26 April 2018•Update: 27 April 2018
By Mahmut Geldi
ISTANBUL
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said on Thursday his country would not allow any Iranian military post in Syria that poses a threat to his country.
Speaking to the Saudi-owned online newspaper Elaph, which is based in London, Liberman said: “No matter what it costs, we will destroy all Iranian military posts that threaten Israel in Syria."
In his interview in the Arabic language paper, he also said: "Israel does not want war…but if Iran attacks Tel Aviv, Israel will also hit Tehran.”
On Monday, the Israeli army said it had responded to a mortar shell fired from Syria which struck the occupied Golan Heights.
The Israeli military held the Syrian regime “accountable” for the attack and said it will not “tolerate any attempt to breach Israeli sovereignty or endanger civilians”.
Israel has occupied most of the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 Middle East War.
During his interview, the Israeli defense minister also claimed that Iran had spent $13 billion in Syria so far.
“It [Tehran] funneled $2 billion money to Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad Movement and [other] terror groups yearly.”
Syria has been locked in a devastating civil war since March 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.
While UN officials say hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict, Syrian regime officials say the death toll is closer to 10,000.
