Netanyahu demands Iran be denied any military presence in Syria

RT
Mon, 28 May 2018 14:27 UTC

© Associated Press / Gali Tibbon/Pool

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, Sunday, April 15, 2018

Israel has called for Iran to withdraw its military forces from Syria with Tehran insisting it only has military advisers in the country despite Tel-Aviv's numerous claims to the opposite.

Israel has requested Iran to deny 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. We believe that there is no place for any Iranian military presence, anywhere in Syria," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his parliamentary faction in broadcast remarks.

Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly accused Iran of destabilizing the situation in the Middle East.

The same stance has been voiced by Israeli officials who stated that Tel Aviv would not allow Iran to turn Syria, which has been engulfed in a civil war since 2011, into its military foothold.

Iran's senior security official has responded that the country's presence in Syria is restricted to an advisory role, and is aimed at countering terrorism at the legitimate Syrian government's request.

Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said that as long as the threat of terrorism exists in Syria and the country's legitimate government persists in Iran's advisory presence, and Iran will stay in Syria.

Comment: Iran begs to differ, as it is in Syria at the invitation of its legitimate government

"No one can force Iran to do this. As long as there is terrorism and the government of Syria wants it, Iran will have a presence [in Syria]. Those who entered the country without the permission of the Syrian authorities must leave," representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran Bahram Kasemi stated as quoted by Tasnim.

The announcement was made in wake of the statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on May 17: the president declared that due to the success of the Syrian army's fight against terrorism and the beginning of the political process, foreign military forces should be withdrawn from the Arabic Republic.

As presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained later, a number of foreign armed forces, currently present in Syria, can leave the country at the beginning of the political process, since they have no legal basis to stay there. The Russian president's special representative for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev said that the entire foreign contingent should be withdrawn from Syria, including the troops of the United States, Turkey and the Lebanese Hezbollah forces, specifying that the Russian troops to remain as they were deployed with Damascus' consent.

'Our path': Iran announces plan to stay in Syria as Pompeo issues unprecedented threats