Report: Israel Tells Russia It Will Expand Its ‘Red Lines’ on Iranian Military Buildup in Syria
by Benjamin Kerstein
Israel has told Russia that it will broaden its military operations against Iranian positions in Syria to include the entire country, an international Arabic newspaper reported over the weekend.
According to London-based Asharq al-Awsat, Israel has decided to expand its “red lines” in Syria and will no longer confine itself to the area near its southern border. Israel has been cited as the source of numerous air and missile strikes in the country on sites connected to Iran and its Lebanese terror proxy Hezbollah.
Along with Russia, Iran is a primary ally of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, who has waged a brutal civil war against opponents of his regime since 2011. Hezbollah has been heavily involved in the fighting.
Israel has repeatedly stated that it will not allow Iran to entrench itself in Syria so as to threaten the Jewish state’s northern border. It has also acted to prevent the shipment of advanced weapons to Hezbollah.
The latest such strike occurred in the early hours of Friday morning, when Israel reportedly struck a military airbase in Homs, Syria. Twenty-one people, including nine Iranians, were reportedly killed.
On May 9, following a missile volley directed at the Golan Heights, Israel unleashed a massive wave of air strikes that Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said destroyed “almost all of the Iranian infrastructure in Syria.”