“It is unacceptable that the Zionist regime attacks Syria every time it wants,” General Mohammad Bagheri said during a press conference in Damascus.

Iran’s military chief of staff stated Wednesday morning that strikes launched at will by the Israel Air Force on Syrian targets could no longer be tolerated, in what appeared to be a warning that Israel’s next attack would be responded to with force.

“It is unacceptable that the Zionist regime attacks Syria every time it wants,” General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri said during a press conference in Damascus.

Speaking alongside his Syrian counterpart, General Ali Abdullah Ayyoub, Bagheri’s comments came on the heels of a strike carried out by Israeli jets Monday morning on a Syrian aerial facility. The Israeli attack was in response to Syria’s launching of a surface-to-air missile at Israeli F-16 planes as the Israel Air Force was conducting a routine reconnaissance mission in Lebanese air space.

During the press conference, the two military chiefs told journalists that Syria and Iran were consolidating ties and stood in solidarity against Israel.

“We are in Damascus to be emphatic, for the sake of coordination and for the sake of cooperation in order to fight back against our shared enemies, whether they are Zionists or terrorists,” added Bagheri during his rare visit.

“We discussed ways to strengthen future relationships and we outlined the fundamental parameters of this cooperation,” he continued.

Bagheri’s display of unity with Syria comes just a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman met in Jerusalem with the latter’s Russian counterpart, Sergey Shoigu, to reiterate that Israel will not tolerate Iranian military entrenchment in Syria.

“Iran has to understand that Israel will not allow this,” Netanyahu said during the meeting with Shoygu, whose country continues to act as the chief patron of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Israeli leaders have held numerous meetings with Russian dignitaries and top military brass in a bid to coordinate operational movements and prevent unintended skirmishes between Israeli and Russian forces.

The IDF frequently undertakes measures in Syria, which has been embroiled in a violent civil war for the past six years, and in Lebanon in order to destroy weapons convoys heading to Tehran’s terror proxies, such as Hezbollah, which Israel fears would be used against it in the next round of hostilities.

By: World Israel News Staff

The post Iran’s army chief: Keep the Zionists out of Syria appeared first on World Israel News.

Russia’s defense minister arrived in Israel for discussions on Iran and security coordination in Syria.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived in Israel on Monday for a two-day visit to meet with his Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Liberman, for discussions on Iran and security coordination in Syria.

Shoigu’s visit to Israel is his first since becoming Russia’s defense minister in 2012.

He said during the meeting that he wanted to discuss “several issues that require urgent solutions and discussion of the prospects for further development of the situation in Syria,” Russia’s Sputnik News reported.

Shoigu also expressed certainty that the talks would help “to better understand each other” and contribute to the strengthening of friendly relations between the Russian and Israeli militaries.

Liberman visited Russia in April and met with high-level officials, including Shoigu.

The meeting between the defense ministers addressed similar issues raised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his late-August meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi. Netanyahu and Putin discussed Iran’s “accelerated” presence in Syria and the transfer of weapons to the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.

Netanyahu and Putin have held six bilateral meetings over the past two years to discuss regional issues and to maintain a protocol that prevents friction between their militaries in Syria.

In July, Netanyahu said a ceasefire agreement in southern Syria, brokered by the US and Russia at the G20 Summit in Germany, endangers Israel’s security and perpetuates the presence of Iranian forces near Israel. America and Russia responded to Netanyahu’s criticism by saying Israel’s interests would be taken into account in the war-torn state.

Shoigu’s arrival in Israel came just hours after the Israeli Air Force (IAF) launched a retaliatory strike against a Syrian army anti-aircraft battery Monday morning.

IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said the Russian military was notified in real time as the Israeli strike was launched and that the incident will be addressed directly with Shoigu.

By: JNS.org and World Israel News Staff

The post Russian defense minister arrives in Israel for ‘urgent’ talks on Syria, Iran appeared first on World Israel News.

A precarious development in the Middle East? Russia and Iran are building stronger military and diplomatic ties.

By: AP and World Israel News Staff

Iran’s defense minister is visiting Moscow for talks over closer military cooperation with Russia.

Gen. Hossein Dehghan met Tuesday with President Vladimir Putin and also with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu.

Shoigu hailed a “high level of mutual trust” between Moscow and Tehran and their readiness to coordinate policies.

The two defense ministers have signed an agreement to expand military ties between the two countries in January 2015. At the time, Shoigu declared that Moscow wanted to develop a “long-term and multifaceted” military relationship with Iran.

Russia and Iran both back Syrian President Bashar Assad in Syria’s civil war.

Dehghan said in an interview with Russian state television that Tehran wants to expand military and technical ties with Russia.

Russia has a contract with Iran to deliver long-range S-300 air defense missiles, and Tehran also has expressed interest in other Russian weapons.

Jerusalem views the delivery of the S-300 batteries  with “grave concern.” The sale will “only encourage Iranian aggression in the region” and “further undermine the stability of the Middle East,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated after Russia announced the sale to Iran last November.

Dehghan said earlier this month that Iran plans to sign a deal with Russia for the purchase of Su-30 fighter jets.

He also announced during a recent television interview that Iran will sign a contract with Russia for the co-production of an undisclosed number of Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30 multirole fighter aircraft, Fars News Agency reports.

Should the deal go through, Iran will be the second country in the world after India to produce a variation of the Su-30 fighter jet locally.

Russia’s Sputnik News reported on Monday that Iran plans to import Russian technology to produce the Russian T-90 tank.

Commander of the Iranian Ground Forces, Brigadier General Heydari Kiyumars, said that “Iran wants to take over the tank production technology along with its purchase,” noting that the Iranian Army cannot acquire military equipment without importing the technology pertaining to its production.

The post Iranian defense minister visits Russia to foster military ties appeared first on World Israel News.