The head of Israeli intelligence, Yossi Cohen, asserted that Iran "has a strong presence on the Lebanese border thanks to Hizbollah; it has a strong presence on the Syria border. And it is establishing its status more and more inside Iraq - both politically and militarily". "If we don't push Iran out of the Middle East, with the help of all other countries in the world", Cohen warned, "we'll reach a situation of uncontrolled expansion of Iranian forces in the Middle East".