Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Israel Will Not Allow Iran To Entrench Itself In Syria, Netanyahu Warns

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned in a video statement that Israel would not allow Iran to gain a foothold in Syria, hours after reports that Israel had struck an Iranian military installation near Damascus.

“Let me reiterate Israel’s policy: We will not allow a regime hell-bent on the annihilation of the Jewish state to acquire nuclear weapons. We will not allow that regime to entrench itself militarily in Syria, as it seeks to do, for the express purpose of eradicating our state,” said Netanyahu in the video statement issued on Saturday night.

The 18-second video reportedly was recorded on Thursday, part of a longer version that is scheduled to be broadcast Sunday at the annual Saban Forum of the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.

Foreign media reported Saturday that Israel launched five missiles from Lebanese airspace at the Iranian military facility.  Syrian media reported that it had intercepted some of the missiles.

Israel generally does not comment on foreign media reports of military activity in neighboring countries.

Israel reportedly has carried out dozens of airstrikes in Syria in the more than six years of the country’s civil war, generally against arms convoys bringing weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon that Israel fears will be used against it.

 

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.