PM to Putin: It’s ‘our right and duty’ to fend off Iran in Syria

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he reiterated to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Israel will continue to act militarily to rein in Iran’s entrenchment in Syria

“I told President Putin that it is our right and duty to take any steps required for to safeguard our security interests,” he tells reporters on a telephone briefing from Moscow airport, minutes before taking off en route to Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu declines to provide any detail about the conversation he had with Putin, merely saying that his conversations in the Kremlin are always “thorough and effective.”

He refuses to answer if Putin has asked the Israeli Air Force to refrain from violating Syrian airspace, as the Russian president had during a recent phone call between the leaders following an alleged Israeli airstrike on Iranian targets in the war-torn country.

“I said that we will always maintain our right and our duty to take all actions as required,” he says,” adding that he brought up the topic in a “direct and straightforward fashion.”

Netanyahu says he and Putin also discussed the US administration’s decision to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal, but says the conversation focused mostly on Iran’s effort to turn Syria into a forward base to attack Israel.

Netanyahu adds that he is very moved to be the first Israeli prime minister invited to participate in Russia’s VE Day military parade in Moscow’s Red Square earlier today. He also praises Putin for mentioning the Holocaust during his speech at the event.

— Raphael Ahren