Israel maintained silence on the heavy strikes on Iranian-backed targets in Syria overnight Tuesday, which was reportedly carried out via US intelligence, but that didn’t stop a Likud minister from warning that Israel will not be thwarted from attacking Iran if it continues developing its nuclear program as a result of the US rejoining the 2015 nuclear deal.

“We don’t acknowledge this or other strikes,” Settlement Affairs Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said in an interview with Kan News on Wednesday. “The Iranians want permission from Assad to act freely in Syria, to transform it into another Hezbollah, to station masses of soldiers there with missiles that can reach Israel.”

“But they’ve failed,” Hanegbi asserted. “Time after time, Israel destroyed their attempts and infrastructure. They’re still at it – they haven’t given up – but they’ve failed.”

S. #Syria: #Israel carried out last night the first airstrikes of the year, bombing positions in S. #Damascus countryside. A radar battalion was also struck in W. #Suwayda, destroying air defense equipment & killing one soldier (+2 wounded). pic.twitter.com/bJNddNaeSQ

— QalaatM (@QalaatM) January 7, 2021

Hanegbi also had a message for the incoming Biden administration, saying that “appeasing” the Iranians will not stop Israel from doing what needs to be done to stop its nuclear program.

“If the US government rejoins the nuclear deal, and as of now that seems to be their policy, the result will be that Israel will again be alone against Iran, which via the deal will receive a green light from the world, including the US, to continue its nuclear weapons program.”

“Of course we cannot allow this. We twice already did what needed to be done, in 1981 against the Iraqi nuclear program, and in 2007 against the Syrian nuclear program.”

“The most vital issue is to convince the incoming US administration not to repeat the mistakes of the Obama administration – to appease the Iranians,” Hanegbi said. “Appeasement] only increased their defiance and aggression – they viewed it as weakness.”

This is not the first time that Hanegbi has spoken out strongly against the US rejoining the nuclear deal. In November, he said that Biden rejoining the nuclear deal will lead to “a violent confrontation between Israel and Iran.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)