Netanyahu: Israel to stay out of Syria, with exceptions

By Daniel Chaitin, Daniel Chaitin

Published December 20, 2015

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that while Israel supports the fight against "militant Islamic terrorism," his country will largely sit out of the ongoing conflict in Syria.

In a video address to the Brookings Saban Forum in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel's position is non-intervention in Syria, because while an Islamic State-dominated Syria would be "bad," a Syria dominated by Iran, through its current embattled President Bashar Assad, is also "bad."

"I think that our policy has been ... not to try and strengthen one at the expense of the other, but weaken both," said Netanyahu.

The only exceptions to Israel's non-interventionist stand, Netanyahu added, is to provide humanitarian aid to Syrians. He also said Israel would prevent Syrian territory being used to stage a front against Israel and traffic weapons to the Islamist militant group Hezbollah.