Military actions spreading in Middle East, Kremlin says

ISTANBUL

Military actions are spreading to a broader region in the Middle East, the Kremlin warned Tuesday as the Israeli army announced that it had launched a ground operation in southern Lebanon.

“We are seeing together that the geography of military actions is expanding. This all leads to further destabilization of the region and escalation of tension,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

Describing the tensions as “extremely destructive” for the entire Middle East and surrounding regions, Peskov said Russia remains deeply concerned in this regard.

Since Sept. 23, Israel has launched massive airstrikes against what it calls Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, killing more than 1,057 people and injuring over 2,950 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Several Hezbollah leaders have been killed in the assault, including the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 41,600 people, most of them women and children, following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October.

The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.

Russia condemns Israeli strikes on Syrian capital

Peskov also said that Russia condemned Israeli strikes in the Syrian capital Damascus earlier in the day, which killed at least three people and injured nine others, according to the Syrian state news agency.

“Of course, we are in constant contact with our Syrian friends. We do not see any immediate risks now, but, of course, we condemn such strikes against a sovereign state,” he said.

The Syrian news agency previously reported that Syrian air defenses intercepted hostile targets in the skies over Damascus three times that night.

Israel has not commented on the airstrikes.

Israel has been conducting airstrikes in Syria since 2011 against government forces, Iranian troops and Hezbollah targets.