Israeli PM Netanyahu confirms air-strike on Iranian warehouses in Syria
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today said Israel had, at the weekend, carried out an air strike on Iranian weapon warehouses in Syria, a rare public confirmation of such attacks. "Just in the last 36 hours, the air force attacked Iranian warehouses containing Iranian weapons in the Damascus international airport," Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting, according to his office. Here's more.
'We are determined to act against Iran in Syria'
"The accumulation of recent attacks shows that we're more determined than ever to act against Iran in Syria, just as we promised," said the Israeli Prime Minister. Late Friday, Syrian air defenses shot down Israeli missiles, Syria's official SANA news agency reported that day quoting a military source. "Only a ministry of transport warehouse at Damascus international airport was hit," reported SANA.
Israeli Military chief of staff had many times confirmed strikes
Netanyahu said Israel had attacked Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria many times. Israel has pledged to prevent its main enemy Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria, where it is backing President Bashar al-Assad's regime alongside Russia and Hezbollah. It rarely publicly confirms such strikes, though the outgoing military chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot has spoken of them in interviews in recent days.
Netanyahu seeking to burnish his security credentials before April elections
Eisenkot told the New York Times, "We struck thousands of targets without claiming responsibility or asking for credit." Netanyahu is also facing April 9 elections in Israel and has been seeking to burnish his security credentials.
