After several intimations, Netanyahu openly confirmed Israel is operating against Hezbollah in Syria to prevent it from acquiring game-changing weapons.
By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News
PM Netanyahu meets with Israeli soldiers in the Golan Heights. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed clearly for the first time that Israel has conducted several air strikes against Hezbollah targets in Syria that were aimed at preventing the Lebanese terror group from obtaining advanced weapons.
Netanyahu made the comments while on a tour of the Golan Heights and while viewing a massive IDF drill in the area on Monday.
Netanyahu expressed pride over Israel’s ability to maintain “relative quiet and security” in an otherwise stormy Middle East. “We are proud of how in the entire stormy, raging and agitated Middle East, we have succeeded in maintaining relative quiet in the state of Israel and relative security.”
He told soldiers stationed on the border that “we act when we should act, including here, across the border, in dozens of attacks, to prevent Hezbollah from getting game-changing weaponry.”
He added that Israel was active against the Shiite organization on other fronts as well, “near and far.”
Netanyahu alluded to Israeli actions in Syria in an address in December. “We operate in Syria from time to time to prevent it from becoming a second terror front against us,” he said.
“We are also acting, of course, to prevent the transfer of deadly weapons from Syria to Lebanon in particular, and we will continue to do so,” he added.
The first time an Israeli official openly confirmed Israel was operating against Hezbollah in Syria was when Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold, in a rare interview to the Saudi-owned Elaph news site, confirmed that the IDF has thwarted attempts to transfer advanced weapons to the Hezbollah terror organization in Lebanon.
Gold said Israel was successful in thwarting an attempt to transfer Russian-made SA-22 missiles to Lebanon.
The last report on an Israeli Air Force (IAF) attack in Syria was in mid-February, when it reportedly attacked a munitions storage south of Damascus at the Mount Mana area near the roads leading to Dara’a.
There have been several previous reports of IAF airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in Syria, primarily against weapons shipments. Many of the weapons shipments are financed by Iran.
Israel has repeatedly vowed to prevent Hezbollah from acquiring game-changing weaponry and has warned that any such attempts would be met with a strong response.