DAMASCUS, Syria, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Syria lashed out at U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and a NATO spokeswoman confirmed the Syrian army had fired a ballistic missile at civilians.
A statement released by Syria's Foreign Ministry blasted Brahimi, who said President Bashar Assad's speech earlier in the week was a "lost opportunity," the BBC said Thursday.
"Syria is shocked by the statements of Lakhdar Brahimi who has overstepped his mandate and exhibited a flagrant bias for those parties know to be conspiring against Syria and its people," the British network quoted a statement released by the Syrian Foreign Ministry saying.
Meanwhile a NATO spokeswoman confirmed a ballistic missile was fired by the Syrian Army in the direction of Aleppo and Idlib on Wednesday. There was no information concerning the type of missile fired.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian air force conducted a number of airstrikes on the Taftanaz air base in northwest Syria to try and rout out rebels who seized the base amid fierce clashes.
In Damascus, 48 Iranians who were released in a deal with the Syrian government were stranded at the airport Thursday due to bad weather, Arab media reports said. The Iranians who were taken prisoner by Syrian rebels were released in a deal in which the Syrian government released 2,130 civilians in exchange for their release Wednesday, CNN quoted Huseyin Oruc, deputy president of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation in Turkey saying.
The Wall Street Journal said the deal highlighted Iran's influence over Assad's regime.
