Syria: Reaction to the Israeli air attack. Syria's ambassador to Lebanon said that Syria had "the option and the capacity to surprise in retaliation," for the Israeli air attack on 30 January. Syria also sent a letter to the UN asserting its right of self-defense.
The Iranian deputy foreign minister warned that the attack would have "grave consequences for Tel Aviv."
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the strike "blatantly violates the United Nations Charter and is unacceptable and unjustified, whatever its motives."
Lebanon's Foreign Ministry also condemned the attack.
Comment: In normal times, Syria would have multiple methods of retaliating, but it has limited capability to do so now. Retaliation can come at any time, but immediate retaliation is unlikely because Israel is on alert. Syria can also retaliate through proxies, such as Hezbollah or Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
It does have enough capability to try to bait Israel into executing more attacks or, more likely, to cooperate with Israel in a sham border crisis.
If that were to happen, it would mean that Israel had decided to support the Asad government by providing him a reason to rally the nation against the external threat.
Some of the Syrian opposition leaders recognize that because they also denounced the Israeli attack.
Target update. A US news outlet, quoting an unidentified US official, reported that the SA-17s were in a convoy at the Jamraya research center, preparing to depart. Another source said the Israeli Air Force used a dozen aircraft in the attack.
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