Syria warns entry into Golan Heights after Israeli airstrike

The Syrian government has warned Israel that it would enter the occupied Golan Heights "whenever it wants because it's a Syrian land," a warning that came a week after the latest Israeli airstrike against military positions in the capital Damascus. The comments were made by Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi on Sunday during which he said that the recent Israeli airstrike against Syria had violated the pertaining international accords. Therefore, he added, Syria has the right to behave in the Golan " because it's a Syrian property." "Golan is a Syrian Arab land and will remain so even if the Israeli army is stationing there. We have the right to enter it and go out of it whenever we want and in the way we like," he said. Last week, Israel carried out airstrikes against Syrian military positions in the Damascus' suburb of Jamraya and the Qassioun Mountain. The government's response was mild and threatened retaliation through rendering arms to the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group and allowing Syria-based Palestinian factions to wage attacks against Israel in the Golan Heights, which was taken over by Israel during 1967 war. On Saturday, The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine- General Command (PFLP-GC) welcomed Damascus' recent hint that it would open the Golan front for the Palestinian groups to launch attacks against Israel, according to a statement faxed to Xinhua. The PFLP-GC stressed that it is ready to launch military operations against the "Zionist enemy," adding that giving an access to the Golan front required a popular pressure to open all other Arab fronts, especially the Jordanian front. On Thursday, Hezbollah's chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel that his militia was ready to receive "game-changing weapons" from Syria. Earlier on Sunday, Xinhua team was accompanied by government minders to the airstrike-hit site on the Qassioun Mountain and the Jamraya suburb where a military officer placed the death toll of the brazen attack at seven while other media reports placed the death toll at no less than 40 people. The army officer told Xinhua that the targeted site contained food storage, denying reports that the targeted site contained qualitative weaponry or chemical arsenal. He said the targeted facility provides the army with 40 percent of its food needs.