A senior figure in the Israeli army has warned that Syria is home to "the world's largest arsenal of chemical weapons".
Speaking at a ceremony to mark three decades since the battle of Sultan Yacoub between Israeli and Syrian troops during the first Lebanon war, Maj Gen Yair Naveh cautioned that little had changed in the intervening period.
Maj Gen Naveh, who is the deputy chief of staff of the IDF, said that the reality was "that the neighbourhood has not changed".
"The Middle East still has the same players. Unfortunately, we are slowly returning to the reality of an existential war, a ritual that has spanned generations."
