By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW

Israel must stop its strikes on the Syrian territory, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Friday.

Commenting on the latest Israeli attacks on the country, he said: "Any strikes destabilize the situation in Syria."

"As for the latest Israeli attacks, we stated that such arbitrary attacks on sovereign Syrian territory must be stopped and excluded," Gatilov said, talking to reporters on the occasion of the Day of Diplomat in Russia in Moscow.

In recent months, the Israeli army has waged a wide-ranging campaign along the Lebanese border with the ostensible aim of uncovering tunnels believed to have been dug by Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.

The latest Israeli strike on Syria came in late January.