Israel has vowed military intervention in Syria should the country’s chemical weapons change hands.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Sunday that the chemical weapons could fall into Hezbollah’s possession, which will require Israel to prepare to fight in Syria if need be, Ha’aretz reported.
“The Middle East is not awaiting for the outcome of [Israel’s] election and is not stopping while the [Israeli] government is assembled,” Netanyahu said at Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting, according to Ha’aretz. “We are facing many threats, from the most dangerous ones, which I have mentioned, to others and reality continues to evolve in the east, in the north, in the south.”
“The entire area is raging and we must prepared and strong and determined in the face of any possible development,” he continued. “For this reason, I will seek to form the widest and most stable government in order to respond, first and foremost, to every security threat.”
On Thursday, a top Iranian official said that any attack on Syria would be considered an attack on Iran as well.
Israeli Vice Premier Silvan Shalom told Reuters that a secret meeting had been held on Wednesday amongst Israeli military heads to discuss the civil war in Syria.
Shalom said that should the chemical weapons change hands, “it would dramatically change the capabilities of those organizations,” adding that such a development would be “a crossing of all red lines that would require a different approach, including even preventive operations.”
Netanyahu narrowly won Israeli’s elections on Tuesday, and is seeking to build a broad coalition with centrist parties, the Associated Press reported.
On Sunday, Israeli officials admitted to deploying two so-called Iron Dome missile batteries along the Syrian border.
The defensive missiles were placed in the Krayot area, and the other placed in the Galilee region, said YNet News.
The Iron Dome had an 85 percent success rate during the recent Pillar of Defense operation in Gaza.
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This article was originally published by Global Post.