Israel warns of attack if Russia air defences used in Syria

JERUSALEM: Israel’s Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday that his country would attack Russian S-300 air defence systems in Syria if they were used against Israeli targets.

His remarks came a day after the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that Moscow could soon start to deliver S-300 systems to its ally Damascus, and cited a source as warning of “catastrophic” consequences if they were attacked. “What’s important to us is that the defensive weapons the Russians are giving Syria won’t be used against us,” Lieberman told the news website Ynet. “If they’re used against us, we’ll act against them.” Russia and Syria signed an accord in 2010 for the S-300 system but the missiles have not been delivered because of Israeli pressure, according to Kommersant. “We have an open line; we really do have discourse” with the Russians, said Lieberman, noting that their systems had never been used against Israel. “For several years we’ve been constantly in coordination and able to avoid friction with the Russians.”

Damascus fighting kills 18 pro-regime fighters: At least 18 pro-Syrian regime combatants have been killed in 24 hours of fighting in southern Damascus against the Islamic State group, a monitor said Tuesday.

That brought to at least 52 the number of pro-government fighters killed in nearly a week of military operations against Yarmuk and adjacent IS-held neighbourhoods, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

UN aid chief says $8b needed for Syria: The head of the UN aid agency said Tuesday $8 billion needs to be raised at a donor conference in Brussels to help Syrians affected by the country’s bloody civil war.

Mark Lowcock, the head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), said resources for work inside Syria and with refugees in neighbouring countries were “desperately short.” Pprogrammes may have to be cut back if funds are not forthcoming, he warned. Donor countries, aid groups and UN agencies are meeting for the seventh international conference on Syria’s future as the conflict, now in its eighth year, shows no sign of letting up. Ministers will gather to make financial commitments on Wednesday, with EU and UN officials hoping for to do better than the $6 billion pledged last year. “We’re looking for $3.5 billion for urgent humanitarian assistance inside Syria for 13 million people and then $5.6 billion to help those countries bordering Syria who are hosting refugees,” Lowcock told AFP.