A meeting held urgently between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Brussels on Monday night tackled developments related to Iran’s increasing focus on activities in Lebanon rather than in Syria, said political sources in Tel Aviv.
In an analysis published Monday, Ynet's senior Israeli defense analyst and veteran military correspondent Ron Ben-Yishai said Netanyahu and Pompeo will likely discuss the accelerated establishment of Iran and Hezbollah's high-precision guided missile factories in Lebanon, as preparation for a possible Israeli action to thwart these efforts.
“Netanyahu and Pompeo's meeting, which was pushed up, is reminiscent of the meetings former prime minister Ehud Olmert held with US administration officials in Washington before bombing the nuclear reactor in Syria in 2007,” he wrote.
Ben-Yishai added that Netanyahu would probably present the Americans with the facts to gain US support in case Israel chooses to act, which could lead to a complaint against it at the United Nations Security Council.
Officials in the Prime Minister’s Office told the pro-Netanyahu Israel Hayom daily that the sit-down with Pompeo was “urgent.”
Israeli sources linked the Netanyahu-Pompeo meeting to developments, which lately took place in the region, particularly when a Boeing 747 aircraft belonging to the Iranian cargo airline Fars Air Qeshm flew directly from Tehran to Beirut, reportedly carrying weapon shipments to Hezbollah.
The sources also did not rule out the possibility that the Netanyahu-Pompeo could be a precursor to an Israeli military operation to obstruct Iran and Hezbollah’s goals.
Israel last waged a war against Hezbollah in 2006.
