Comment by Prof. Efraim Inbar: Preemptive attack is an option.
World Israel News 7.2.2018
Analysts looking at Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Sunday briefing to the Cabinet on the subject of his recent talks with Russian President Putin pointed at the particular significance of a remark he made after usual comments about Israeli readiness in the face of military threats. Netanyahu told the ministers that he and Putin, discussed “Lebanon, which is becoming a factory for precision-guided missiles that threaten Israel. These missiles pose a grave threat to Israel, and we will not accept this threat.”
Netanyahu went on to say that the weapons factories are currently “in the process of being built” by Iran and Israel is “determined to do whatever is necessary to prevent those two developments.”
Indeed top Israeli analysts say that the Iranian “missile factory” being built in Lebanon is a game changer that has placed Israel and Hezbollah on a collision course that could lead to a third Lebanon war. The analysts also say that the coming conflict in Lebanon could spill over into Syria. As Netanyahu said to reporters, “The question is: Does Iran entrench itself in Syria, or will this process be stopped. If it doesn’t stop by itself, we will stop it.”
Lebanese officials have not issued any comment concerning the alleged Iranian plan According to Smadar Perry from Ynet, “Either Lebanon is not in on the secret or they’re choosing to keep quiet.” According to Perry, the Revolutionary Guards are building the factory in Lebanon without asking Iranian leadership for permission.”
Meir Javadanfan who teaches Iranian Studies at the IDC told World Israel News (WIN), “The story could be true, but the Iranians have never confirmed the existence of a Lebanese missile plant.”
Asked about the possibility of another war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Professor Ephraim Inbar, Director of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies told WIN, “This is entirely possible. The Iranians are building a plant in Lebanon to produce long range missiles. They are doing so because they have difficulties transporting those missiles from Iran to Lebanon because Israel strikes and destroys their convoys time and time again. Iran is advancing on two fronts…the Syrian border and Lebanon. I don’t think Hezbollah wants a conflict now, but they want the missiles and this is unacceptable to Israel.”
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