Israel's military forces have been put on high alert after Iran threatened to retaliate over the bombing early Monday of an air base in central Syria.
The T-4 Air Base had reportedly been a headquarters for Iranian drones being used in support of the Syrian regime. Israel viewed that and all other Iranian military forces in Syria as an unacceptable threat to the security fo the Jewish state.
While Israel maintained its policy of ambiguity regarding the T-4 base bombing, Russia, Syria, Iran and the United States all said that Israeli aircraft had been responsible.
"The crimes will not remain unanswered," insisted Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
While still not explicitly admitting to the T-4 base strike, Israel Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said the Jewish state would not back down in confronting creeping Iranian hegemony.
"Israel will not allow Iranian entrenchment in Syria. Whatever the cost," Liberman told reporters. "Accepting Iranian entrenchment in Syria would be to accept Iranians putting a chokehold on us. We cannot allow that."
PHOTO: An IDF tank guards the border between Israel and Syria (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
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