JEDDAH – The Council of Ministers on Monday called for UN action to end Israeli strikes on Syria, describing the raids as a “dangerous violation” of the sovereignty of an Arab state, Saudi Press Agency reported. The Cabinet voiced deep concern on the worsening situation in Syria and urged “swift action by the UN Security Council to stop these Israeli attacks on Syrian territories and ensure they are not repeated. It warned of its dangerous effects in the region's security and stability. Israeli raids on Syrian targets near Damascus at the weekend killed at least 42 soldiers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said. A diplomatic source in Beirut said the sites targeted by Israeli warplanes were the Jamraya military facility, a nearby weapons depot and an anti-aircraft unit in Sabura, west of Damascus. Sunday's strike came about 48 hours after a reported Israeli raid on a weapons storage facility at Damascus airport. Oil prices spiked above $105 a barrel, their highest in nearly a month, on Monday morning as the air strikes on Friday and Sunday prompted fears of a wider spillover of Syria's two-year-old civil war that could affect Middle East oil exports. UN leader Ban Ki-moon has warned against any escalation of a conflict that has killed more than 70,000 people in Syria since it erupted in March 2011. The strikes have raised new concerns of a regional spillover of Syria's conflict. Ban spoke by telephone with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Al-Arabi, whose 22-member bloc demanded UN Security Council intervention to stop such Israeli attacks. Egypt condemned the raids as a “violation” of international law, Britain warned of “increasing danger” to the Middle East. The National Coalition, the war-torn country's umbrella opposition group, also condemned the attack while accusing President Bashar Al-Assad's regime of complicity by weakening the army in its battle with Syria's people. Lebanon called on the UN Security Council to condemn violations of its airspace by Israel. “The Israeli Air Force continues to violate Lebanese airspace and in the previous days intensified its circuits above Lebanon. This constitutes a disgraceful violation of (Lebanon's) sovereignty,” Lebanon wrote to the Security Council. China also implicitly criticized Israel's air strikes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Shanghai for a visit. “We are opposed to the use of force and believe that the sovereignty of any country should be respected,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing when asked about the raids. She added that China urged all sides to “exercise restraint and refrain from actions that may escalate tensions”. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said the reported air strikes “caused particular alarm”. “The further escalation of armed confrontation sharply increases the risk of creating new areas of tension, in addition to Syria, in Lebanon, and the destabilization of the so-far relatively calm atmosphere on the Lebanese-Israeli border.” – Agencies
