India's guarded reply on Israel's airstrikes in Syria

Amid the condemnation of Israeli air strikes on Syria, India on Thursday gave a guarded reply on its stance over the Tel Aviv's attack on Damascus.

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Responding to a question over India's stance on Israel's move in the West Asian country, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, "We are closely following developments in Syria. As far as we are concerned, we want peace and stability to return to the country as soon as possible."

Israel has launched several air strikes in the heart of the Syrian capital, Damascus, amid clashes in the country's southwestern city of Suwayda after a truce between government forces and Druze armed groups collapsed.

The attacks on Syria’s capital come amid continuing unrest in the city of Suwayda, where local Sunni Bedouin tribes have been engaged in fierce clashes in recent days with fighters from Syria’s Druze minority, whom Israel views as a potential ally in Syria and claims to be intervening to protect.

Earlier, several countries, including US, Russia, some European countries and others condemned Israel's move in Syria. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was “very concerned” about the escalation in violence.

“We’re going to be working on that issue… I just got off the phone with the relevant parties. We’re very concerned about it, and hopefully, we’ll have some updates later today. But we’re very concerned about it,” Rubio said

Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, said on X that he was “very concerned” about the Israeli strikes on Damascus, adding that “Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity need to be respected”.

“I call on all parties to refrain from violence and to de-escalate,” he said.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – condemned the attacks in the “strongest terms”.

Russia also condemned Israel's Syria strikes, while terming it as "gross violation of international law and country's sovereignty, must be condemned".