ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Syria’s foreign ministry on Wednesday condemned Israeli airstrikes on the southeastern city of Daraa while clarifying that Tuesday reports of missiles being launched into Israel from Syria had not yet been “verified.”

The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates “strongly condemned the Israeli shelling that targeted villages and towns in Daraa Governorate, resulting in significant human and material losses,” Syrian state media outlet SANA reported on Wednesday, denouncing the escalation as a “flagrant violation of Syrian sovereignty” and calling on the international community to halt the attacks.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported “violent explosions” on Tuesday in the “Daraa region, following Israeli airstrikes,” shortly after Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa was “directly responsible” for earlier projectiles launched into Israel from Syrian soil.

“The accuracy of the circulating reports of shelling directed toward the Israeli side has not yet been verified,” the Syrian foreign ministry statement added, noting that “there are many parties seeking to destabilize the region to achieve their own interests.” The ministry said that Syria does not pose a threat to any of its neighbors, according to SANA, citing Al Ikhbariya TV.

A rebel offensive in early December, spearheaded by the Sharaa-led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), saw the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, ending the Assads’ five-decade-long rule and shifting the political scene in Syria and the Middle East, concluding in a new interim government being installed in late January with Sharaa as its president.

US President Donald Trump said in May that Sharaa was open to joining the Abraham Accords, an initiative to normalize relations between Israel and regional countries that has thusfar included Bahrain, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and Sudan. Trump said that Sharaa “said yes" in response to the proposal while noting that "they have a lot of work to do.”

The Syrian president said in early May that there were “indirect talks” taking place between Syria and Israel to “contain the situation” before tensions get out of the control of both sides.

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes into Syria since the ouster of the Assad regime, claiming that they do not want advanced weapons to fall into the hands of the new authorities in Syria, whom Israel remains wary of due to the new leadership's former ties with extremist groups like al-Qaeda.