Israel ready for every possible scenario in Syria: Netanyahu

Israel's hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today said that the Jewish state was prepared for "every possible scenario" in Syria after US President Barack Obama postponed a military strike.

"Israel is calm and self-assured. Israeli citizens know very well that we are prepared for any possible scenario," Netanyahu told his cabinet.

"Israeli citizens must also know that our enemies have very good reasons not to test our strength - they know why," he said at the start of the weekly meeting today.

Obama has promised to punish the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime over its alleged use of chemical weapons, but in a surprise move today he announced that he would first seek congressional approval, effectively pushing any military action back until at least September 9, when US lawmakers return from their summer recess.

Israel has maintained that it does not want to intervene in Syria and the war in its neighbouring country is their internal matter but made large scale preparations.

It called strategic reservists to duty to deal with a possible attack on its territory in retaliation to possible Western military action in Syria.

Israel has maintained a studied silence over Obama's decision to refer the Syrian situation to the Congress.

A political commentator in Israel today said that the world's weak response on Syria will boost the Jewish state's resolve to take strong action against Iran.

"Whether or not Israel decides to act against Iran could be determined in large part by how the world acts now against Syria," the Jerusalem Post's Herb Keinon today said.

Israeli ministers have recently been emphasising that they have to rely on none but themselves to deal with the existential threat posed by Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"The international stuttering and hesitancy on [a] Syria [strike], just proves once more that Israel cannot count on anyone but itself," Israel's Trade and Industry Minister Naftali Bennett wrote on his Facebook page on Friday.

"From Munich 1938 to Damascus 2013 nothing has changed. This is the lesson we ought to learn from the events in Syria," he commented.

Bennett's post came even before Obama's address in which he said that the US would conduct a limited military action against Syria, but only if Congress approved it.