Israeli analyst: The US, Russia, and Israel agreed to get Iranian and Turkish troops out of Syria
The West Bank – North-Press Agency
Any tangible results still awaited on the ground embodied in the implementation of the secret dialogue held last Tuesday regarding Iran and other regional issues in the context of the tripartite meeting which was held in Jerusalem between national security advisers of the US John Bolton, the Russian Nikolai Patrushev and the Israel Meir Ben Shabat, along with the participation of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
North- Press Agency monitored Israeli analyses regarding the tripartite meeting as a report by Israeli military analyst Yossi Melman, who considered it as an important and historic meeting that highlighted and emphasized Israel’s outstanding position in the Middle East and the relationship it enjoys with two of the three greatest states in the world, and its ability to manage foreign and security policy through close cooperation with Russia and the United States.
Days prior to the meeting, Israel, to a lesser extent the United States, tried to consider that its main purpose from the meeting was to discuss the Iranian threat, not only against Israel but also in the Middle East in general, while Russia took advantage of this meeting to discuss the fight against terrorism in Syria.
Israeli and Russian congruent sources confirmed to North-Press that the tripartite meeting has revealed discrepancies in views and interests between Jerusalem and Moscow. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who took part in the opening session and met both Bolton and Patrushev privately, talked about Iran as an enemy and boasted of hundreds of airstrikes were conducted by the Israeli Air Force against Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria.
In his turn, Patroshev did not take up Netanyahu’s words by saying exactly the opposite “Netanyahu’s attempt to consider Iran as a threat to international security, is not acceptable for us”.
He later hinted almost clearly, that Russia is holding the key to stability in Syria, and the Israeli desire to get the Iranian forces and its affiliates out of Syria, relates to Russia.
“You know that Iran and Russia are working together against terrorism, we have the ability to influence each other as well as listening to each other, we understand Israel’s fears and we want the existing threats to be reduced in a way that ensures Israel’s security,” Patrushev said.
However, Israeli political analyst Shaul Mancha told North-Press that according to his information, the summit was “fruitful and constructive”, It was agreed to strengthening and intensifying cooperation and coordination among the three parties concerning Syrian crisis.
Mancha noted that the cooperation between the three countries in the region already exists, but it will be increased later, in order to preserve the common thread that ties them together.
Mancha revealed that the common denominator between Moscow, Washington, and Tel Aviv, is the necessity of getting foreign forces out of Syria, not only the Iranian forces and Hezbollah but also the Turkish forces, as a condition for the stability of Syria and the Middle East in general.
Furthermore, the Commander-in-Chief of the Israel Defense Forces, General Aviv Kochavi, hinted that his army may attack populated residential areas to target “Israel’s enemies”, indicating to Hamas movement, the Palestinian factions in Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
During a ceremony marking the graduation of a new group of Israeli pilots on Thursday at Hatzerim military base, an airbase of the Israeli Air Force in the Negev Desert western outskirts of Beersheba, Kochavi said that “The enemy in both Gaza Strip and Lebanon transformed from terrorist organizations into an organized army and has missiles and shells capable of threatening vast areas of Israeli territories in case of the outbreak of a war, and the enemy forces in both of those areas chose to be located in a populated urban area, which makes it a great challenge for the Israeli army, especially the Air Force”.
Kochavi stressed that the urban space cannot be a protective shield for these forces, and when Israeli internal front is going to be vulnerable to hundreds of missiles, it is legal and necessary “to attack the enemy in all places with all strength”, as he said.