DAMASCUS, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Monday warned of the "dangerous repercussions" of the Israeli missile attack on a Syrian air base earlier on Monday, according to the state news agency SANA.
The attack would not have happened If it wasn't for the unlimited U.S. support to Israel, said the ministry, charging that Israel supports the terrorist groups in Syria.
Before daybreak Monday, Israeli F-15 warplanes fired several missiles on the T-4 air base in the eastern countryside of the central province of Homs.
The Syrian air defenses shot down five of the eight missiles that were fired on the base from inside the Lebanese airspace.
SANA said the attack led to casualties, without spelling details on a death toll, while the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights placed it at 14 causalities, noting that Iranian fighters were among those killed.
Meanwhile, the ministry said the attack is considered the indirect Israeli response to the successes of the Syrian army in dislodging the terrorists out of the surrounding of Damascus.
The ministry repeated its warning that the Israeli attacks will not dissuade the army from carrying out its mission of defeating the foreign-backed terrorists.
The ministry linked the attack to the success of the Syrian army in forcing the Islam Army rebels to start evacuating the Douma district, which is the last rebel-held area in Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus.
The Islam Army accepted to evacuate and release thousands of kidnapped people on Sunday morning, with the first batch of kidnapped people released by the militants Sunday evening before the Israeli attack grabbed the headlines before daybreak Monday.
The Syrian government has for long accused Israel and the U.S. of supporting the rebels in Syria to prevent the Syrian government from regaining control over key areas in the war-torn country.
