PM Netanyahu Says Israel Wants To Cooperate With Syria, But Is Ready To Attack If It Causes Threats

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Wikimedia Commons/US Department of State)

JAKARTA - Israel wants to be in a relationship with Syria, but on the other hand it is not hesitant to launch an attack if it poses a threat, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in his message to the new regime in Syria.

President Bashar al-Assad's administration collapsed at the end of last week, as rebel groups entered the capital Damascus, after a 13-year civil war and more than five decades of the Assad family's autocratic rule.

PM Netanyahu called Iran to Hezbollah in the warning he issued.

"If this regime allows Iran to rebuild itself in Syria, or allow the transfer of Iranian weapons or other weapons to Hezbollah, or attack us, we will respond decisively and we will demand a high price from it," he said in a video statement, as reported by The Times of Israel December 11.

"What happened to the previous regime will also happen to this regime," he warned.

He also emphasized that Israel would do anything to ensure its safety, but did not want to interfere in Syria's internal affairs.

Israel's army is in Syria's buffer zone after Assad's fall, with claims to secure its territory to avoid a vacancy and be temporary.

The Israeli military dismissed reports saying they were moving towards Damascus, saying they were only in the buffer zone.

"Reports circulating in several media claiming that IDF forces moving forward or approaching Damascus are not true at all," said Colonel Avichay Adraee, an Arabic-speaking IDF spokesman at X.

"The IDF forces are in the buffer zone and are in a defense position near the border to protect the Israeli border," he added.

Nevertheless, Israel also launched attacks on Syrian military targets, with the latest Israeli Defense Minister Katz claiming the military's success in destroying Syria's naval fleet in Latakia, as quoted by CNN.