🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Syria's foreign minister pointed blame at Israel for mysterious attacks which targeted oil tankers headed to Syria that have been happening for over a year, the Associated Press reported.
"There should be deterrence to Israeli attacks on ships. The Israeli governments and arrogant Israeli leaders must understand that these attacks cannot continue with Israel not paying a price," said Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad in an interview with Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV.
Mekdad said that oil tankers coming to Syria are now under Russian protection, but did not provide any evidence explaining how Israel was behind the attacks.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
Messages left with the Israeli defense ministry and prime minister's office Monday seeking comment were not immediately returned.
Syria's oil resources are mostly outside of government controlled areas, but two of its refineries are operating. This makes Syria reliant on Iran for fuel.
U.S. Treasury sanctions have targeted a network that spans Syria, Iran and Russia responsible for shipping oil to the Syrian government, which has been at war for more than a decade.
Vessels carrying oil to Syria travel from the gulf to the Red Sea to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal.
Last month, Syria's oil ministry said a fire erupted in a tanker on its coast after what it said was a suspected drone attack.
Also in April, an attack targeted an Iranian cargo ship that is said to serve as a floating base for Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard forces off the coast of Yemen.
A shadow war in Mideast waters emerged in 2019, when the U.S. Navy blamed a series of blasts in June that year in the Gulf of Oman off the coast of the United Arab Emirates on Iran.
