The Iranian Students News Agency quoted a commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, as saying, “The Iranian Islamic Republic will keep its military advisers and its revolutionary forces and weapons in Syria.”
Jafari described the threats by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against the Iranian presence in Syria as “a joke” and warned that the Israeli government was “playing with the lion’s tail.”
He said, “You should fear a day when our missiles will be fired and land on your heads.”
Iran and Russia have supported the regime of Bashar al-Assad, in the war that has been ongoing for seven years against opposition fighters, and have sent thousands of soldiers to the country.
Israel, whose fears of a long-term military presence for Iran in neighboring Syria are growing, says that it has carried out 200 attacks on Iranian targets in Syria over the past two years.
On Sunday, Netanyahu said that Israeli warplanes carried out an attack against what he called a hiding place for Iranian weapons in Syria, and said that Israel would continue to confront Iranians in Syria unless it quickly withdraws.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
