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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet Tuesday on U.S. threat of a military action against neighboring Syria over alleged use of chemical weapons by government troops, Israel's Army Radio reported.
While details of the meeting have not been revealed, Netanyahu said after the meeting that "the State of Israel is ready for any scenario. We are not part of the civil war in Syria but if we identify any attempt whatsoever to harm us, we will respond and we will respond in strength."
Prior to the meeting, Israeli Minister of Economy and Trade Naftali Bennett called on the international community to intervene a meeting on Syria. "It cannot be that children were gassed to death less than 100 km away from Israel, or that we will allow the world to remain silent or turn a blind eye," Army Radio quoted head of the right-wing Jewish Home Party as saying.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces deployed along the northern borders with Syria and Lebanon are on high alert Tuesday after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry suggested that a strike against the Syrian regime was in the offing, with the Obama's administration weighing on possible courses of a military operation along with its key allies.
In what the international media described as the harshest remarks on Syria to date, Kerry said in a televised statement on Monday that it was "undeniable" that Syrian troops have employed chemical arms on a massive scale during the 29-month old civil war.
He said Washington, relying on reports of intelligence information, has evidence that Syrian military was behind last Wednesday's alleged poison gas attack in the eastern suburbs of Damascus, which reportedly killed almost 1,300 people, according to Syrian opposition and human rights groups.
On the other hand, Syria accuses Kerry of lying. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem challenged the Western powers Tuesday to provide their evidence of the involvement of the government troops in chemical arms use in Damascus' countryside.
On Monday, an Israeli delegation of senior defense officials arrived in Washington for consultations on the situation in the neighboring Arab state, the Yediot Aharonot daily said.
According to the report, Israeli officials are expected to present their U.S. counterparts updated information that proves involvement of the Syrian government in the alleged chemical attack.
The Israeli Defense Forces argued that "chances are low" that Syria would attack Israel in retaliation for a U.S.-led assault on his country, but also did not rule out a response depending on the scale of the attack, the paper said.
For his part, former Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman said that while Israel has no interest in becoming involved in Syria's civil war, "there's no doubt that a strike by the U.S. and its allies could drag" the Jewish state into the conflict.
