Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech May 9 that Syria would supply Hezbollah with more advanced weapons in response to Israel's recent airstrikes near Damascus, The Daily Star reported. Nasrallah said the weapons are more sophisticated than any Hezbollah has ever obtained, and that Hezbollah was prepared to use the weapons against Israel. He also said Hezbollah was prepared to help any armed group seeking to take over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel reportedly launched its earlier airstrikes in Syria after discovering that a shipment of Iranian-made Fateh-110 short-range tactical ballistic missiles was being delivered to Hezbollah.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that he would return to the Middle East later in May for separate talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Reuters reported May 8.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said May 7 that no excuse could justify Israeli airstrikes on Syria, AFP reported.

An Iranian general on May 6 said any weapons Israel targeted in Syria did not come from Iran, Naharnet reported, citing the website of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.