By Xinhua
Jerusalem : Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday praised the army for its “courageous” and “unusual” operations in vague remarks, without mentioning the reported overflights in Syria last week, local newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
Olmert was quoted as telling a cabinet meeting that “I want to express my appreciation of the security forces’ courageous and unusual operations that are aimed at impeding the activities of terror groups.”
The prime minister spoke of operations by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in general, and did not specifically refer to Syria’s allegations that Israeli jets violated its airspace early Thursday morning, according to the report.
“These are operations whose nature we cannot always reveal to the public, naturally. There were numerous operations that Israel carried out against leaders of terror groups and these operations will continue without hesitation,” Olmert told the cabinet meeting.
“Anyone who sends terrorists will be targeted wherever he is,” he warned.
The Syrian government said last week that Israeli aircraft entered its airspace from the Mediterranean Sea before dawn on Thursday and jettisoned fuel tanks near the Turkish border as they broke the sound barrier.
Turkey on Saturday demanded Israel to give explanations over the incident.
Israeli cabinet ministers and senior IDF officers refused to comment on the alleged incident, while Syria is still undecided on its response to the alleged flyover.
A Lebanese newspaper reported on Sunday that Syria began a large call-up of reserve soldiers in preparation for a possible military confrontation with Israel.
However, the IDF has lowered its state of alert on the Syrian border compared to last week though the defense establishment does not rule out a Syrian attempt to respond by missile fire, local media reported.
Israeli defense officials were quoted as saying over the weekend that although the situation on the Syrian border is still of concern, it is unlikely that Syrian President Bashar Assad was headed for war in the immediate future.