from Syria that not only threatens Israel, but the stability of our entire region. The international community must not stand idly by while a tyrannical regime attacks a sovereign nation and continues to threaten the very existence of a member-state of the United Nations,” Ambassador Danon concluded.
Earlier on Thursday, the White House condemned Tehran for the attack, and expressed its support for Israel’s use of force in self-defense.
“The U.S. condemns the Iranian regime’s provocative rocket attacks from Syria against Israeli citizens, and we strongly support Israel’s right to act in self-defense.”