Israeli aircraft fight back against terror from above. Illustrative image of F-35. Image courtesy of the US Department of Defense website. The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.
When Israel said it intended to prevent Iran from establishing a base in Syria, they meant it—striking more than 200 Iranian targets in Syria since 2017. The Times of Israel, citing senior IDF officials in a press briefing on Tuesday, reported that Israel hit the hundreds of targets—which included advanced weaponry and military bases—with 800 bombs and missiles.
One day earlier, Israeli military leveled an existential threat against Iran’s proxy terror group in Lebanon, Hezbollah. The head of the IDF Northern Command, Major General Yoel Strick, was quoted by the IDF Spokesperson Twitter feed in a series of tweets as saying of Hezbollah at the Channel 2 News conference, “We‘re aware of their financial situation and abilities. If they knew what we knew about them, they wouldn’t speak so confidently.”
He continued, “Their terrorist organization will feel our strength. I hope there‘ll be no war, but if there is, it‘ll be the last northern war.”
Past media reports had indicated that some of Israel’s strikes in Syria were meant to prevent advanced weapons from reaching Hezbollah, which already has a vast arsenal of missiles it can fire at Israel.
The Times of Israel report noted that it was unclear how many of the 202 Iranian targets mentioned by the IDF on Tuesday were part of a previous public assault on Iranian targets following the launching of Iranian missiles at Israel in May. The report noted that Israel generally does not lay credit to individual attacks in Syria.
On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear they would fight back against Iranian aggression against Israel, wherever it may be.
“We will not allow Iran to establish a presence in Syria,” said Netanyahu in comments released by his office. “We will take action to thwart its intention of arming its proxies and its forces with deadly weapons to be aimed at us.
“The terror and aggression of Iran on Syrian territory, or anywhere else, will be met with the iron fist of the IDF.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, September 5, 2018)