Rivlin to Tell Putin: Syria Solution Must Not Strengthen Hizbullah
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin will tell his Russian counterpart on Wednesday that any future agreement in Syria must not end up strengthening Hizbullah and and its main backer Iran, a senior Israeli official said.
The unidentified official said the main goal of Rivlin’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow will be to discuss the international negotiations taking place in Geneva on an agreement to end the fighting in Syria and find a political solution for the war-torn country.
“What we want is that Iran and Hizbullah not emerge strengthened from this process,” he said. “The president will stress these points and begin a conversation on how to ensure that this doesn’t happen.”
Moscow “understands that it won’t be good if Hizbullah remains in Syria and consolidates its position there,” the official was quoted as saying by Israeli daily Haaretz.
“Given the situation we’re in, we have to coordinate with Russia,” Rivlin told reporters on the plane en route to Moscow.
“Everybody understands that the Islamic State (extremist group) is a danger to the entire world, but for us, fundamentalist Iranian Shiite Islam is no less of a danger,” Haaretz quoted him as saying.
The newspaper said that Rivlin will be the first foreign leader to meet with Putin since the Russian president announced on Monday that he would withdraw Russia's forces from Syria.
Having dramatically turned the tide of war in President Bashar Assad's favor with five months of intense bombardment of his foes, Putin is pressuring the Syrian leader to engage them in more meaningful dialogue at the newly reconvened U.N.-brokered peace talks in Geneva.
With an announcement that appeared to take even senior Russian commanders by surprise, Putin ordered most of the estimated 3,000 to 6,000 personnel to begin withdrawing from Syria on Tuesday, a step that raised hopes for progress at the talks.
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Source: Naharnet, Associated Press
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