OREANDA-NEWS  Moscow is calling on the Israeli leadership to abandon aggressive military actions against Syria, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"We categorically condemn such irresponsible actions, they increase the likelihood of an armed conflict in the Pale East, pushing the region to a dangerous abyss. We urge the Israeli leadership to abandon military actions against Syria," she said during a briefing.

Earlier, the Israeli air force struck the vicinity of the city of Baniyas in northwestern Syria, causing material damage, the Syrian news agency SANA reported on the night of July 9, citing a military source.

On July 11, the army reported attacks on the infrastructure of the Syrian armed forces, accusing Damascus of violating the border established under the 1974 agreement on the division of forces between Israel and Syria in the buffer zone on the Golan Heights. Already on July 12, Israel announced that it had struck a military post in the Tasil area in southern Syria in response to a shell fired on Thursday from Syria at the northern territory of Israel in the Golan Heights area.