Fox News reported Wednesday that Iran is building a new military base, eight miles northwest of Damascus

The new base is similar to one established by the Iranians near the town of al-Kiswah, 9 miles (15 kilometers) southwest of Damascus, which was reportedly hit by Israeli airstrikes last December.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman responded to the report saying: “There’s nothing new under the sun, and there is no need to treat all information in the media as absolute. We are listening and following the events. We will also act in the international realm to achieve everything possible.”

Gen. Joseph L. Votel, Head of the U.S. Central Command, told a House Armed Services Committee hearing yesterday that Iran was “increasing” the number and “quality” of its ballistic missiles it was deploying to the region. He said Iran has “enhanced” its funding to proxy forces in the Middle East since the landmark nuclear agreement in July 2015, including sending missiles, fighters and other arms to Yemen and Syria.

But Votel emphasized that “countering Iran is not one of the coalition’s missions in Syria,” but rather that of “indirectly” countering Iran

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told European diplomats and leaders that Israel “will act if necessary not just against Iran’s proxies but against Iran itself,” holding up a piece of an Iranian drone Israel shot down after it infiltrated its territory.

Last week, The New York Times reported the locations of dozens of bases in Syria operated by Iran and its Shia militias. The report concluded that Iran was “redrawing the strategic map of the region.”

(via BICOM)

[Photo: BICOM ]