Israel will act against Iran, proxies if necessary: Netanyahu

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said his country “could act against Iran” amid recent tensions between the two sides after an altercation in Syria last week.

During his speech at the annual Munich Security Conference, Netanyahu displayed what he said was a piece from an Iranian drone that flew into Israeli airspace on Feb. 10.

“Israel will not allow the regime to put a noose of terror around our neck,” he said. “We will act if necessary not just against Iran’s proxies but Iran itself.”

The Israeli Prime Minister noted that in the midst of the Islamic State’s (IS) military defeat in Iraq and Syria, Tehran was expanding its influence in the region, and “trying to create a land bridge from Iran to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza.”

Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif labeled Netanyahu’s address at the security conference “a cartoonish circus, which does not even deserve a response.”

“What has happened in the past several days is [that] the so-called invincibility [of Israel] has crumbled,” Zarif said at the conference hours after the Israeli Prime Minister’s remarks.

Last week, the Israeli army said it had downed an Iranian drone launched from Syria into Israel’s northern territory.

Following that incident, Damascus’ air defense shot down an Israeli F-16 jet after the aircraft was returning from a raid on a Syrian position it blamed for launching the Iranian-made drone across the border.

“Once the Syrians have the guts to down one of its planes it’s as if a disaster has happened,” Zarif said.

Israel accuses Iran of plotting a permanent military presence in Syria, where Iranian-backed forces currently support the Syrian government in the ongoing civil war in the country. Israel also charges Iran with aiding terrorist groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon.