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| Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem |
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Moscow on Monday to discuss Israeli concerns about any expansion of Iranโs military foothold in Syria with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
โI will discuss with President Putin Iranโs relentless efforts to establish a military presence in Syria, which we strongly oppose and are also taking action against,โ said Netanyahu, without elaborating, before boarding a plane for the visit, scheduled to last several hours.
Israelโs air force said last year it had struck suspected arms shipments to Iranโs ally, the Lebanese Hezbollah group, around 100 times.
Netanyahu said he and Putin โmeet periodically in order to ensure the military coordination between the Israel Defense Forces and the Russian forces in Syriaโ.
Russia intervened in the civil war on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2015. Iranian forces, Hezbollah and other Shiโite Muslim militias also back Assad.
Israel fears Iran could be left with a permanent garrison in Syria, extending a threat posed from neighbouring Lebanon by Hezbollah, which has an extensive missile arsenal and last fought a war with the Israeli military in 2006.
Netanyahu said he also planned to discuss with Putin โIranโs effort to turn Lebanon into one giant missile site, a site for precision missiles against the State of Israel, which we will not tolerateโ.
