WarSclerotic

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Sunday to continue Israel’s campaign against the “aggression” of Iran, referring to its procuring weapons in Lebanon as well as the acquirement of nuclear arms.

“We are working to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. At the same time, we are working against the establishment of an Iranian military in Syria against us, and we are also working against the transfer of lethal weapons from Syria to Lebanon or manufacturing them in Lebanon. All of these weapons are intended against the State of Israel and our right, by virtue of the right to self-defense, to prevent its production or transfer,” Netanyahu said in a statement on Sunday.

Israel has struck weapons convoys believed to come from Iran going to Hezbollah through Syria multiple times.

On Thursday, Lebanese media claimed that Israeli fighter jets were flying over its airspace and that they were responsible for a strike on an airbase in Homs, Syria.

The head of Israel’s Air Force, Amiram Norkin, last week showed a picture of an Israeli F-35 stealth fighter flying near Beirut, stating that Israel is the first country to use the F-35 in the region.

In his statement on Sunday, the Israeli prime minister also thanked the US for its position on Iran, which Secretary of State Mike Pompeo outlined last week.

Pompeo demanded that Iran tear down the chief tenets of its foreign policy and vowed to enact the “strongest sanctions in history” on Tehran if it does not negotiate a new bargain with Washington to replace the 2015 nuclear deal.

“At the end of the week I spoke with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. I told him that I greatly appreciate the determined position that the American administration is showing against the nuclear agreement with Iran and against the Iranian aggression in our region. The regime in Tehran is the main element undermining stability in the Middle East. The campaign against its aggression is not over; we are still in the midst of it.”

The tensions between Iran and Israel rose to a new level on May 10 when Israeli strikes on dozens of targets in Syria killed at least 23 fighters, including five Syrian regime troops and 18 other allied forces.

The Israeli army confirmed that it launched an extensive campaign of retaliatory strikes on Iranian-operated bases in Syria, responding to a barrage of rockets and missiles fired by Iran towards the Israeli part of the Golan Heights only hours before.

“Overnight, IDF fighter jets struck dozens of military targets belonging to the Iranian Quds Forces in Syrian territory,” an army statement said, referring to the special forces unit affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and seemingly the first time Israel attributed an attack directly to Iran rather than its proxies.

Iranian targets said to have been struck by Israel included, “intelligence sites, logistic facilities, military compounds, storage facilities, listening and collection facilities as well as observation posts,” the statement confirmed. In addition “vehicles that served as rocket launchers” responsible for firing towards Israel, were also destroyed.

Netanyahu also addressed last nights air strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza, saying ” We will not tolerate attacks against us from the Gaza Strip. The IAF (Israel’s Air Force) attacked terrorist targets deep inside the Gaza Strip last night. And today, after our forces neutralized an explosive charge on the fence, they again acted against Hamas targets on the line of contact.”

“The IDF and the security forces are working around the clock to defend the State of Israel, to protect the citizens of Israel, and to defend the borders of Israel,” Netanyahu concluded.