“Know how to defend ourselves”
Netanyahu warns Iran against attacking Israel
April 5, 2024, 3:54 a.m
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Jerusalem and Washington have indications that Iran is planning a retaliatory strike on Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has announced a robust military response to Tehran in this case. That would take the current conflict to another level.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened consequences if Iran attacks his country. “For years, Iran has been acting against us both directly and through its proxies; that is why Israel is taking action against Iran and its proxies, defensively and offensively,” Netanyahu said in the evening at the start of a meeting of the Israeli security cabinet, his office said.
“We will know how to defend ourselves and we will act according to the simple principle: whoever harms us or plans to harm us, we will harm them too,” Netanyahu said. The Israeli government and its ally the United States are very concerned that Iran is preparing for an imminent attack, the news portal Axios quoted American and Israeli officials as saying.
After a suspected Israeli airstrike on an Iranian embassy building in Syria’s capital Damascus that left several people dead, Iran announced retaliation. Two brigadier generals and five other members of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard were killed in Monday’s attack. The Revolutionary Guards are Iran’s elite armed forces and are considered more powerful than the conventional armed forces.
Phone call with Biden
Iran’s threats against Israel were also raised in a phone call between US President Joe Biden and Netanyahu on Thursday. According to the White House, Biden made it clear that the USA supports Israel in the face of these threats. U.S. support for Israel to defend itself against a range of threats remains “unwavering,” said National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby. Israel told the ally that if Iran launched an attack on Israel from its soil in retaliation for the deadly attack in Syria, it would face a strong response from Israel and this would take the current conflict to another level, it said the news portal “Axios” Israeli officials.
Israel’s military spokesman Daniel Hagari confirmed in the evening that the country’s GPS positioning system had been deliberately disrupted on Wednesday in order to “neutralize threats.” He did not provide any information about where exactly this happened. There have been speculations in the Israeli media that threats from Iran are the reason for this. Meanwhile, Hagari wrote on X that there was no need to buy generators, store food and withdraw money from ATMs. In view of the tense security situation, temporary vacation bans for combat units have been imposed. In addition, reservists are to be mobilized for missile defense.