LONDON: Iran will keep military forces in Syria, the head of the elite Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday, defying Israeli threats that they might be targeted if they do not leave the country.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israeli forces would continue to attack Iranians in Syria and warned them 鈥渢o get out of there fast, because we will continue with our resolute policy.鈥�

Rebuffing the threats, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, the Revolutionary Guards鈥� top commander, was quoted as saying by the semi-official ISNA news agency that 鈥渢he Islamic Republic of Iran will keep all its military and revolutionary advisers and its weapons in Syria.鈥�

Jafari called Netanyahu鈥檚 threats 鈥渁 joke,鈥� and warned that the Israeli government 鈥渨as playing with (a) lion鈥檚 tail.鈥�

鈥淵ou should be afraid of the day that our precision-guided missiles roar and fall on your head,鈥� he said.

Iran and Russia have both backed Syria鈥檚 Bashar Assad in a seven-year war against opposition and militants, and have sent thousands of soldiers to the country.

Israel, increasingly concerned that its enemy Iran may establish a long-term military presence in neighboring Syria, says it has carried out more than 200 attacks against Iranian targets in Syria in the last two years.

Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israeli warplanes carried out an attack on what he called an Iranian arms cache in Syria.