Ex-defense official says Syrian threat to Israel greatly reduced
Amos Yadlin says 90% of missiles previously targeting Israel are gone; still, volatility north of border constitutes a major danger
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The civil war in Syria has depleted 90% of the country’s stockpiled missiles that previously presented a security threat to Israel, a former senior Israeli defense official said Saturday.
Nevertheless, Maj. Gen. (ret.) Amos Yadlin, the former head of Military Intelligence and IDF attache to Washington, warned that the volatile situation in Syria was still potentially dangerous for Israel, more so than the threat posed by Iran and Hezbollah, according to Israel Radio.
He said the turmoil in Israel’s war-torn northern neighbor was the third most urgent security threat currently facing the country, ranking it just behind the Gaza-based Hamas terror group and the Islamic State.
Yadlin, a candidate for defense minister had Zionist Union won last year’s elections, noted that the Russian military remained widely involved in Syria. Despite Moscow announcing a major draw-down in its military involvement in recent weeks, Russian warplanes have continued their bombing campaign in support of the Syrian regime, he said.
Referring to the suicide bombings in Brussels last week that killed 31 people, Yadlin criticized Europe for not adopting stricter security precautions despite recent terror attacks on Western targets.
Yadlin, who currently serves as director of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), also said that Israeli intelligence shared with Western governments had thwarted terror attacks and saved lives.
The Times of Israel Community.