Israel Says Better to Confront Iran Sooner Rather Than Later

Israel will do what is necessary to block Iranian aggression, sooner rather than later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday.

“Nations that didn’t act in time against murderous aggression against them paid a much higher price later on,” Netanyahu said at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting. “We don’t seek escalation, but are prepared for any scenario.”

Iran transferred to Syria in recent months advanced weaponry including attack drones, ground-to-ground missiles and anti-aircraft systems, said Netanyahu, who plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday. The Russian military’s intervention in Syria’s seven-year-old civil war in 2015 turned the tide in President Bashar al-Assad’s favor.

Israel has vowed to block Iran’s permanent entrenchment in Syria, and has been accused of attacking Iranian targets there, raising concerns about a direct military conflict between the two countries on Syrian soil. Israeli leaders have lobbied against Trump’s proposal to pull U.S. troops out of Syria, and urged Russia not to send state-of-the-art air defenses there. Iran has been backing Assad and the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group, a longtime Israeli enemy, in the Syrian civil war.

This week’s meeting in Moscow is “especially important,” Netanyahu told the cabinet at the weekly meeting.