Israel’s Ambassador to the United Stated Michael Oren says the alliance of Iran, Syria and Lebanon poses the greatest danger to Tel Aviv, adding that Israel prefers al-Qaeda-affiliated operatives to Iranian-backed groups.

"The initial message about the Syria issue was that we always wanted [President] Bashar Assad to go, we always preferred the bad guys who weren't backed by Iran to the bad guys who were backed by Iran," the Israeli daily Jerusalem Post quoted Oren as saying.

Oren said Israel was willing to see the overthrow of Assad government before the outbreak of its crisis in March 2011.

He added that the removal of Assad from power would “weaken the alliance” between Iran and the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah.

"The greatest danger to Israel is by the strategic arc that extends from Tehran, to Damascus to Beirut. And we saw the Assad regime as the keystone in that arc,” Oren said.

This is the reason that Israel has wanted Assad to go, either before or after the outbreak of the unrest in Syria, Oren said.

Israel’s hostility toward Lebanon has increased after Hezbollah defeated Tel Aviv in two wars in 2000 and 2006.

Tel Aviv launched two wars on Lebanon in 2000 and 2006. About 1,200 Lebanese, most of them civilians, were killed in the 33-Day War of 2006.

On both occasions, however, Hezbollah fighters defeated the Israeli forces and Tel Aviv was forced to retreat without achieving any of its objectives.