Jerusalem: Iran has "no military presence" in Syria, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said. "It is true that there are some Iranian advisers and experts in Syria, but there are no Iranian military forces on Syrian soil," Lieberman said in an interview with Israeli Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronoth.
Lieberman's comment is linked to the view that Iran usually operates through their home-grown proxies. "Iran has a strategy to create proxies everywhere," he asserted. "After all, they do not have a physical presence in Lebanon — for this, they have Hezbollah."
"They (the Iranians) are physically present in Yemen; they have the Houthi rebels," the Defence Minister said. "And they have the same plan in Syria: to create all kinds of Shia militant groups, which they will bring from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan."
"All the players in the region know Israel is the strongest power in the Middle East.We won’t allow Iran to establish a presence in Syria," he added. Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran of planning to establish and maintain a military presence inside war-torn Syria."
The statement is significant in that it runs counter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refrain about Iran's operative units being present in Syria.
The comments came on the same day that an IDF Spokesperson made provocative and controversial statements, announcing that in the next Israel-Hezbollah War, "Nasrallah is a target" for assassination and that Israel is currently conducting psychological and media warfare against Hezbollah.