by Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
"President Putin and I agreed on a shared goal – the removal from Syria of the foreign forces that came in after the civil war erupted," Netanyahu tells cabinet
PM Netanyahu with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow,
February 27 Photo: Reuters
Israel and Russia will work together on securing an exit of foreign forces from Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday after visiting Moscow to advocate against the Iranian presence in the country.
As Syrian President Bashar Assad beats back
an eight-year-old insurgency, Israel worries that his reinforcements
from Iran and the Tehran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist
organization will stay on to form a new front against it.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes
against suspected Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria. These
operations have been largely ignored by Russia, which intervened
militarily on Assad's behalf in 2015, turning the tide of the war.
Netanyahu said he had made it
"unequivocally clear" to Russian President Vladimir Putin last week that
such strikes would continue, with an Israeli-Russian military hotline
continuing to prevent accidental clashes between the countries.
"President Putin and I also agreed on a
shared goal – the removal from Syria of the foreign forces that came in
after the civil war erupted," Netanyahu told his cabinet. "We agreed to
set up a joint task force which, together with others, will work to
advance towards this goal."
He did not elaborate. Moscow had no
immediate comment. In the past, Russia has spoken in favor of other
forces leaving Syria, though it plans to keep a long-term garrison
there.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in
an interview with Kuwait News Agency published on Sunday, said the
situation in Syria had visibly stabilized after operations by Syrian
government forces with Russian aerial support.
But Lavrov said it was too early to declare
the "terrorist threat" in Syria – a reference to Islamist-led rebels –
eliminated. The United States has been drawing down its own forces in
Syria as Islamic State insurgents appear to be near defeat.
Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2019/03/04/pm-israel-russia-to-cooperate-on-foreign-troop-exit-from-syria/
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