PM and IDF Chief of Staff in the North
PM and IDF Chief of Staff in the NorthPhoto: GPO

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday afternoon that Israel would take preemptive action to prevent any future attacks on the Jewish state, following Israeli airstrikes on an Iranian military facility the IDF says was used for a planned series of 'kamikaze' drone strikes on Israel.

Netanyahu held a security tour of the north and an assessment of the situation with IDF Chief-of-Staff Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, GOC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Amir Baram and other senior officers, following the Israeli operation against Iranian forces in Aqraba, Syria Saturday night.

"'If someone rises up to kill you, kill him first,'" said Netanyahu, citing a Talmudic dictum.

"In a complicated operation by the security establishment, we revealed that Iran's Quds Force dispatched a special unit of Shi'ite militants to Syria in order to kill Israelis on the Golan Heights with explosives-laden UAVs.”

Netanyahu said the planned drone attacks, which were to have been undertaken by Iranian-aligned militias, were ordered by Tehran and prepared by the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force.

“I would like to emphasize: This was an initiative of Iran, under the command of Iran, at the behest of Iran. In a daring decision, and in a perfect IDF operational and intelligence effort, we pre-empted them and thwarted this attack; we prevented serious attacks. Henceforth we will expose any attempt by Iran to attack us and any Iranian effort to hide behind this or that excuse.”

“I would like to stress that we will not tolerate aggression against Israel from any country in the region. Any country that allows its territory to be used for aggression against Israel will face the consequences, and I repeat: The country will face the consequences."