Israel will not shy away from confrontation on its northern border as it takes steps to counter Iranian aggression, President Reuven Rivlin told French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday.
The two discussed Iran and Hezbollah during Rivlin's state visit to Paris, with Rivlin sounding the alarm on Iran's efforts to boost Hezbollah's capabilities in Lebanon by upgrading the Shiite terrorist group's missile stocks.
"Israel cannot accept and will never accept Hezbollah having precision missiles, which have only one target: Israeli citizens. If we are threatened by Lebanon, we will not remain silent," Rivlin said at a joint press conference.
"Lebanon is responsible for any activity undertaken by Hezbollah," Rivlin said.
Rivilin said Israel would continue to act against Iran's growing military presence in Syria, which he called "a direct threat to Israel and the entire region."
Iran has been using the Syrian civil war to take a more dominant role in the region. Iran has reportedly sent thousands of fighters to Syria and is building military infrastructure there. Israel has on multiple occasions struck Iranian assets in Syria. According to foreign media, the attacks have also targeted Iranian shipments of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah.
Rivlin said that "for Israel, Iran is an enemy that does not hide its intention to destroy Israel. We are duty-bound to treat this matter seriously."
Rivlin stressed that the threat posed by Iran "goes beyond its nuclear program and extends to its ballistic missile program, which we consider an existential threat."
Macron said he and Rivlin had discussed Iran and that he had insisted on maintaining continuous dialogue in order to control Tehran's ballistic and nuclear activity.
"We have to continue the dialogue to be able to control Iran's ballistic activity, to contain its nuclear activity and to make it possible to contain Iran's regional ambitions," Macron said.
"And on this front I have obviously repeated our full support to President Rivlin."
Under the U.N. resolution enshrining Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, Tehran is "called upon" to refrain from work on ballistic missiles suitable for carrying nuclear weapons. The U.S. has recently pulled out of the deal, but warned Iran it must abide by the U.N. resolution.
