An Israeli minister warned on Monday that Israel would respond to any Iranian attack by destroying that country, public radio reported. "An Iranian attack against Israel would trigger a tough reaction that would lead to the destruction of the Iranian nation," National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said.
"Iranians are aware of our strength but continue to provoke us by arming their Syrian allies and Hizbullah," he said, according to AFP. Ben-Eliezer, a former defence minister and a current member of the security cabinet, stressed however that the Iranians were unlikely to attack as "they understand the meaning of such an act".
Ben-Eliezer also stressed that an ongoing five-day home front defence exercise was not meant to threaten Israel's neighbours, but stressed that "the scenarios considered in the exercise could be reality tomorrow". He said Israel could one day find itself in a situation in which hundreds of rockets rain down on Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. "Nowhere would be safe from Syrian and Hezbollah rockets," Ben-Eliezer said.
