JERUSALEM: Israel called on Monday for its arch-foe Iran to be denied any military presence in Syria, after Russia said Damascus’ forces alone should control Syrian territory near the Israeli and Jordanian borders.
“Our position on Syria is clear,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his parliamentary faction in broadcast remarks. “We believe that there is no place for any Iranian military presence, anywhere in Syria.”
Netanyahu also announced that he will meet the leaders of France, Germany and possibly Britain next week to discuss ways to stop what he called Iran’s nuclear ambitions and regional expansionism.
His European tour follows the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal which the European signatories, France, Germany and Britain, have said they will stick to. Netanyahu called the pact, which lifted economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on its nuclear program, a “disaster.”
“I will go to Europe next week. I will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and possibly British Prime Minister Theresa May,” Netanyahu said in broadcast remarks.
