Israel's Warning 'Will Teach Iran a Lesson It Will Never Forget'

Israel is warning Iran that any further military provocations will be met with severe consequences.

"If Iran continues to threaten and carry out offensive operations against Israel from Syria, Israel will teach Iran a lesson that it will never forget," warned Yisrael Katz, Israel's minister of intelligence.

Israel will continue to enforce its red lines. All international & regional actors interested in stabilizing the region should work together to counter Iran, prevent it from basing itself in Syria and stop its support of Hezbollah.

— ישראל כץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) February 11, 2018

The warning comes after Saturday's incident in which an Iranian drone crossed into Israeli airspace.

Part of the remains of the UAV the #Iranians tried to sneak into Israel. Not much left of it, similar to some parts of the #Syrian air defense array. pic.twitter.com/TqVr3vNPcu

— Jonathan Conricus (@LTCJonathan) February 11, 2018

Israel destroyed the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) then attacked the drone's command center deep inside Syria.

During the operation, Syria responded by launching a wave of surface-to-air missiles which managed to shoot down an Israeli F-16 fighter jet. It marked the first time in more than 30 years that an Israeli plane was shot down by enemy fire.

Original footage showing #Iranian UAV infiltrating and then shot down over Israel, and #IDF strike on Iranian command vehicle in #Syria pic.twitter.com/Sz6poAOdjc

— Jonathan Conricus (@LTCJonathan) February 10, 2018

"This is not the first time that Syria has launched missiles at Israel Air Force planes," Katz told the London-based Arabic-language outlet Elaph. "Israel will continue to maintain aerial superiority and control the skies of the region."

Israel has repeatedly warned that it will not allow Iran to establish a military presence on its northern border for any future attacks on the Jewish state.

This is the Iranian UAV that infiltrated Israeli territory early this morning pic.twitter.com/R1cfL4v5dF

— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) February 10, 2018

"Israel stresses that it will not accept an Iranian presence in Syria, damage to its sovereignty, and development and construction of missiles for Hezbollah in Lebanon by Iran," Katz said.

Israel launched a second large-scale attack, striking 12 targets inside Syria, including four Iranian installations.

"They, and we, know what we hit and it will take them some time to digest, understand, and ask how Israel knew how to hit those sites," Katz later told Army Radio.

Moments ago, IAF aircraft, targeted the Syrian Aerial Defense System & Iranian targets in Syria. 12 targets, including 3 aerial defense batteries & 4 Iranian military targets, were attacked. Anti-aircraft missiles were fired towards Israel, triggering alarms in northern Israel

— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) February 10, 2018

"These were concealed sites and we have intelligence agencies and the ability to know everything that is going on there and yesterday we proved that," Katz added.

Many Middle East watchers warn Saturday's sudden escalation of tensions could be the opening salvo of decades-long hostilities that have existed between Israel and Iran.

I told @guardian “We are entering a stage in which it's likely we'll see more clashes between Israel and Iranian forces.” While Zalzberg said he didn't think either country desired a fully fledged war, the situation in Syria had brought them to blows & more were to be expected".

— Ofer Zalzberg (@OferZalzberg) February 12, 2018

"We are entering a stage in which it is likely we will see more clashes between Israel and Iranian forces," said Ofer Zalzberg, an analyst at International Crisis Group.