TERRORISTS shelled the Russian embassy in Syria yesterday as the US air-dropped 45 tonnes of arms into the country’s north-east.

Two mortar shells landed minutes apart in and near the embassy compound in Damascus, scattering Syrians who had gathered to thank Russia for its intervention in the country’s civil war.

Police told participants to disperse for fear of further shelling. No-one was reported injured.

Demonstrators carried pictures of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, along with placards reading: “Thanks Russia” and “Syria and Russia are together to fight terrorism.”

Student Osama Salal said: “All the West stood against us. Only Russia backed us. We are all here to thank Russia and President Putin.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “This is obviously a terrorist act intended to frighten supporters of the war against terror and to not allow them to prevail in the fight with extremism.”

Neighbouring Israel shelled Syrian army artillery positions in the partially occupied Golan Heights south-west of the capital yesterday in retaliation for rocket fire.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) admitted that the stray rocket fire had been the accidental result of clashes between rebels and soldiers near the border.

But it declared: “The IDF holds the Syrian army responsible for what is taking place in its territory and will not tolerate any attempt to undermine the sovereignty of the state of Israel.”

Meanwhile, US C-17 transport aircraft dropped more than 100 pallets of arms and ammunition to CIA-vetted “moderate” rebel groups in Hassakeh province.

The planes were accompanied by fighter escorts despite the fact that Isis has no aircraft and US and Russian defence officials are co-operating to avoid clashes between their air forces.

A spokesman for one of the groups, the Raqqa Revolutionaries Front, said they had been told the weapons were for a joint offensive with the Kurdish YPG militia on the Isis stronghold of Raqqa — before government troops liberates the city.

The two anti-Assad groups announced the formation of an alliance, the Democratic Forces of Syria, on Monday.

An editorial in the Communist Party of China’s People’s Daily newspaper yesterday warned the US against waging a proxy war against Russia in Syria.