Netanyahu: Israel wary of stormy Mideast

Israel's prime minister on Monday said that his country is wary of the unrest in the Middle East apparently in response to Syria's rhetoric regarding the Golan Heights, the Ma'ariv daily reported. Addressing the Kenesst's (parliament) Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is ready to defend its citizens against anyone seeking to harm them, referring to Syria's reported plan to intensify its operations on the Golan Heights. "We are seeing a new Middle East that is raging and volatile on all our fronts, particularly our north with Syria," Netanyahu was quoted as saying. "We are acting with responsibility and determination, and we are prepared for any scenario." Earlier Monday, Syrian President Bashar Assad was quoted by Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar as saying "a comprehensive plan is being drawn up" to open a front against Israel on the strategic plateau where the two countries share an interim border. The Syrian president was reportedly mulling over the plan which "will be more extensive than a random firing of artillery shells." Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed the Syrian plateau in a move that the international community never recognized. In recent months, stray mortar shells from battles between the Syrian army and the rebels fell several times into the Israeli side of the plateau, escalating tensions between the two neighbors.