Israel minister threatens Syria’s Assad over Iran presence

Israel’s Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz has threatened Syrian regime President Bashar Al-Assad saying he and his regime will be in danger if he allows Iranian forces to attack Israel from Syria.

“We cannot live in a situation in which Iran attacks Israel from Syria while Assad sits quietly in his palace,” Steinitz said in response to the Israeli air strikes on Syria on Monday.

The Israeli minister pointed out that by attacking Iranian sites in Syria, “Israel has waged a psychological war on Iranian public opinion, and questioned the Syrian authorities’ ability to continue to absorb the Israeli raids.”

In response to criticism of the Israeli government’s actions, the minister said: “It is clear that our critics are unable to understand that the campaign to stop the Iranian integration into Syria is one of the most successful campaigns in the history of Israel,” adding that “there are a number of Iranian missiles and militias in Syria, however they have not succeeded in building a large military structure”.

Monitoring group: 21 people killed in Israel air strikes on Syria