Israeli Defence Minister
Avigdor Lieberman vowed in an interview Thursday to strike at any attempt by
Iran to establish a “military foothold” in Syria, following an attack this
month attributed to his country.
Speaking with a news
website run by a Saudi businessman that regularly interviews Israeli officials,
Lieberman also threatened firm retaliation if Israel was attacked by Iran.
“If they attack Tel Aviv,
we’ll strike Tehran,” he told the Elaph website.
The comments came as
Lieberman visited Washington to meet US National Security Adviser John Bolton
and other officials to discuss what his office called Iran’s “expansion” in the
Middle East.
“We don’t intervene in the
war, don’t fight there, but Iran is trying to establish bases there and attack
us from there with advanced arms it brings to them,” Lieberman said of
neighbouring Syria.
“I can’t stand by when I
see Iran do that close to the Golan, and when it supports Hezbollah in Syria
and Lebanon and tries to establish a foothold in Syria in order to attack
Israel.”
He added that “any site in
which we see an Iranian attempt to achieve a military foothold in Syria will be
struck. We won’t let that happen, regardless of the price.”
On April 9, seven Iranian
personnel were among 14 people killed in a strike on the T-4 airbase in Syria,
with regime allies Iran and Russia blaming Israel for the attack.
Israel has neither
confirmed nor denied responsibility, but has repeatedly said it cannot accept
Iran establishing itself militarily in Syria.
Lieberman’s visit to
Washington comes ahead of a May 12 deadline US President Donald Trump has set
to decide on the fate of a nuclear deal with Iran.
Israeli leaders have
repeatedly called for the deal to be scrapped or improved, though others say it
is working as intended to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons for the
time being.
AFP
No comments:
Post a Comment