Tel Aviv [Israel], April 28: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his forces intercepted an Iranian plane heading to Syria to support former President Bashar al-Assad.
Speaking at a conference run by the Jewish News Syndicate, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on April 27 that Iran wanted to save former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after seeing the Lebanese Hezbollah group suffer heavy losses in fighting with Israel, according to the Associated Press.
"They have to rescue Assad. Iran wants to send one or two air divisions to help the Syrian leader," Netanyahu said.
"We stopped that. We sent F-16s to intercept many Iranian planes on several routes to Damascus. They have returned," the Israeli leader said. Netanyahu did not provide further details about the incident.
Netanyahu's new statements reveal a new perspective on Israel during Assad's last days in power in Syria in December 2024. The Iranian side has not commented on the new information.
Netanyahu also said he pushed for attacks on pagers after Israel learned that Hezbollah was suspicious and sent some of the devices to Iran for testing.
In a separate development, the Israeli military said on April 27 that it attacked a building south of Beirut (Lebanon) that was used to store Hezbollah's precision missiles. This attack has posed an additional challenge to the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
Israel Katz, Israel's defense minister, said Hezbollah's precision missiles "pose a significant threat to the State of Israel."
For his part, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called on the United States and France, as guarantors of the ceasefire agreement signed in November 2024, to force Israel to stop its attacks. "Israel's continued actions to undermine stability will increase tensions and put the region at real risk, threatening the security and stability of the region," Aoun said.
"The attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut has caused panic and fear of a recurrence of violence, while many people are desperate for a return to normal," UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert wrote on the X platform.
"We call on all parties to cease all actions that could further undermine the ceasefire agreement and the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701," Hennis-Plasschaert stressed.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper