Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly offered Israel and the United States a deal to remove Iranian troops from Syria in return for sanctions relief on the Islamic Republic. According to Israeli media, the terms of the proposal were revealed this week by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during a meeting of parliament’s powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The report did not specify when the offer was made, although Netanyahu and Putin met for a brief face-to-face earlier this month on the sidelines of a conference in Paris. It was their first encounter since a major diplomatic crisis erupted in September when a Russian reconnaissance plane was downed by Syrian forces in Latakia, an incident the Kremlin blamed on Israel which minutes before had conducted an aerial raid on an Iranian arms depot. Russian officials have stressed that they cannot fully roll back Iran’s military footprint in Syria, although Moscow has worked with Jerusalem to ensure that Iranian-backed Shiite forces, including members of Hizbullah, do not operate within approximately 100 kilometers (60 miles) of the border with Israel. The Israeli military over the past two years has conducted hundreds of air strikes targeting Iranian assets in Syria and weapons convoys destined for Hizbullah in Lebanon. However, the recent transfer by Russia to the Assad regime of the advanced S-300 defense system has curtailed Israel’s freedom of action. It is unknown whether Netanyahu or President Donald Trump would agree to Putin’s overture.
This holiday season, give to:
Truth and understanding
The Media Line's intrepid correspondents are in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Pakistan providing first-person reporting.
They all said they cover it.
We see it.
We report with just one agenda: the truth.
