Responding to an Iranian missile attack on their troops in the Golan Heights, Israel launched a major airstrike targeting Iranian bases in Syria. Of the 20 rockets fired at Israel, four were shot down by the Israeli Iron Dome air defense system and the rest landed in Syrian territory.

In a statement, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said that the Israelis hit all of the major Iranian infrastructure in Syria.

The IDF responded with airstrikes against around 50 Iranian military training sites, Iranian Revolution Guard Corps intelligence collection and logistics, rocket firing positions, airfield positions and weapons storage facilities.

Liberman said that not a single Israeli civilian or piece of Israeli property was harmed. “Last night, Iran tried to attack Israeli sovereign territory and failed,” he said.

The defense minister also threatened Iran going forward, stating that “if Iran hits us with rain [a small number of rockets] – we will hit them with a deluge [of airstrikes].”

He said that Israel “will not let Iran turn Syria into a base for attacking Israel. There are many radical Islamists, but Iran is the only one which is really” implementing its ideology “all over the Middle East and Africa.”

“Iran has wasted $13 billion in the Syrian civil war and continues to spend $2 billion a year there. Iran is wasting its next generation with its efforts to expand,” he stated.

Liberman explained that Israel has no interest in conquering any part of Syria and cautioned against celebrations on the Israeli side or anything that might push for further escalation.

The defense minister seemed to signal to Iran that Israel would prefer to return to quiet following the exchange of attacks. It is only Iran, he said that wants to build a new base for attacking Israel – a goal he thinks even most Iranians oppose.

The Russian claimed that they shot down the majority of the Israeli missiles during their retaliatory strike. But the tensions remain high. Lieberman made it clear that there will be no peaceful coexistence with Iran or their proxies in Hamas, as they want to destroy Israel.

To read the entire article from the Jerusalem Post, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia