As the seven-year civil war in Syria continues and threatens to escalate, CBC’s Margaret Evans is in Damascus, accompanied by Syrian government representatives.
She took questions Saturday about the ongoing conflict and the country’s future.
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The conflict playing out in Syria between Iran and Israel left 42 people dead this week, including 19 Iranians, according to a Syria war monitor.
The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights issued the number on Saturday as it reported on a wave of Israeli airstrikes on suspected military installations in Syria on Tuesday and Thursday.
Israel said the airstrikes were in response to a barrage of Iranian rockets fired toward the Israeli-held Golan Heights.
The Syrian military acknowledged that the strikes destroyed a radar station and an ammunition warehouse and damaged a number of air defence units.
On Friday, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman called on Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to rid his country of Iranian forces based there, warning their presence will only cause more trouble to the already war-ravaged country.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll from attacks early Thursday rose to 27, including at least 11 Iranians and six Syrian soldiers, including three officers.
It said airstrikes launched Tuesday killed at least 15, eight of them Iranians, including a member of the Revolutionary Guard, Iran’s elite force.
In response to Thursday’s airstrikes, Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the “blatant violation of Syria’s sovereignty.”