Israeli Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan said yesterday that Iran would launch attacks on Israel from Iraq, Israel Hayom reported.

Speaking at a conference hosted by the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies, Erdan underscored the increasing military presence of Iran and its allies “along Israeli borders”, according to the Israeli newspaper.

He said that Iran had sponsored Hezbollah in the south of Lebanon “along the Israeli border”, stating that Hezbollah’s arsenal had grown to more than 150,000 missiles and rockets.

The extremist Israeli minister stressed that Iran maintains strong ties with Iraq and this could draw it into a potential war with Israel in the future.

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“Iran’s goal is to deepen the Israeli dilemma of whether to strike Iran while it is opening more and more fronts against us – fronts which will be used to extract from us a high price if we think about attacking the Iranian nuclear programme,” Erdan said.

He added: “The commander of the Al-Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, wants to create another Hezbollah in Syria. After the era of Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President], I wouldn’t be surprised if Iran tries to spread its influence even into the West Bank.”