Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday in talks focusing on the Iranian presence in Syria, AP reported.
Details were not available.
etanyahu said earlier that Russian President Vladimir Putin had requested the meeting. The Russian delegation included the chief of the military’s General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov.
Netanyahu said ahead of the meeting in Beit-ul-Moqaddas that they would discuss regional developments with “the situation in Syria being first and foremost.”
In a statement issued after the meeting, the Russian Foreign Ministry said during the talks “the officials discussed various aspects of the Middle East agenda focusing on the situation in and around Syria.”
Despite repeated requests by Israel, Russia—a key ally of Damascus—has warned it would be unrealistic to expect Iran to fully withdraw from Syria. Iran says its presence in the war-torn Arab country is advisory and at the request of President Bashar al-Assad.
Monday’s meeting came about two weeks after Netanyahu and Putin discussed Syria and Iran in Moscow.
