As Tensions Rise With Iran, PM Netanyahu Warns ‘Crushing Fist’ Can Reach Anywhere

Amid rising tensions with Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned that the army’s “crushing fist” can reach anywhere and that his government will continue to do whatever is necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from establishing a permanent military presence in Syria. The comments came a day after the head of Iran’s air force declared his country’s “prepared[ness] for a war that will bring the crushing destruction of Israel.” The war-of-words comes on the backdrop of a report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claiming that 21 people were killed early Monday during a major Israeli aerial operation in Syria, twelve of them belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. The mission followed a rare day-time Israeli attack targeting weapons depots in and around Damascus, to which Iranian troops responded by firing a missile—which was intercepted by an Iron Dome battery—towards the popular Mount Hermon ski resort in the Israeli Golan Heights. Meanwhile, Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations cautioned that unless Israel ceases its cross-border activities Damascus will retaliate by targeting Ben Gurion Airport located just outside of Tel Aviv.