Israel warns Syria against targeting Israeli aircraft

Avigdor Liberman said Israel will not hesitate to take out Syria’s aerial defense system, a couple days after anti-aircraft missiles were fired at Israeli aircraft. 

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Israel would take out Syria’s defense system if it targets Israeli aircraft again as it did early Friday morning.

“Next time, if the Syrian aerial defense apparatus acts against our planes, we will destroy it,” Liberman said at the IDF induction center on Sunday. “We won’t hesitate.”

Liberman spoke a couple days after Israel’s aerial defense system intercepted missiles fired from Syria after Israel struck several targets to stop advanced weaponry from reaching the terrorist group Hezbollah. Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah criticised Israel’s strikes in Syria on Thursday night, accusing Israel of supporting ISIS.

“(Netanyahu) knows an ISIS defeat means victory for the resistance axis and Hezbollah, and a loss for Israel which supported ISIS over the past six years.”

Liberman refuted the charge, stressing Israel’s neutrality in the Syrian civil war.

“We have no interest in intervening in the civil war in Syria, either in favor of or against Assad,” noted Liberman, adding, “we do not want to clash with the Russians.

“Our main concern is with the transfer of advanced weaponry from Syria to Lebanon and that is why whenever we detect an attempt to smuggle weapons, we will act to prevent it,” Liberman explained.  “We will not compromise on this issue.”

By: Jonathan Benedek, World Israel News