Head of IDF Northern Command: We ‘will not allow’ Iranian entrenchment in Syria

The head of the IDF Northern Command warns that the military “will not allow” Iranian entrenchment in Syria, but is not interested in escalating the situation at this time.

“Iran wants to establish a forward operating base in Syria whose goal is attacking Israel. We will not allow it. We will not allow Israeli citizens to be threatened. We will not allow Iran to threaten the stability of the entire region,” says Maj. Gen. Yoel Strick. “We are not inclined toward escalation, but we have high-level capabilities and we will not hesitate to use them.”

The head of the IDF Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Yoel Strick, speaks to senior officers ahead of the ‘Light of the Grain’ exercise, the army’s largest in 20 years, on September 4, 2017. (Israel Defense Forces)

Strick makes his remarks during a ceremony marking the incoming of a new head of the Northern Command’s 210th “Bashan” Division, which is responsible for guarding the Syrian border and the Golan Heights.

“That’s how we’ve operated in the past, that’s how we operated yesterday and that’s how we’ll act, as needed, to any threat,” Strick says.

— Judah Ari Gross