Israeli Defense Minister, Naftali Bennett
Bennett made the remarks during an interview with the Jerusalem Post on Friday morning for which he made clear that the Israeli army set a specific and important goal, that within 12 months Iran should leave Syria.
The Israeli Minister of Defense stated that Iran has nothing to look for in Syria, saying: "They are not our neighbors, and they have no reason to settle with Israel, and we will remove them from there in the near future."
Bennett pointed out that "most of the targets in the past, they were convoys that entered Syria from Iran through Iraq, then to the heights of the Golan Heights or Lebanon, then the targets are now completely different", without giving further details.
In a related context, the Israeli Defense Minister had previously stated that he had prepared a plan with the head of the caretaker government, Benjamin Netanyahu, to attack the Gaza Strip.
This comment from Bennett came after a fierce exchange of hostilities along the Gaza border between Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
Comment: As detailed in Israel bombs Syria: how long can this go on? this threat is unlikely to come to pass, but it may have some sway with the elections, and that may be part of what it's intended to do.
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