By IANS,
Moscow, Oct 6 (IANS) Russia Wednesday blamed media for provoking a recent threat to attack Israel reportedly voiced by Syrian President Bashar al Assad, RIA Novosti reported.
The Russian Foreign Ministry described it “a part of a media war against Syria”.
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency Tuesday quoted Al Assad as saying that
Damascus would need “not more than six hours to transfer hundreds of rockets and missiles to the Golan Heights to fire them at Tel Aviv”.
He was speaking at a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
Fars also reported the Syrian leader as threatening that “Iran will attack US warships in the Persian Gulf and American and European interests will be targeted simultaneously”.
Russian Foreign Ministry slammed the reports, saying that these quotes were definitely made by “the forces interested in tarring Syria and its government’s image…in order to justify intervention in Syria”.
Earlier Wednesday, Syrian ambassador to Moscow Riyad Haddad said that the Arab and international media were grossly distorting the situation in Syria and published “various insinuations, including the statements attributed to Syrian authorities that they had never made.”
The Syrian opposition and Western countries condemned Russia and China Wednesday for vetoing a UN Security Council draft resolution urging the Syrian regime to immediately stop violence against protesters or face “targeted measures.”
Moscow maintains it would strongly oppose any attempts to overthrow “undesirable regimes” under the guise of a UN mandate.