DAMASCUS, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Syria's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that the Israeli attacks will only increase tension in the region and pose a "serious" threat to regional and international peace, according to the state news agency SANA.

The ministry said that Israel is now opting for direct confrontation after having been "hiding behind its terrorist tools."

The ministry said that the attackers will be confronted with the same strength and determination, adding that "this is a legitimate right guaranteed by international law."

Earlier in the day, Israel carried out a series of cross-border missile attacks on Syrian military positions, targeting arms depots, radar stations, and air defense battalions.

It is part of the growing tension between Israel and Iran, Syria's main regional ally.

The Syrian army said in a statement that the Syrian air defenses destroyed large numbers of the missiles, adding that some military positions were hit.

It's the second large-scale missile strike on Syria since April when the United States and its Western allies launched a series of missile strikes on Syrian military positions in retaliation to allegations of chemical weapons use on a former rebel-held area east of Damascus.

But the confrontation with Israel early Thursday was long and more intense, reflecting the boiling tension between Israel on one side and Iran and Syria on the other.

Israel has repeatedly said it was not going to tolerate an Iranian military presence inside Syria and targeted several positions where Iranian fighters were believed to have been stationed in recent years.

The Thursday attack was a major Israeli-Syrian confrontation since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.