Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated Thursday in a statement once again that Israel will not allow Iran to establish a military presence in Syria. He added that if Syria joins Tehran to act against Israel, Damascus will also be attacked.
“Iran crossed a red line,” Netanyahu said. “We responded accordingly. The IDF carried out a very wide-ranging attack against Iranian targets in Syria.
Thanks to a correct deployment of our forces both offensively and defensively, the Iranian action failed. No rocket landed in Israeli territory and our policy is clear: We will not allow Iran to establish a military presence in Syria.”
Netanyahu said a “clear message” was delivered to the Assad regime – that Israel’s action was directed against Iranian targets in Syria. However, he said, “if the Syrian military acts against us, we will act against it. This is exactly what happened yesterday – Syrian military batteries fired surface-to-air missiles against us and, therefore, we attacked them.”
The prime minister urged the international community to prevent the Iranian Al-Quds force from establishing itself in Syria. “We need to unite in order to cut off its spreading tentacles of evil there and everywhere,” he said.
“I repeat: Whoever hurts us – we will hurt them sevenfold, and whoever is preparing to hurt us – we will act to hit them first. This is what we have done and this is what we will continue to do,” he added.