Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed on Tuesday Israel’s response after a terrorist cell had infiltrated the country’s northern border with Syria.
“We hit a cell and now we hit the dispatchers,” Netanyahu said during a visit to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Home Front Command headquarters in Ramla.
“We will do whatever is necessary in order to defend ourselves. I suggest to all of them, including Hezbollah, to consider this. These are not vain words; they have the weight of the State of Israel and the IDF behind them and this should be taken seriously,” he said, answering a reporter’s question on the tense situation in the north.
Accompanied by Defense Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz, the former military chief also sent out a warning to Jerusalem’s enemies earlier that day in an interview at the Ynet studio.
"No one should try us. We won't allow [Syrian President Bashar] Assad to facilitate terror actions against the State of Israel, we won't allow Iran to open a branch of terror in Syria," said Gantz. "We will act against this. Wherever someone acts against the State of Israel, the State of Israel will respond. We're not looking for an escalation."
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Defense Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz at the Ynet studio
(Photo: Avi Moalem)
Israeli jets, attack helicopters and aircraft launched strikes against Syrian army targets in the country's south, the IDF announced late on Monday.
The strikes came in retaliation for an earlier attack thwarted on Israel’s northern border, which saw four terrorists killed as they approached the security barrier with firearms and explosives.