'We Have Acted and Thus We Will Continue to Act'

In comments that were widely seen as bragging over the January 18 assassination of top Hezbollah anti-ISIS commanders and an Iranian general, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that Israel “have acted and thus we will continue to act.”

Netanyahu said he had “proven that nobody is immune from our intention to foil attacks against us.” Israeli officials claimed, without providing any evidence, that the Hezbollah fighters were plotting to attack Israel.

Israel had attacked Syria several times over the past year, killing a number of people, and expressing both shock and outrage when retaliatory strikes are even mentioned by the targets. Last week, Hezbollah killed two Israeli troops with an anti-tank strike they said was retaliatory for the January 18 attack.

Netanyahu presented last week’s attack as an Iranian attempt to start a war, though there was no indication Iran had anything to do with it. He also said it highlighted Iran’s growing role in the Syrian Civil War, which Israel insists it isn’t involved in, but which seems to be an excuse for intermittent Israeli attacks.