Russian FM meets Netanyahu in Jerusalem over Syria, Iran

R Jerusalem, Jul 23 (AP) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov puts in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the subject of Iranian presence in Syria.

Netanyahu announced earlier at Cabinet meeting that Russian President Vladimir Putin had a few days ago requested the meeting with the high-level delegation that includes Russia's chief of the military's General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov

Netanyahu said they would discuss the situation in Syria being first and foremost. He said he will reiterate Israel's position that he expects Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Iranian-backed allies to the 1974 agreement which sets out to demilitarized zone along their shared frontier, and that Israel will continue to act to halt its archenemy. a permanent military presence in Syria.

Israel's main concern is to keep Iran, which is fighting alongside the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad, as far from its borders as possible – along with its proxy, the Lebanese Hezbollah and other militia

Russia, a key Assad ally, has warned it would be unrealistic to expect Iran to fully withdraw from the country.

Monday's meeting comes to two weeks after Netanyahu and Putin discussed Syria and Iran in Moscow.

Hours before the meeting Israel activated a missile defense system against rockets from the fighting in Syria onth, twice in the same week, fired a Patriot missile at an unmanned aircraft that approached the country's border from Syria.
In June, Israel fired a missile at a drone that approached its airspace near the Syrian frontier. (AP) DPB DPB