Netanyahu acknowledges Israel's airstrikes in Syria

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged on Monday that his country has launched dozens of airstrikes into Syria in recent years.

"We are proud that in the stormy and volatile Middle East, we were able to maintain relative calm and relative safety in Israel. We act when we need to act, including here across the border, with dozens of strikes meant to prevent Hezbollah from obtaining game-changing weaponry," Netanyahu said while visiting Israeli soldiers on the Golan Heights according to The Jerusalem Post.

Since at least January 2013 Israeli airstrikes have struck mobile missile launchers Jerusalem does not want the Hezbollah militia to get its hands on since it would enable Hezbollah to undermine Israel's technology edge over it in the event of another war between the two.

Netanyahu's remark comes mere days after a journalist in the German Bild newspaper claimed that Hezbollah has successfully managed to acquire Russian-made SA-17 'Buk' anti-aircraft missiles.

Netanyahu also acknowledged last December that, "We operate in Syria from time to time to prevent it turning into another front against us. We act, of course, to prevent the transfer of deadly weaponry from Syria to Lebanon."