JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel has carried out "dozens" of attacks in Syria to prevent weapons transfers to Lebanon's Hezbollah.
This was the most explicit statement Netanyahu, who visited a practice of reserve military soldiers in northern Israel's Golan Heights, had made in regards to airstrikes conducted in recent years against convoys allegedly carrying weapons in Syria, which Israel did not officially acknowledge in the past, Xinhua reported.
"We operate when we need to operate, as well as just over here across the border," Netanyahu told Israeli soldiers and journalists on Monday, pointing towards the direction of Syria.
"We have acted with dozens of attacks in order to prevent Hezbollah from receiving game-changing weapons," Netanyahu said.
Israel conquered and annexed the Israeli Golan Heights from Syria following the 1967 Mideast War.
Israel claims Iran and its proxies in Syria are providing weapons to Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shia militant organisation situated in southern Lebanon, against which Israel had fought a war in 2006.
The attacks against convoys carrying weapons in Syria were connected to Israel by international media outlets, but Israel did not officially acknowledge these attacks.
Israeli officials only said they will operate "when and where" they see fit in order to defense Israel's security interests.