Israel will block 'Iranian aggression', Netanyahu warns

Israel will block 'Iranian aggression', Netanyahu warns
'We are acting against Iran and against the Syrian forces who are tools of Iranian aggression,' Netanyahu said in a speech on Monday.
2 min read
21 January, 2019
Netanyahu warned Iran against 'aggression' [Getty]

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Monday Israel would not allow "Iranian aggression", after its military struck what it called Iranian targets in Syria in response to missile fire.

"Yesterday evening, the air force struck a strong blow against Iranian targets in Syria after Iran fired a missile from there toward Israel," Netanyahu said at an inauguration ceremony for a new airport in southern Israel.

"We do not allow such acts of aggression to pass by. We are acting against Iran and against the Syrian forces who are tools of Iranian aggression."

Netanyahu's comments come shortly after an Iranian officials announced he wants to "eliminate it (Israel) from the Earth" after Israeli jets struck a series of Iranian military targets in Syria early on Monday.

"The youth in the air force are fully ready and eager to confront the Zionist regime and eliminate it from the Earth," Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh reportedly said.

Early Monday the Israeli military announced it struck targets in Syria which included munition storage facilities, an intelligence site, and a military training camp. 

Israel claims the strikes were in response to a surface-to-surface rocket that Iranian forces fired toward Israel on Sunday that was intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system over a ski resort in the occupied Golan Heights.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday's strikes lasted for nearly an hour and were the most intense Israeli attacks since May. It said 11 were killed in the strikes. The Russian military said four Syrian troops were among those killed. There were no further details on the casualties or their nationalities.

Agencies contributed to this report.