Israel will not allow a permanent Iranian military presence in Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Tuesday, a day after Israel destroyed an SA-5 anti-aircraft battery in Syria that fired on IAF planes over Lebanon.
Hours after Israel’s rare strike in Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that, ‘If anyone tries to hurt us, we’ll hurt them.’ What was defined by the Israeli army as a Syrian provocation in the morning had become a chance to reinforce Israel’s red lines by the afternoon.
Israeli Air Force jets attacked an anti-aircraft battery well inside Syria on Monday morning, after the surface-to-air system launched a missile at a different plane over the skies of Lebanon, the army said.
Israel’s defense minister says the Hezbollah militant group controls Lebanon’s army.
U.S. officials elevated their public condemnation of Hezbollah on Tuesday, adding two of the Iran-backed terror group’s top operatives to a special State Department most-wanted list and asserting that all of the group’s factions — even those holding political office in Lebanon — are part of the same terrorist operation.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that he would not be prepared to accept Hamas keeping its armed forces in Gaza like Hezbollah does in Lebanon and demanded ‘full control’ of the Strip, including over the border, security and all the ministries.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Sunday of pushing the region to war in Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, and said nowhere in Israel would be safe if such a conflict were to erupt.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly and reminded the world of Israel’s resourcefulness and courage.
Deep in the rugged hills close to the Israeli border, two Hezbollah fighters crouched near a small fire, which heated a teapot. Despite the late-summer sun, they were both wearing full face masks to disguise their identity, because Hezbollah forbids its members from speaking with foreign reporters.
In the event of another war with Hezbollah, the IDF’s objective would be to occupy parts of southern Lebanon where the group has support and infrastructure and to force a UN resolution that improves the security situation on the northern border, a senior IDF officer said on Monday.
In the wake of reports that Israel struck a chemical weapons facility in southern Syria, Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Herzl Halevi on Thursday warned that Israel was consistently working to combat its enemies ‘both near and far.’
Lebanon did not remain silent following the start of a massive IDF drill simulating a war, with a Hezbollah official threatening that ‘the Israelis won’t succeed in surprising us.’
Russia reportedly threatened to use its veto at the United Nations last week if the Lebanon-based terror organization Hezbollah, its ally in the Syrian civil war, was named in a Security Council resolution to renew the mandate of peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon.
Tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers will stage a mock 10-day war against the Hezbollah terrorist group in northern Israel beginning Tuesday, marking the IDF’s largest exercise in nearly 20 years, the army announced Monday, amid tensions over growing Iranian influence in Syria and Lebanon.
Israel’s intensive diplomatic campaign in recent weeks, which included Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, trips by senior Israeli defense officials to the United States and more, comes on the heels of updated situation assessments within the defense establishment suggesting that if nothing is done, the weapon manufacturing facilities Iran is building in Syria and Lebanon, Israel’s neighbors to the north, will become operational in the foreseeable future.
The United Nations will reportedly expand the mandate of its peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon following complaints from Israel over the international body’s failure to address Hezbollah’s weapons buildup in the area.
The head of the IDF Intelligence Directorate, Maj.- Gen. Herzi Halevi, told UN head Antonio Guterres in Jerusalem this week that Hezbollah is tightening its hold on Lebanon, citing serious and prolonged violations of Security Council Resolution 1701 by the terrorist group.
Proposed tighter U.S. sanctions on Hezbollah have been altered enough to allay fears of major damage to Lebanon’s economy, a sign Washington is taking concerns about Lebanese stability seriously, banking and political sources said Sunday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday that Iran is building sites to produce precision guided missiles in Syria and Lebanon.
Hezbollah has captured much of an Islamic State pocket on Syria’s side of the border with Lebanon in a joint offensive with the Syrian army, its leader said on Thursday.