IDF chief: Iran capabilities in Syria still ‘far away’ thanks to Israeli strikes

Iran’s capabilities in Syria are “far away” from what the Islamic republic had wanted them to be as a result of “ongoing” Israeli military action, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot says.

The army chief praises the IDF Northern Command for its effort in blocking Iranian forces from establishing a permanent military presence in southern Syria, near the Israeli border, and from transferring precision-guided missiles to the Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon.

“The fact that their abilities are far away from what Iran and terror groups desired is the result of high-quality, ongoing operational activity,” Eisenkot says, while visiting the Northern Command’s Bashan Division in the Golan Heights.

“The IDF will continue to thwart these efforts [by Iran and Hezbollah], while preserving the security situation in the north in the long term, from a dedication to the defense of citizens of the State of Israel,” he says.

Eisenkot is accompanied by Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yoel Strick and other senior officers, the Israel Defense Forces says.

In recent years, Israel has identified Iranian efforts to set up a forward operating base in southern Syria as a major strategic threat to the Jewish state and vowed to take action to prevent it.

The Israeli military has conducted hundreds of airstrikes and other operations against Iranian targets in Syria, according to Israeli officials and foreign media reports.

— Judah Ari Gross