Netanyahu is interested in forming connections with Syria but warns that Israel will take action if it poses a threat

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he wants to establish “relations” with the new regime in Syria after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad, but he warned Israel will not hesitate to attack the Middle Eastern nation should it pose a threat.

“We want relations with the new regime in Syria,” Netanyahu said in a live address. “But if this regime allows Iran to return to establishing itself in Syria or allows the transfer of Iranian weapons or any other weapons to Hezbollah or [if it] attack[s] us, we will respond strongly. And we will exact a heavy price.

“What happened to the previous regime will also happen to this regime.” 

People pick up metal and unexploded ammunition from the site of the previous evening’s Israeli airstrike that targeted shipments of weapons that belonged to Syrian government forces in Qamishli in mainly Kurdish northeastern Syria Dec. 10, 2024.  (Delil Souleiman/AFP via Getty Images)

It is unclear if any casualties were inflicted in Israel’s overnight strikes, though the United Nations on Tuesday condemned the attacks as well as Israel’s military encroachment beyond the Golan Heights and into a demilitarized buffer zone.

“We are continuing to see Israeli movements and bombardments into Syrian territory. This needs to stop,” U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said, calling Israel’s developments “troubling.”

“This is extremely important,” he added. “We need to see a stop to the Israeli attacks, and we need to make sure that the conflict in the northeast stops. And we need to make sure that there are no conflicts developing between the different armed groups.”

Israel received some international criticism after it sent a military contingent this week beyond the Golan Heights, a contested area that Jerusalem seized in 1967 and which is still internationally recognized as a part of Syria, though the U.S. recognizes Israeli sovereignty over the area.

Israeli soldiers operate in a location given as southern Syria in this image from a video obtained by Reuters Dec. 9, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces/Handout via Reuters)

“We’re against these types of attacks. I think this is a turning point for Syria. It should not be used by its neighbors to encroach on the territory of Syria,” U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric reportedly said Tuesday. 

In his address, Netanyahu reaffirmed Israel’s position and said, “We have no intention of interfering in the internal affairs of Syria, but we clearly have the intention of doing what is necessary to ensure our security.”