Netanyahu takes aim at weapons ‘leakage’ in Syria

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held out the prospect yesterday of further Israeli strikes inside Syria, pledging to act to prevent advanced weapons from reaching Hizbollah and other militant groups.

We will act to ensure the security interest of citizens

Although Israel has not publicly taken sides in the civil war between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebels trying to topple him, Western and Israeli sources say it has launched air strikes in Syria to destroy weapons it believed were destined for Lebanon’s Hizbollah.

In public remarks at the weekly meeting of his Cabinet, Netanyahu made no direct mention of those attacks, but said Israel was prepared to take action in the future and was “preparing for every scenario” in the Syrian conflict.

Israel had a policy “to prevent, as much as possible, the leakage of advanced weapons to Hizbollah and terror elements”, he said.

“We will act to ensure the security interest of Israel’s citizens in the future as well.”

Tzipi Livni, a member of Netanyahu’s security Cabinet and a former foreign minister, said: “I don’t think there is anyone in Israel eager to take action” in Syria, hinting at concerns that any strike could provoke a wider conflict.

In an interview with Israel’s Army Radio, Livni also said Israeli politicians ought to avoid taking sides.

“Israel isn’t popular in Syria. Therefore any such statement could only be used as ammunition by one of the sides to try and divert the debate or the violence toward Israel and that’s the last thing we need,” Livni said.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied reports that it attacked Iranian-supplied missiles stored near Damascus this month that it believed were awaiting delivery to Hizbollah, which fought a war with Israel in 2006 and is allied with Assad.