Israel Delivers ‘Severe Blows’ To Iranian And Syrian Forces

Israel doesn’t play.

It all started after Israeli forces spotted an Iranian drone in Israeli airspace.

The Iranian drone entered Israeli airspace and remained there for a minute and a half before being downed by a combat helicopter. Israel launched airstrikes on 12 Syrian and Iranian targets in Syria, including three air-defense batteries and four Iranian targets such as the control center that launched the drone.

The UAV, which has Western characteristics, was sophisticated and would be studied by Israel, Bar said.

The two pilots ejected from the F-16 after facing intense anti-aircraft missiles.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Israel has EVERY right to defend itself.

“I want to clarify: Israel seeks peace but we will continue to defend ourselves resolutely against any attack against us and against any attempt by Iran to establish itself militarily against us in Syria or anywhere else,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

“Our policy is absolutely clear: Israel will defend itself against any attack and any attempt to harm our sovereignty,” he added. “Iran made such an attempt today. It brazenly violated our sovereignty, it infiltrated its aircraft into Israeli territory from Syrian territory.”

IAF Air Staff Commander Brig. Gen. Tomer Bar said IDF’s response resulted in “significant harm to the Syrian Air Force’s defenses.”

Bar said the response to “Syrian chutzpah” was “the biggest and most significant attack the air force has conducted against Syrian air defenses since Operation Peace for the Galilee” in 1982 during the First Lebanon War. He added that the airstrikes inflicted “significant harm to the Syrian Air Force’s defenses,” which included “anti-aircraft batteries purchased in recent deals [with the Russians].”

Syria responded with a barrage of missiles that resulted in the downing of an Israeli F-16 in which two pilots were injured, one seriously and another lightly.

Israel said the drone infiltration was a “severe and irregular violation of Israeli sovereignty” and warned of further military action against Iran.

“This is a serious Iranian attack on Israeli territory. Iran is dragging the region into an adventure in which it doesn’t know how it will end,” Israel’s chief military spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said in a statement earlier Saturday. “Whoever is responsible for this incident is the one who will pay the price.”

The White House supports Israel’s actions.

“Israel is a staunch ally of the United States, and we support its right to defend itself from the Iranian-backed Syrian and militia forces in southern Syria,” the White House said in a statement Sunday. “We call on Iran and its allies to cease provocative actions and work toward regional peace.”

The Pentagon is on the same page.

“Israel is our closest security partner in the region and we fully support Israel’s inherent right to defend itself against threats to its territory and its people,” U.S. Defense Department spokesman Adrian Rankine-Galloway said.

“We share the concerns of many throughout the region that Iran’s destabilizing activities threaten international peace and security, and we seek greater international resolve in countering Iran’s malign activities,” he added.

Netanyahu is staying strong. During Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said “We inflicted on Saturday a heavy blow to Iranian and Syrian forces.”

“We made clear to everyone that our rules of engagement will not change in any way. We will continue to harm anyone who tries to harm us,” he added. “This was our policy and this will remain our policy.”

Israel has my support 100%. America has Israel’s back. I love it.

h/t Breitbart