Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he would “advise” the Iranians to leave Syria “as quickly as possible” after an Iranian minister claimed Tehran only has anti-terrorms "advisors" in the war-battered country, Ynet News reported.

"I heard the statement made by Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman that they have no military presence in Syria, only advisors," Netanyahu said as he welcomed the new IDF chief Aviv Kochavi. "So I advise them to get out of there quickly, because we will continue our aggressive policy in the region as we’ve promised.”

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi rejected Netanyahu’s claims on Monday that Israel carried out “hundreds” of airstrikes against Iranian military targets in Syria,  saying "Israel's claims are baseless and false… it’s only an attempt by the Zionists to conceal their ongoing failures in the region." He insisted that the Iranian officials are in Syria in a strictly advisory capacity. "The Syrian government invited us in order to advise them on methods to fight terrorism."