Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accused the Zionist entity of trying to destabilize Syria after an air strike on a scientific research center near Damascus last week unmasked the true role the entity was playing

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accused the Zionist entity of trying to destabilize Syria after an air strike on a scientific research center near Damascus last week unmasked the true role the entity was playing.

State TV said Assad spoke during a meeting with visiting head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili. The comments by Assad are the first since the attack on Wednesday that killed two people and injured five others.

The president said Syria is capable of facing current challenges and can "confront any aggression" that would target the Syrian people.

He said that last Wednesday’s raid “unmasked the true role Israel is playing, in collaboration with foreign enemy forces and their agents on Syrian soil, to destabilize and weaken Syria.”

Images of the targeted site show destroyed cars, trucks and military vehicles. A building has broken windows and damaged interiors, but no major structural damage.

State news agency SANA quoted Jalili as reaffirming Tehran’s full support for the Syrian people facing the Zionist aggression, and its continued coordination to confront the conspiracies and foreign projects.

Israeli defense minister has indicated from Munich that the entity was behind the air strike, in the first public comments from his government on the attack.

Ehud Barak brought the issue up at a gathering of the world's top diplomats and defense officials in Germany, initially saying: “I cannot add anything to what you have read in the newspapers about what happened in Syria several days ago.”

But he added: “I keep telling frankly that we said - and that's proof when we said something we mean it - we say that we don't think it should be allowed to bring advanced weapons systems into Lebanon.”