Israel just warned Iran it won’t tolerate another nuclear power in the region

Top Israeli officials put their regional enemies – specifically Iran – on notice Wednesday, warning it wouldn’t hesitate to repeat an airstrike that destroyed a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007.

The implied threat came after Israel admitted for the first time that it had bombed a suspected nuclear reactor at the Al-Kubar complex near Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria, releasing previously classified footage and intelligence on the Sept. 6, 2007 raid.

The Israeli military said the night-time strike by eight fighter jets on the facility, which was months away from being completed and was being built with North Korean help, had eliminated “an emerging existential threat to Israel and the entire region.” Israel had long been suspected of carrying out the strike, but had never admitted it until Wednesday, after Israeli military censors lifted restrictions over the operation.

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the strike should serve as a lesson to Israel’s regional enemies.

“The motivation of our enemies has grown in recent years, but so too the might of the IDF [Israeli Defence Forces],” he said in a statement.

“Everyone in the Middle East would do well to internalize this equation.”

His colleague, Intelligence Minister Israel Katz, made the warning to Iran explicit.

“The courageous decision of the Israeli government almost 11 years ago to destroy the nuclear reactor in Syria and the successful operation following it sends a clear message: Israel will never allow nuclear weapons to countries like Iran who threaten its existence,” he tweeted.

Israel’s acknowledgment of the strike follows months of calls from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the international community to take a harder line on Iran, amid growing concerns about Tehran’s nuclear program and its rising military presence in Syria. In February, Israeli jets struck Syrian and Iranian military targets in Syria.

Iran claims its nuclear program has only peaceful civilian purposes, and signed a 2015 deal accepting curbs on the program in return for sanctions relief — a deal Israel heavily criticized.

Syria has always denied the site was a nuclear reactor and that it cooperated with North Korea in a nuclear program. But the International Atomic Energy Agency has said the site was “very likely” a nuclear reactor, potentially built with North Korean cooperation.

James Jeffrey, deputy national security adviser to George W. Bush, the U.S. leader at the time of the strike, told Israel’s Army Radio Wednesday that Bush had stood behind Israel’s actions.

“[He] made it clear that we were very happy that events had eliminated this threat and that if there were any threats to Israel that would emerge from this situation, the United States would stand with Israel, period,” he said.

Cover image: A handout image provided by the Israeli army on March 20, 2018 reportedly shows a before and after aerial view of a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor destroyed by an air strike in 2007. (AFP/Getty Images)