En israelsk minister advarer Bashar al-Assad mod at lade Iran angribe Israel, selv om det er by proxy (stedfortræder). Så sætter han sit eget liv på spil, siger minister for infrastruktur og energi, Yuval Steinitz.

“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,” Yuval Steinitz, the minister of national infrastructure, energy and water resources, told the Ynet website.

“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 who is a member of Israel’s security cabinet.

Steinitz later released a statement clarifying that he was only “expressing his personal view.”

I en så alvorlig sag er det selvsagt ikke Steinitz’ personlige mening han fremkommer med. Udtalelsen vil blive opfattet som regeringens.

Israelske medier skrev søndag, at der bliver gjort forberedelser til angreb på Israel fra nord, enten via Revolutionsgarden, Hizbollah eller shia-militser.

On Sunday, all of Israel’s nightly news broadcasts reported that the Israeli military and intelligence services had identified preliminary efforts by Iran in Syria to carry out its reprisal, using its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Hezbollah terrorist group and local Shiite militias to launch a barrage of precision-guided missiles, likely at Israeli military targets in the north.

Israel vil tage et sådant angreb som en krigserklæring.

Benjamin Netanyahu skal møde Valdimir Putin i Moskva onsdag. Steinitz blev spurgt om det var klogt at true Putins allierede, Assad, på forhånd.

Rød linje

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

Assad bør vide, hvad prisen kan blive, hvis han lader iranerne fortsætte, og Putin bør hviske ham et par ord i øret.

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

Netanyahu sagde søndag at Israel ikke ønsker konfrontation med Iran, men hvis Iran gør alvor af truslerne, vil Israel tage en konfrontation hellere nu end at vente.

Forsvarsminister Avigdor Liberman sagde sidste måned at Israel vil angribe Teheran hvis iranerne angriber Tel Aviv.

Minister warns Israel could kill Assad if he lets Iran attack from Syria