Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has said that the Israeli Defence Forces (also known as IDF) is updating its plans to strike Iran's nuclear sites and is ready to operate independently.
In an interview with Fox News, Gantz added that Israel has identified several targets inside Iran, which would harm its ability to develop an atomic bomb.
He said in his first interview with American media: "If the world stops them before then, that's very good, but if not, then we must stand independently, and we must defend ourselves."
Intelligence assessments indicate that Iran will likely target Israel, using proxies in Syria and Lebanon, during 2021, according to Fox News.
Gantz said that the Iranian-backed Lebanese "Hezbollah" group has hundreds of thousands of missiles, as a secret map of targets shared with "Fox News" shows many of the missiles installed between civilian areas along the Israeli border.
"This is a target map. Every single one of it has been examined practically and by intelligence, and we are ready to fight," Gantz added.
The annual IDF intelligence report indicated that Israel was preparing for several days to fight with Hezbollah.
And local media reports stated that 3,000 Lebanese targets would be hit every day during the upcoming conflict, with the aim of killing 300 Hezbollah fighters every 24 hours.
Since the beginning of 2020, Israel has bombed more than 500 Iranian-linked sites in Syria with airstrikes, according to Israeli Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi.
While the Biden administration has indicated its willingness to return to the Iran nuclear deal, Israeli officials, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Gantz, believe that the issue of Iran's proxies must be addressed in any future agreement.
American policy must be American policy, and Israeli policy must remain the Israeli policy," Gantz said.
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