Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged on Wednesday that the Jewish state was carrying out preemptive attacks against enemy targets, such as Iran and Hezbollah, in Syria.
“The chain of tests that we are dealing with is unending. We respond vigorously and with force to all attacks against us; however, we do not take action only after the fact. We deny the enemy’s capabilities before the fact. We are acting methodically and consistently to prevent our enemies from establishing offensive bases against us in our vicinity,” Netanyahu said at a state memorial service for former Israeli President Ephraim Katzir.
The revelation by Netanyahu came just hours after Syrian state media reported that Israel fired several missiles at targets in Syria near the Golan Heights.
Syria’s SANA news outlet reported that the strike targeted sites around Tel al-Harra, an area that Hezbollah has purportedly been active in. Hezbollah had previously called the site of “great strategic importance” due to its visibility of the surrounding area.
Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to prevent Iran and Hezbollah from establishing a permanent presence in civil war-torn Syria and has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in the country over the last few years.
