IranAssad will be killed, his regime toppled if Iran attacks from Syria: Israeli official

An Israeli government minister on Monday threatened that the Israel could kill Syrian President Bashar Assad if his government does not prevent Iranian forces from launching attacks against Israel from Syrian territory.

On 9 April, Israel destroyed an Iranian command-and-control facility in Syria after a drone carrying explosives was flown from that facility in February and penetrated Israeli airspace. Several Iranian soldiers and officers were killed in the Israeli attack.

In response, Iran had transported mid-range missiles from Iran to Syria, missiles with greater accuracy and heavier payload than the missiles Iran had previously deployed to Syria. Iran was planning on launching some of these missiles against Israeli targets, but two weeks ago Israel destroyed 200 if the missiles, which were stored in three Syrian military bases. More than two dozen Iranian were killed in that strike.

The explosions at these three sites were so powerful, that they registered on seismic sensors in the region.

Teheran has not given up on the idea of retaliation. Israeli defense officials warned on Sunday that Iran was planning to retaliate by having its proxies fire missiles at military targets in northern Israel.

On Sunday, Yuval Steinitz, the minister of national infrastructure, energy and water resources, told the Ynet website, that “If Assad continues to let the Iranians operate from Syrian soil, he should know that he signed his own death warrant and that it will be his end. We will topple his regime.”

Steinitz, who is close to Primie Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a member of the security cabinet, added: “Assad cannot sit calmly in his palace and rehabilitate his regime while letting Syria be turned into a base for attacks against the State of Israel. It’s very simple,” said Steinitz.

Steinitz later said that he was only “expressing his personal view.”

Haaretz reports that on Sunday, Israeli media reported that the Israeli military and intelligence services had identified preliminary efforts by Iran in Syria to carry out its promised reprisal, using its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Hezbollah terrorist group, and local Shiite militias to launch precision-guided missiles against Israeli military targets in northern Israel.

Steinitz was asked about the likely Russian reaction to Israel’s direct threats against Assad and his regime.

“Everyone needs to understand that we have red lines,” Steinitz said. “If anybody is interested in preserving Assad’s survival, they should tell him to prevent missile and drone attacks on Israel.”

Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Putin in Moscow on Wednesday, and Israeli sources say he would present the information on Tehran’s preparations to strike Israel during their meeting.

“Assad can let the Iranians bring in missiles, air defense systems and drones to Syria, or he can prevent that,” Steinitz said. “If he enables it he should know there is a price.”

He stressed that Israel was not interested in a war with Iran, “But we can’t let it turn Syria into a Revolutionary Guard military base,” he said. “What happened in Lebanon is bad enough with Hezbollah. If we don’t stop Iran’s entrenchment in Syria, we will get something much bigger than Hezbollah.”

On Sunday, Netanyahu expressed a similar view.

“We are determined to block the Iranian entrenchment, even at the cost of confrontation,” Netanyahu said. “We don’t want an escalation, but we are prepared for every scenario. We don’t want confrontation, but if there needs to be one, it is better now than later.”

Netanyahu noted that Iran could directly launch a strike on Israeli territory.

“In recent months, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards transferred to Syria advanced weaponry in order to attack us both on the battlefield and the home front, including weaponized UAVs, ground-to-ground missiles and Iranian anti-aircraft batteries that would threaten air force jets,” he said.

Analysts say that the specificity of Israel’s revelations about Iran’s threats and the Israeli response was a message to Iran that Israel was aware of their plans and was prepared to respond forcefully.

Last month, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Israel was prepared to strike Iran directly. “If they attack Tel Aviv, we will strike Tehran,” he said.