Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said Tuesday that Israel detected signs that Iran is considering decreasing its presence in Syria, giving the Jewish state an opportunity to go from the defensive to the offensive.
"I can tell you that we have identified initial signs indicating that Iran is re-evaluating its plans in Syria," Bennett told visitors at the New-Tech 2020 military technology conference in Tel Aviv.
"They [Iran] are sending forces to try to establish [presence] there and wear us down, but we can turn the disadvantage to an advantage. We have superior intelligence and operational capabilities, and we are telling Iran loud and clear: Get out of Syria! You have nothing to look for here."
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Bennett added that Israel has changed its strategy from a defensive posture to an offensive one: "We are moving from a defensive strategy to an offensive strategy – to weaken, exhaust, wear down and erode the octopus head to weaken its tentacles. And we've only just begun," he said.
Iran has increased its presence in Syria soon after the civil war erupted there in March 2011. Iranian forces have been instrumental in saving the rule of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and the Islamic republic has also enlisted Hezbollah, its Lebanon-based proxy, to help it in its efforts to prop up the Damascus regime.
Israel has warned repeatedly about Iran's nuclear ambitions as well as its aspirations of regional hegemony, saying that it will not allow Tehran to entrench itself militarily in Syria, Israel's neighbor to the north.
In 2018, the IDF admitted to hundreds of airstrikes as part of its "campaign between the wars," an ongoing military and intelligence effort to disrupt the force build-up of the Iranian-Shiite axis throughout the Middle East.
