Iran trying to build port in Syria, PM warns Moscow
Mati Tuchfeld, Erez Linn
Iran is “seeking to build its military forces in order to establish itself in Syria,” Netanyahu tells Putin during Moscow visit • “There cannot be a peace deal in Syria when Iran is there and declares its intention to destroy Israel,” PM asserts.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Thursday | Photo credit: Reuters
Amid international efforts to strike a diplomatic arrangement in Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday to stress Israel’s unequivocal objection to a permanent Iranian presence there.
After their meeting, Netanyahu told reporters that Putin had “internalized” his warning.
Credit: Reuters
“There is a reason that I came to this meeting with the head of the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate,” Netanyahu said. “I wanted to tell President Putin that we see a turning point, with things [in Syria] possibly shifting from hostilities to an arrangement. It’s not over yet, and it’s unclear whether the fighting has ceased, but this is now being discussed in Kazakhstan; and that is why it was important for me to convey several critical points from the perspective of Israel’s security.”
“We discussed at length the matter of Iran, its objectives and intentions in Syria, and I clarified that there cannot be a peace deal in Syria when Iran is there and declares its intention to destroy Israel,” Netanyahu said. “They say it in the clearest terms possible; they engrave it into their ballistic missiles.”
Iran is “seeking to build its military forces, military infrastructure, in order to establish itself in Syria, including an attempt to build a seaport there,” the prime minister said.
“There cannot be peace when they continue the war and therefore [the Iranians] have to be removed,” he said. “If the goal here is to create a peaceful border or a peaceful arrangement, it runs contrary to the idea of a country that is trying to destroy us from inside Syria.”
On the matter of Israel’s presence on the Golan Heights, Netanyahu said he told Putin that Israel will never withdraw from the area. “He already knows this issue,” the prime minister said, indicating the two leaders have already discussed the matter.
The prime minister also thanked Putin for Russia’s role in the fight against radical Islam.
“Of course, in the past year, there was significant progress in the fight against the radical Sunni Islamic terrorism led by [Islamic state] and al-Qaida,” Netanyahu said. “Russia has made a very important contribution.”
“Naturally,” he added, “we do not want this terrorism to be replaced by the radical Shiite Islamic terrorism, led by Iran.”
Incidentally, Netanyahu’s remarks on the Iranian threat came on the same day that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps announced it had successfully test-fired a naval missile earlier in the week.
The Iranian-built Hormuz 2, according to reports in the Iranian press, is capable of destroying moving targets at sea at ranges of up to 300 kilometers (200 miles).
“The naval ballistic missile called Hormuz 2 this week has successfully destroyed a target which was 250 kilometers [160 miles] away,” commander of the IRGC’s Aerospace Force, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said Thursday.
The missile test is the latest event in a long-running rivalry between Iran and the United States in and around the Strait of Hormuz, which guards the entrance to the Persian Gulf. About 20% of the world’s oil passes through the waterway, which is less than 40 kilometers (25 miles) wide at its narrowest point.
According to Netanyahu, Putin also promised to give a portion of the grant it provides Russian veterans of V-Day, which it marks May 9, to Russian World War II veterans living in Israel.
Also discussed in the meeting were the fates of two IDF soldiers, St. Sgt. Oron Shaul and Lt. Hadar Goldin, whose bodies are still being held captive by Hamas in Gaza, along with civilian Avera Mengistu, who errantly crossed the Israel-Gaza border in 2014.
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