Rivlin says Israel will show 'no tolerance' to threats to its security
Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said Israel is taking the Iranian threats very seriously.
By ILANIT CHERNICKUpdated: JANUARY 21, 2019 14:59Israeli Air Force F15 planes fly during an aerial demonstration at a graduation ceremony for Israeli air force pilots at the Hatzerim air base in southern Israel, December 27, 2017.(photo credit: AMIR COHEN/REUTERS)President Reuven Rivlin warned on Monday morning that Israel "will not show patience in the face of any breach of Israeli citizens' security."He made the statements following overnight airstrikes targeting Iranian Quds forces in Syria in which weapons storage sites, an Iranian intelligence site and an Iranian training camp were targeted.Rivlin said that the airstrikes in Syria "are a direct response to the unacceptable rocket fire carried out yesterday [Sunday] by Iranian forces from Syrian soil - a living testimony of Iranian consolidation in Syria and the region as a whole.""We will not show patience in the face of any breach of the security of the citizens of Israel," he said in a statement. "We will act with determination and with all the force that will be required in the face of all attempts at the attack."Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz also responded to the airstrikes, saying that Syrian President Bashar Assad and his regime were in danger "if he allows Iran to attack Israel from Syria.""There is no situation in which Iran will act against us in Syria, and Assad will [just] sit quietly in his palace... We are taking the Iranian threats very seriously," he added. Head of the Institute for National Security Studies Maj.-Gen. (Res.) Amos Yadlin also weighed in on the airstrikes, saying that the Israel Air Force's attack on Syria "sends an important message to Lebanon.""Israel acted against the Iranian Quds Force, not only in response to the surface-to-surface missile shot at the Golan Heights and to hold the Syrians responsible for firing at Israel, but also to send an important message to Lebanon," he said. "This is an essential component of shaping the northern campaign."
The overnight attacks were in response to the launch on Sunday afternoon of a surface-to-surface rocket from Syria aimed at Israel’s Golan Heights. The missile was launched by Iranian Quds Forces entrenched in Syria.Meanwhile, the commander of the Iranian Air Force claimed on Monday morning that Iran was prepared for a decisive war with Israel, "which will bring an end to the IDF's attacks on Syria.""Our armed forces are prepared for a war that will bring the crushing destruction of Israel," he said, according to media reports. "We are ready for the day when we will see the end of Israel."
