Netanyahu, Putin to discuss Syria at UN summit
PM offers condolences to Russian president over Sinai plane attack; leaders agree to discuss Syrian conflict later this month
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed Wednesday in a phone conversation to meet on the sidelines of the UN climate summit in Paris later this month to discuss the war in Syria.
The Prime Minister’s Office said the two leaders also discussed the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and that Netanyahu expressed condolences for the victims of the Russian plane crash last month in the Sinai Peninsula.
On Tuesday, Putin confirmed that a bomb on board the MetroJet plane brought down the passenger jet shortly after take off from the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, and vowed revenge against the Islamic State group who claimed responsibility for the attack that killed 224 people.
The Russian leader pledged to step up airstrikes in Syria, where Moscow is conducting a bombing campaign it says is targeting IS and other rebel groups it labels as terrorists.
The jihadist group, which has taken control of large parts of Syria and Iraq, has also claimed responsibility for unleashing a wave of attacks in the French capital, which killed 129 people last Friday.
The two leaders met last month in Moscow in a bid to work out a mechanism to keep their air forces from tangling up over Syria as Russia entered the civil war there.
Netanyahu said at the time that Russia had no problem with Israeli efforts to protect the Golan Heights from attacks from Syrian soil.
On Saturday, top diplomats from 17 countries met in Vienna and agreed on a target of six months to have a “credible, inclusive and non-sectarian” transition government in Syria, and a schedule for the drafting of a new constitution followed by elections within 18 months.
The ongoing international diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the five-year conflict in Syria have been hindered over the fate of Russian and Iranian-backed Syrian President Bashar Assad, who the US and France have demanded he step down. However, according to Israeli officials, Putin has recently told his embattled Syrian counterpart to either leave office and make room for a transitional government or be forced out by world powers.
Netanyahu and Putin will join dozens of other world leaders in the French capital on November 30 for a conference aimed at establishing an international and legally binding climate treaty.
The Times of Israel Community.