Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak implicitly suggested on Sunday that his country was behind last week's air strike in Syria.

Without making a direct confirmation, Barak told the Munich Security Conference "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."

According to Syrian state-run media reports, Israeli war jets carried out an air strike at dawn on Wednesday, destroying a military research facility in the Jamarya suburb of Damascus.

Meanwhile, Western media said that the air strike targeted a convoy carrying sophisticated anti-aircraft weaponry from Syria to Lebanon's Hezbollah.

On Thursday, the president of the UN Security Council for January, Masood Khan, confirmed that Syria has sent a letter to the 15-nation UN body on the reported Israeli air strike on Syria, saying that the council is "monitoring" the subsequent heightened tensions.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday noted with "grave concern" reports of Israeli air strikes in Syria and called on all concerned to prevent an escalation of tensions in the region.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Sunday his country is capable of repulsing any aggression that might target its people thanks to the strength of its military and the awareness of its people, according to the state-media.