SIMI VALLEY, California — Israel’s recent direct military strikes against Iran and rebel advances in Syria severely weakened the Iranian regime and its proxy forces in the region, Israel’s ambassador to the United States said Saturday.
Ambassador Michael Herzog said during a defense conference that the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad is in danger of falling.
The regime until recently was a key part of Iran’s “axis of resistance” to U.S. and Israeli influence in the region.
“This is a major blow to Irani and the Iranian axis,” Mr. Herzog said during a panel at the Reagan National Defense Forum.
Syria also was a vital link for Iran to access the Mediterranean Sea, to arm and support its proxy force Hezbollah in Lebanon, and to gain access to Israel’s border, he said.
“All of this now is denied,” Mr. Herzog said, adding that “there are no good guys” in the Syrian rebels who are Islamist radicals.
Mr. Herzog repeated a quip first used by the late Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin regarding the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, “I wish both sides success.”
Mr. Herzog also said the rebel offensive underway in Syria was the result of Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
The rebels saw an opportunity in Syria and “suddenly everything collapsed,” including the Syrian army and the Assad regime, he said.
Israel is closely watching events in Syria and staying out but Mr. Herzog said the rebels are expelling Iran and Hezbollah from the country.
Iran also weakened in Iran in October by conducting a large-scale airstrike on 20 sites in Iran using about 100 manned and unmanned warplanes. The attacks also knocked out Iran’s Russian-made S-300 air and missile defenses.
Mr. Herzog said after the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel the country was confronted by the entire Iranian axis of nations and proxies, including Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Iran’s two ineffective military attacks on Israel came about because Iran’s leaders thought Israel was vulnerable and weak, he said.
The October counterstrike took out Iran’s most sophisticated air defense network, including S-300s and took out Iran’s missile production capability, he said.
Iran will be unable to restore its air defense capabilities “for a long time,” Mr. Herzog said. “Suddenly it dawned on them that they are blinded, that they are vulnerable, that we can go in and out as we please, and can hit any target in Iran,” Mr. Herzog said, posing a serious problem for Tehran.
Two months after the Israeli airstrike, Iran has not responded.
“Taken together this [Iranian] axis has suffered a very serious blow,” Mr. Herzog said.
The Israeli actions led to a cease fire in Lebanon and the rupture of ties between Hamas and Hezbollah.
“Iran is now deterred,” he said.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.
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