IDF Puts Hezbollah Rocket Factories on Hit List

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned on Sunday that Israel will take whatever action is necessary to keep Iran and its proxy Hezbollah from threatening its northern borders.

“We will not tolerate any Iranian presence on the border, and we will continue to act against that,” he said, adding that Israel will “do what is necessary,” following reports that Iran has set up underground arms factories for Hezbollah in Lebanon in response to IDF interdiction of arms shipments through Syria.

The factories are capable of producing missiles with a range of over 300 miles, plus surface-to-air and anti-tank missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles able to carry explosives.

A report on the factories in the Kuwaiti Al Jarida newspaper last March was confirmed last Thursday by IDF Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Herzl Halevi on Thursday.

Regarding repeated incidents in recent days of errant fire from southern Syria landing in the Israeli Golan Height, Liberman warned Syria to control the spillover.

“There is intense fighting in recent days by rebel groups trying to regain control of Quneitra [on the Israeli-Syrian border], and a commensurate response from the Syrian army. We’re responding and will respond more forcefully” in the future, he told a press briefing.

“The State of Israel has no interest in initiating a military move, not in the north and not in the south. There is quiet in the south, and in the north the spillover fire from Syria isn’t directed at us.

“We have no red lines. We’ll weigh every incident separately,” but also “respond with strength” each time.

“I don’t think that in either Syria or Lebanon, where they’re aware of the depth of our intelligence, they think that it’s a good idea to test our military capabilities.”