Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has accused Iran of trying to "stir up" a war between Israel and Syria.
Speaking during a tour of the IDF’s Northern Command on Tuesday afternoon, Netanyahu said Iran was “spreading lies in order to escalate tensions.”
“We want security, stability and peace,” he stressed. “Israel has no intention of attacking its neighbors, contrary to false rumors which have been spread on the subject.”
Concerning Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev’s proposal to increase
Moscow’s involvement in the region, the prime minister said Israel
would "give its blessing to any contribution to advance peace, as well as
any practical steps taken by our neighbors, including Syria, that lead
to calm in the region and the start of a peace process.”
Netanyahu
reiterated that Israel was “ready to enter peace talks with Syria
without preconditions, just like we are doing now with the
Palestinians.”
Netanyahu, accompanied by IDF Chief of General
Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and OC Northern Command Gadi Eizencott,
was attending a military exercise, which Ashkenazi was at pains
to stress was just a “routine drill,” and not meant as a message “to
anyone.”