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Netanyahu: Israel has carried out dozens of strikes against Hezbollah in Syria
In a rare public admission, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that numerous air strikes have been carried out in Syria to prevent weapons transfers to Hezbollah.
Israel is widely thought to have carried out such operations on several occasions in Syria, in order to prevent the transfer of arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon for potential use against Israel. Although rarely confirming such action, Israeli leaders have routinely warned against attempts to supply Hezbollah with advanced weaponry amid the chaos of the Syrian Civil War. Hezbollah is a staunch ally of President Assad and routinely fights alongside Syrian government forces. A leading global intelligence organisation reported last week that Hezbollah is constructing a base in Syria to store Iranian ballistic missiles, which could be used to strike Israel.
On a visit yesterday to Israeli troops near the Syrian border, Netanyahu addressed these threats and candidly told soldiers “We act when we have to act, including here and across the border, with dozens of strikes, to prevent Hezbollah acquiring tie-breaking weaponry.” He added that Israel was active against Hezbollah on fronts “both near and far.”
Hezbollah is the de facto ruler of southern Lebanon, where it possesses a large military arsenal, including an estimated 100,000 rockets aimed at Israel. In 2006, Hezbollah fired around 4,000 rockets at Israel during the month-long Second Lebanon War, killing 43 Israeli civilians. Hezbollah has also planned and launched attacks on Israeli citizens across the world, most brutally a bus bomb in the Bulgarian resort of Burgas which killed five Israeli tourists in 2012. Last month, Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah warned that there would be “no limits” in the next conflict with Israel and that nuclear and chemical facilities could be targeted.
Earlier this year, both the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council, comprising Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman voted to classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation.