Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman declared that Jerusalem “will not accept any restrictions on (its) freedom of operations in the war-torn-country,” while reaffirming Jerusalem’s determination to “take action” when it comes to its “national security” interests. The top Israeli Defense official further revealed that even though the media did not report on Israeli strikes in Syria, “that does not mean that there were none.” Lieberman explained that Israel does not report on what its military does behind enemy lines yet emphasized that “an army needs to act” when its country is under threat. The comments by Defense Minister Lieberman were made in an interview on Israel Radio, after Russia reportedly sought to renegotiate terms with Israel on its operations against Iran in Syria. According to the reports, Russia is insisting to receive a further warning about Israeli strikes, contrary to the current agreement in which the coordinated mechanism only demands several minutes ahead of an operation. The reported Russian demand comes a month after Moscow announced it would supply Syria with the S-300 surface-to-air systems, after one of its military planes was downed by a Syrian S-200 missile during an Israeli strike in the country.
