JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israelwill prevent enemies from obtainingnuclear weaponslink> after its military admittedit carried out a 2007 air raid against a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor.

‘The Israeli government, the (Israeli military), and the Mossad(intelligence agency) have prevented Syria from developing nuclearcapability, and they deserve every credit for this,’ Netanyahu said onTwitter.

‘Israel’s policy has been and remains consistent — to prevent our enemiesfrom acquiring nuclear weapons link> .’

It was Netanyahu’s first comments related to Israel’s admission earlyWednesday that broke a more than 10-year official silence surrounding theraid, though it had always been widely assumed of being responsible for thestrike.

The admission along with the release of newly declassified material relatedto the raid comes as Israel intensifies its warnings over the presence ofits main enemy Iran in neighbouring Syria.

Netanyahu has also repeatedly called for a landmark 2015 nuclear dealbetween world powers and Iran to be changed or eliminated.

The premier however did not mention Iran in his brief post.

Earlier Wednesday, Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the raid shouldserve as a message for ‘everyone in the Middle East’.

Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz was more explicit, saying it showedIsrael would never allow nuclear weaponslink>to be obtained by ‘countrieslike Iran who threaten its existence’. -APP/AFP