Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly admitted on Monday for the first time that Israel had attacked dozens of convoys transporting weapons in Syria destined for the Jewish state’s arch-enemy Hezbollah.
It was the first clear public acknowledgement by the Israeli premier that the country had carried out attacks in neighbouring Syria with which it is still officially at war.
In December, Netanyahu told reporters Israel did “everything to prevent weapons, particularly lethal ones, being moved from Syria to lebanon” where the Shiite Hezbollah is based.
“We occasionally carry out operations in Syria to prevent that country from becoming a front against us,” he said at the time, but without elaborating.
Several raids targeting convoys of weapons destined for Hezbollah have been blamed by media in Syria and lebanon on Israel, where the authorities have been tight-lipped.
But on Monday, while visiting troops on the Israeli-occupied part of the Golan Heights, Netanyahu admitted such attacks had taken place, his office said.