Syria to strike US bases if attacked: Minister

Beirut  : The Syrian government will attack US interests in the Middle East in the event of a military strike on the country, Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said.

“Any act of aggression towards Syria is aggression towards the Arab world and the region,” Mekdad told Lebanon’s al-Manar TV channel.

The TV network is owned by the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“Our response will be to attack American interests,” said Mekdad, considered highly influential in the Assad government.

Mekdad also warned that possible US intervention would deepen “hatred for the Americans” and destabilise the whole of Middle East.

Any attack against Syria would be “support for Al Qaeda and its affiliates, whether Jabat al-Nusra or the State of Islam in Syria and Iraq”.