Israel says hit ‘nearly all of Iran’s military infrastructure in Syria’: DM Lieberman

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JERUSALEM: Israeli raids overnight hit “nearly all the Iranian infrastructure in Syria”, Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said today after strikes Israel says were in response to rocket fire at its forces it blamed on Iran.

“We hit nearly all the Iranian infrastructure in Syria,” Lieberman told a security conference on Thursday morning.

“They need to remember the saying that if it rains on us, it’ll storm on them. I hope we’ve finished this episode and everyone understood,” Lieberman added, stressing that Israel doesn’t want an escalation, but “won’t let anyone attack us or build an infrastructure to attack us in the future.”

It was one of the largest Israeli military operations in recent years and its biggest such raid against Iranian targets, the military said.

Israel carried out the raids after it said around 20 rockets were fired from Syria at its forces in the occupied Golan Heights at around midnight.

It blamed the rocket fire on Iran’s Al-Quds force, adding that Israel’s anti-missile system intercepted four of the projectiles while the rest did not land in its territory.

No Israelis were wounded.

Lieberman called the rocket fire “a new phase”.

“We’re facing a new reality. The Iranian attempt to bring anti-aircraft systems to our borders and close our skies is intolerable and unacceptable.” The incident came after weeks of rising tensions and followed US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal on Tuesday, a move Israel had long advocated.

Israel has been blamed for a series of recent strikes inside Syria that have killed Iranians, though it did not acknowledge those raids.

It does acknowledge carrying out dozens of raids in Syria to stop what it says are advanced arms deliveries to Iran-backed Hezbollah, another key foe of Israel.

AFP