If Iran or its proxies attack Israel, they will pay heavy price - Kochavi

“I am putting things in a simple way and describing the situation to our enemies as it is - our retaliation plans are prepared, and they were all practiced in advance.”

By UDI SHAHAM
Updated: DECEMBER 21, 2020 19:44
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi visits Israel's northern border with Syria. (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi visits Israel's northern border with Syria.
(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
If Iran or its proxies try to carry out attacks against Israel or Israeli targets, they will be attacked by the IDF and pay a heavy price, Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi said Monday.
“We are hearing more and more threats against Israel coming from Iran,” he said at an awards ceremony. “If Iran and its partners... attack the State of Israel, they will [pay] a heavy price.”
“I am simplifying things and describing the situation to our enemies as it is,” he added. “Our retaliation plans are prepared, and they already have been practiced.”
Three weeks ago, Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was assassinated outside of Tehran. The operation was widely attributed to the Mossad.
After the assassination, Iran blamed Israel for the attack and vowed revenge.
“Once again, the evil hands of global arrogance were stained with the blood of the mercenary usurper Zionist regime,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said a day after the assassination. “Iran will surely respond to the martyrdom of our scientist at the proper time.”
On Monday, Kochavi spoke about preventative steps the IDF is taking to thwart any attacks.
“Over the past few years we prevented infiltrations in the South and the North,” he said. “We thwarted terrorist attacks by using a wide range of operations and nightly arrests in Judea and Samaria. We blocked cyberattacks and intercepted rockets that were launched toward civilian areas.”
“Alongside that, the IDF is carrying out a preventative war – the war between wars – a battle that erodes [our enemies’] abilities and threats and thus prevents a war; a battle that shows the IDF at its best,” he said. “It is being perceived by its enemies as an initiating, creative, ambitious and deterring army that is carrying out its missions in a precise, surprising and professional manner.”
“This preventive war included a long line of complex operations on all our fronts,” Kochavi said. “Some of them were overt, and some were covert. All of them reduced and thwarted threats. They created better terms for the IDF’s activities in the present and in the future. They strengthened the military’s deterrence and affected the character of the region.”
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.


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