UN's Ban warns against Syrian escalation

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned against escalating the situation in Syria after Israel struck targets near Damascus on Sunday, targeting what its officials said were Iranian missiles bound for Hezbollah militants, The Voice of Russia reported.

Israeli officials said the raid, the second in 48 hours, was not connected to Syria's civil war. It was aimed, rather, at stopping Lebanon's Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, acquiring weapons that could be used to strike Tel Aviv if Israel followed through on threats to attack Iranian nuclear facilities.

According to Syrian reports Israel targetted an arms depot, a research center and two brigades of presidential guards and killed over 300 soldiers.