Israel intercepted Iranian planes sent to rescue Bashar Al Assad, says Netanyahu

Prime Minister says Israeli F-16s forced Iranian planes en route to Damascus to turn back

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also spoke about the pager attacks against Hezbollah last year. AFP

Israeli warplanes intercepted Iranian aircraft bound for Syria that were carrying troops aimed at propping up Bashar Al Assad as his rule collapsed last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.

The comments offer new insight into Israel's thinking in the last days of the former Syrian regime and cast doubt on the narrative that Iran had chosen to abandon Mr Al Assad, a long-time ally who was overthrown by insurgents.

Speaking to a conference in Jerusalem hosted by news agency the Jewish News Syndicate on Sunday, Mr Netanyahu claimed Tehran wanted to save Mr Al Assad after watching the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in neighbouring Lebanon suffer heavy losses in fighting with Israel.

Tehran wanted to send “one or two airborne divisions” to help the former Syrian president, Mr Netanyahu said.

“We stopped that. We sent some F-16s to some Iranian planes that were making some routes to Damascus. They turned back,” he said.

“They had to rescue Assad,” he added, without offering further details.

Mr Netanyahu also shed light on Israel's operations against Hezbollah last year, saying he brought forward the devastating attack in which Israel detonated hundreds of booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies used by the group, days before assassinating its leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Israeli fighter jets were sent to block Iranian supply planes, Benjamin Netanyahu said. Reuters

Mr Netanyahu said he advanced the pager attack after Israel had learnt Hezbollah had grown suspicious and had sent some of the devices to Iran for testing. “I said, 'We’ll have to do it right away,'” Mr Netanyahu told the conference.

Israel and a weakened Hezbollah reached a ceasefire in November, ending more than a year of fighting, although Israeli forces remain in parts of southern Lebanon. On Sunday, Israel's military launched a third air strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut since the truce took effect, saying it attacked a Hezbollah site where precision missiles were stored.

Elsewhere in his speech, Mr Netanyahu again called for the complete dismantling of Iran's nuclear programme, insisting any deal with Tehran on the issue must also address its ballistic missile capabilities.

"You have to dismantle their nuclear infrastructure and that means ... they will not have the capacity to enrich uranium," he said. "The real deal that works is the deal which removes Iran's capacity to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. Iran will not have nuclear weapons."

Tehran and Washington held a third round of talks mediated by Oman on Saturday over the Iranian nuclear programme, with both sides reporting progress.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday responded to Mr Netanyahu's comments, saying in a post on X that the Israeli leader was trying to control US policy.

"What is striking ... is how brazenly Netanyahu is now dictating what President [Donald] Trump can and cannot do in his diplomacy with Iran," Mr Araghchi wrote.