Israeli Air Force F-15 planes. Photo: Reuters / Amir Cohen.

A day after the latest report of an IDF strike in Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday commented on the “unending” security challenges facing Israel.

“We respond vigorously and with force to all attacks against us,” Netanyahu said in remarks at a state memorial ceremony in Rehovot for late former President Ephraim Katzir. “However, we do not take action only after the fact. We deny the enemy’s capabilities before the fact.”

“We are acting methodically and consistently to prevent our enemies from establishing offensive bases against us in our vicinity.”

Earlier on Wednesday, the Syrian state news agency SANA claimed air defenses had thwarted an Israeli attack on Tal al-Hara and shot down a number of missiles.

In recent years, the Israeli military has acted numerous times in Syria to thwart Iran’s ambitions there — including the transfer of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah, the Tehran regime’s Lebanon-based Shi’a proxy.