TEL AVIV – Iran’s military chief of staff vowed Wednesday that Tehran would confront Israel for “violating” Syrian territory after a strike two days earlier by the IDF on an anti-aircraft battery that fired missiles at Israeli planes inside the war-torn country.
“It is not acceptable for the Zionist regime to violate Syria anytime it wants,” the Islamic Republic News Agency cited Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri as telling Syrian officials – including Syrian counterpart Ali Abdullah Ayoub – during a rare visit to the Syrian capital. “We are in Damascus to assert and coordinate and cooperate to confront our common enemies, the Zionists and terrorists.”
“We discussed ways to strengthen relations in the future and outlined the basic principles of this cooperation,” he said.
According to the regime-affiliated Tasnim news agency, Bagheri arrived in Damascus with a delegation of senior officials and is also slated to meet with Syrian leader Bashar Assad.
A day earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that Israel “would not allow” Iran to expand its military presence near the Syrian border.
He also praised President Donald Trump over his decertification announcement on the Iran deal last Friday.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on the other hand, warned that if Trump walks back on the deal “Iran will shred it.”
He added that he did not have time for the “nonsensical comments by the foul-mouthed president.”