Intelligence Minister: End of Syria-Iran Axis to Israel's Benefit

The fall of Syria's President Bashar Assad would end an axis with Iran and its President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, benefiting Israel, the country's intelligence minister said on Sunday.

"There is an Assad-Ahmadinejad axis, a Tehran-Damascus axis," Israeli intelligence minister Dan Meridor told military radio. "Breaking this axis would be good for Israel."

"We are not giving advice," he added. "Practically the whole Arab world is against the (Syrian) regime. We have to wait to see what will happen."

Israel has watched closely as its neighbor has become embroiled in an uprising against Assad's regime. Violence in Syria has killed thousands of people and prompted calls for international intervention.

In the Jewish state, there have been fears that the Syrian government could seek to attack Israel to deflect attention from its domestic woes, a possibility Meridor judged unlikely.

"I don't think that is on the agenda, but the Israeli army is ready to face off against all eventualities," he said.