Netanyahu to talk Iran with Putin in Moscow

MOSCOW: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday was set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss how to prevent Iran from “entrenching in Syria”.

“From our point-of-view, the focus of the talks will be preventing Iran from entrenching in Syria, the entrenchment of a country which explicitly says that its goal is to wipe us out,” Netanyahu said before his trip, according to his press-service.

Iran, Hezbollah and Russia are allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Netanyahu has stressed that he will not let Israel’s arch-foe Iran use Syrian territory as a base for its military.

Accompanied by his national security advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat and head of military intelligence Tamir Heiman, Netanyahu is expected in the Kremlin on Wednesday afternoon.

On Sunday, the Israeli prime minister said talks with Putin will be ‘very important’ to ensure Israel’s freedom to act against Iran and Hezbollah in Syria while avoiding frictions with Russian forces. — AFP