The head of Israel’s military said in an unprecedented interview with a Saudi Arabian news outlet that the Jewish state is willing to share intelligence with the Gulf kingdom in its efforts to confront Iran, according to reports.
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot told the Saudi Elaph online newspaper that Iran poses the “real and largest threat to the region,” according to the Israeli Haaretz newspaper.
“We are ready to exchange experiences with Saudi Arabia and other moderate Arab countries and share intelligence information to confront Iran,” he said.
In the wake of allegations in the Arab world that Israel is planning on attacking the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, Eisenkot, 57, said there is “no intention of attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon and bring about a war.
“However, we will not accept a strategic threat to Israel,” he said in the first-ever interview with Arabic media.
Eisenkot said Iran is trying to destabilize the region by building weapons factories and supplying advanced arms to terror groups — and warned that the expansion of Iranian influence in the Mideast is a major concern to both countries.
“Iran seeks to take control of the Middle East, creating a Shi’ite crescent from Lebanon to Iran and then from the [Persian] Gulf to the Red Sea,” he said. “We must prevent this from happening.”
Asked whether Israel has shared “information” with the Saudis recently, Eisenkot replied, “We are prepared to share information if it is necessary. There are many mutual interests.”
Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have official diplomatic ties, but have never fought each other.
Eisenkot also said he welcomed President Trump’s announcement that it is necessary to end the Iranian ballistic missile program and Iran’s growing hold in Syria and Iraq.
“With President Donald Trump there is an opportunity for a new international coalition in the region. There should be a major regional plan to stop the Iranian threat,” Eisenkot told the outlet.
Eisenkot was blunt about what a lengthy Iranian presence in Syria would mean.
“Our demand is for Hezbollah to leave Syria and for Iran and its militias to retreat from Syria,” he said.
“We have said openly, and also quietly and secretly too, that we will not accept Iranian consolidation in Syria in general, and their concentration west of the Damascus,” he said.
“We will not allow any Iranian presence, we have warned them against building factories or military bases and we will not allow it.”
According to the IDF, while Hezbollah has increased its military capabilities due to its fighting in Syria, the group has spread its troops across the Mideast and is hurting financially, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Last week, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of having appealed to Israel to launch an attack against the group in Lebanon, offering the Jewish state “billions of dollars” to do so.
On Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was quoted by Press TV as saying “It is very reprehensible and shameful for a Muslim country in the region to beg the Zionist regime [of Israel] to bomb the people of Lebanon.”
“It is unprecedented in history for a Muslim country to take such measures, and this indicates the immaturity of the individuals, who have come to power in those countries,” Rouhani added.
Eisenkot, the son of Jewish immigrants from Morocco, became IDF head in February 2015. He earned a master’s degree from the United States Army War College in Pennsylvania.