Netanyahu Warns of Further Pre-emptive Strikes in Syria

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed to continue pre-emptively striking targets in Syria just hours after Israel allegedly fired missiles at a Syrian army base located near the shared border. “The chain of tests that we are dealing with is unending. We respond vigorously and with force to all attacks against us,” Netanyahu said. “However, we do not take action only after the fact. We deny the enemy’s capabilities before the fact.” The latest Israeli strikes reportedly targeted a regime base atop Tel al-Hara – a strategic highland in the Syrian Golan Heights – as well as military infrastructure recently set up by the Iranian-backed, Lebanon-based Hizbullah terror group. The area was controlled for years by anti-Assad rebels until last July, when Syrian and allied forces recaptured much of the country’s south. Israel remains concerned that Tehran is using the renewed Syrian army presence as cover to militarize the region, a prospect that Jerusalem will not countenance. Nevertheless, Iranian and Syrian forces seemingly feel emboldened, having on numerous occasions this month launched projectiles toward Israel, one of which landed near the popular Mount Hermon tourist site.