Russia has offered to keep pro-Iranian forces in Syria about 100 kilometers from the border with Israel as part of an agreement with the United States and Israel to help guarantee Israel's security, media are reporting.
A Russian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made the suggestion while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 23, Israeli television and western media reported,
citing Israeli officials.
As he has in the past, Netanyahu
demanded during the meeting that all Iranian fighters and their allies be removed from Syrian soil in the long term, media said. He also
insisted that Iran should remove all long-range missiles and its air-defense system from the country, media said.
But Israeli media
did not characterize Netanyahu's response as a rejection of the Russian plan to keep Iranian military advisers and pro-Iranian fighters, including Lebanon's Hizballah militia, at a substantial distance from Israel as Syrian troops reassert control in the border region.
However, Reuters cited an Israeli official as saying that, while Russia was "committed" to its offer,
Netanyahu rejected it and told Lavrov: "We will not allow the Iranians to establish themselves even 100 kilometers from the border" because Iran has long-range missiles that can reach Israel from Syria.
Comment: The Kremlin has now
commented, saying the issue was indeed discussed, but denied that Israel 'rejected the offer'. According to Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov:
"During Lavrov's visit, not only this issue was discussed, but also many other issues," Ushakov told reporters, answering whether withdrawal of Iranian troops was discussed during Lavrov's visit.
He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin had discussed the issues concerning the Syrian settlement with Netanyahu.
"The other steps are taken as a follow-up to this discussion, including Lavrov and Gerasimov's visit to Israel now," Ushakov added.
...
The Russian Foreign Ministry has also commented on the media reports that Israel had rejected Moscow's proposal to withdraw the Iranian forces in Syria to a distance of 100 kilometers (some 62 miles) from the Israeli border.
"These reports are not true. I can state responsibly that the talks between [Russian] Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov with Prime Minister Netanyahu were very constructive. The Israeli leadership highly appreciated the Russian efforts to create a zone of de-escalation in southwestern Syria, which included the withdrawal of all non-Syrian armed groups from this region," deputy head of the ministry's information and press department Artyom Kozhin said in written commentary.
Note that Kozhin doesn't actually confirm that the 100-km deal is legitimate, or even that it was Lavrov who brought it up. It's hard to imagine it could be legit, given that Damascus itself is less than 100 km from Golan.
Comment: One thing's for sure: Browder's version of events is complete BS. See also: