LONDON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday warned Syrian President Bashar Assad was “no longer immune” from retaliation, whereas declaring the Iran nuclear deal is over after Washington ditched the accord.
Noting that Israel had stayed out of Syria’s protracted civil battle, wherein Tehran backs Assad, Netanyahu stated growing Iranian encroachment required “a new calculus.”
“He is no longer immune, his regime is no longer immune. If he fires at us, as we’ve just demonstrated, we will destroy his forces,” the Israeli chief stated at an occasion organized by the Policy Exchange suppose tank in London.
Last month, Israel launched a large-scale assault on purported Iranian targets in Syria following what it stated was a barrage of rockets fired by Iran from the nation towards its forces on the Golan Heights.
Even earlier than that, Israel had been blamed for a collection of current strikes inside Syria that killed Iranians, although it has not acknowledged them. The strikes reportedly hit Iranian navy belongings and warehouses.
Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks throughout an interview with the Greek Kathimerini newspaper, in Damascus, Syria, on this picture launched May 10, 2018. (SANA by way of AP)
“Syria has to understand that Israel will not tolerate the Iranian military entrenchment in Syria against Israel,” Netanyahu added.
“The consequences are not merely to the Iranian forces there but to the Assad regime as well,” he stated, including: “I think it’s something that he should consider very seriously.”
Netanyahu is on a three-day European tour — visiting Berlin and Paris earlier this week — marked by strategic variations on Iran, as its leaders try and rescue the nuclear deal after US withdrawal in May.
He met Wednesday with British Prime Minister Theresa May, who reiterated London’s “firm commitment” to the accord, based on Downing Street.
But the Israeli chief stated Thursday “the weight of the American economy” was already dooming “this very bad agreement.”
“It’s a done deal — in the other meaning of the word,” he additionally stated, noting corporations had been already pulling out of Iran beneath menace of damaging US sanctions.
“You have to choose whether to do business with Iran, or forego doing business with the United States… that’s a no-brainer and everybody’s choosing it effectively as we speak.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May (L) greets Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exterior 10 Downing avenue in London on June 6, 2018. (AFP PHOTO / Ben STANSALL)
Netanyahu stated he had reiterated his dislike for the 2015 deal, which provides sanctions aid in alternate for strict limits on Iran’s nuclear actions.
However, the main target of his discussions in Europe had been on lowering Iran’s presence in Syria, he additionally stated.
“I found considerable agreement on that goal.”
At the identical time, he criticized his European hosts for an outdated strategy to the area.
Netanyahu stated Iranian growth had led to a “realignment” of relations with Arab states within the Middle East who additionally oppose Tehran — one thing Britain and western Europe had been “evidently not understanding.”
“There is a whole realignment taking place in the Middle East — they’re sort of stuck in the past,” he additionally stated, displaying a map of the world with quite a few international locations highlighted to indicate Israel’s “expanding diplomatic horizons.”
“I think there’s a west European problem with recognizing that the world is changing,” he stated.