Syria Reportedly Blasts US for 'Systematic Attacks' on Belarus, Meddling Attempts

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Damascus denounces the US-led campaign against Belarus and interference in its domestic affairs following the Ryanair plane incident, the national state broadcaster Al-Ikhbariya reported on Sunday, citing a source in the Syrian Foreign Ministry.

On Friday, Washington announced that it was working together with the EU and other allies on developing targeted sanctions against key Belarusian officials and would reinstate previously lifted sanctions against nine Belarusian state-owned enterprises.

"Syria strongly condemns the systematic attacks on the Republic of Belarus and the interference in its affairs by the United States and their allies," an unnamed official said, as quoted by Al-Ikhbariya.

The source added that Syria "expresses full solidarity with friendly Belarus and calls on the international community to put an end to the US actions that pose a serious threat to international peace and security."

On 23 May, a Ryanair flight travelling from Greece to Lithuania had to make an emergency landing in Belarus' Minsk over a bomb threat, which turned out to be fake. One of its passengers, Roman Protasevich, founder of a Telegram channel that Minsk has designated as extremist, was detained during the stopover at the airport along with Russian citizen Sofia Sapega.

Despite Belarus maintaining that its air traffic controllers put no pressure on the crew to ground the plane, the incident prompted outrage in the West.