FILE IMAGE: Israeli battle tank
On June 7, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel adopted a new policy regarding Syria, under which the Israel military will strike the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in response to any attack on it.
“When they waged this horrific civil war, Israel did not intervene. We built a hospital. Now the war is nearly over, he [Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad] invites Iran in? He is no longer immune. If he fires at us, we’ll destroy his forces,” Netanyahu said at the Policy Exchange Institute in London, according to the Israel Ynet News.
The Israeli Prime Minister also warned that Iran is deploying troops and weapons in Syria to threaten Israel and stressed that the Israeli military will not tolerate this.
“Iran is trying to move its army a thousand miles, so it can threaten Israel. They want to bring in precision-guided rockets with half a ton warheads and submarines to the Mediterranean,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu made these statements following a tour, during which he visited Germany, France and the UK. A senior Israeli official told Israeli reporters during the tours the leaders of these three countries have reached, a “general agreement” regarding the removal of Iranian forces from Syria, according to the Times of Israel.
Recently, Israel and the US increased their pressure on Iranian forces and Lebanese Hezbollah in Syria by diplomatic and military means. Syrian observers doubt that this pressure will lead to any result as long as Tel Aviv and Washington are not willing to stop their illegal interventions in the war torn country.
