Iran's presence in Syria blocks peace deal, Netanyahu tells Putin

[webfact]

Iran's presence in Syria blocks peace deal, Netanyahu tells Putin

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Moscow, Russia, March 9, 2017. REUTERS/Pavel Golovkin/Pool

 

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday there could never be peace in Syria as long as there was an Iranian presence there.

 

"We discussed at length the matter of Iran, its objectives and intentions in Syria, and I clarified that there cannot be a peace deal in Syria when Iran is there and declares its intention to destroy Israel," Netanyahu said in footage supplied by his office after their meeting.

 

Iran, Israel's arch-enemy, has been embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's staunchest backer and has provided militia fighters to help him in the country's civil war.

 

"(Iran) is arming itself and its forces against Israel including from Syria territory and is, in fact, gaining a foothold to continue the fight against Israel," he said in reply to a reporter's question.

 

"There cannot be peace when they continue the war and therefore they have to be removed."

 

Russia, also Assad's ally, is seen as holding the balance of power in achieving a deal on Syria's future. In Geneva last week, the first U.N.-led Syria peace talks in a year ended without a breakthrough.

 

Israeli leaders have pointed to Tehran's steadily increasing influence in the region during the six-year-old Syrian conflict, whether via its own Revolutionary Guard forces or Shi'ite Muslim proxies, especially Hezbollah.

 

Last year, Avi Dichter, the chair of Israel's foreign affairs and defence committee, said Iran had tried several times in the past to move forces into the Syrian Golan Heights, next to territory that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

 

Dichter said those moves were repelled, but gave no details.

 

Netanyahu has said that Israel has carried out dozens of strikes to prevent weapons smuggling to the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah via Syria. Two years ago, Israel and Russia agreed to coordinate military actions over Syria in order to avoid accidentally trading fire.

 

(Writing by Ori Lewis; editing by Andrew Roche)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-03-10

[Jonmarleesco]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Two years ago, Israel and Russia agreed to coordinate military actions over Syria in order to avoid accidentally trading fire.

Well, we wouldn't want that. Firing on children and women is ok, just so long as they are Palestinian.

 

The biggest obstacle to peace in the region is the one doing the talking.

Edited March 10, 2017 by Jonmarleesco

[philcobkk]

Typcial ignorant comment from jonmarleesco whoever that is.

 

[Thorgal]

Typcial ignorant comment from jonmarleesco whoever that is.
 

Indeed, he forgot to mention the Lebanese women end children...


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

[lungnorm]

5 hours ago, Jonmarleesco said:

Well, we wouldn't want that. Firing on children and women is ok, just so long as they are Palestinian.

 

The biggest obstacle to peace in the region is the one doing the talking.

Anti semetic words

[sanemax]

4 minutes ago, lungnorm said:

Anti semetic words

I would agree .

How many Children have been killed in Syria and IS held areas .

100 000s thousands .

How many Children have been killed in Israel ?

Zero

[Galactus]

55 minutes ago, lungnorm said:

Anti semetic words

nope. anti zionist words. dont mix anti anti semitism and anti zionism with each other.

 

49 minutes ago, sanemax said:

I would agree .

How many Children have been killed in Syria and IS held areas .

100 000s thousands .

How many Children have been killed in Israel ?

Zero

hmm. 2150 Palestinian children has been killed in this bloody conflict since year 2000! not to mention a thousand kids detained by IDF!

http://ifamericaknew.org/stat/children.html

and a lot more from the beginning of 20th century!

look who is talking. Bibi in Russia spreading his paranoia and accusing other states while they are stealing Palestinian lands and killing Palestinians.

Putin will not be giving him anything of course.

Edited March 10, 2017 by Galactus

[ilostmypassword]

3 hours ago, lungnorm said:

Anti semetic words

Anti-Semitic how?

[gamini]

5 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

Anti-Semitic how?

Exactly, it's the same as saying if you don't like Trump, you are anti-American.  Most Jews outside America despise the Zionist government in Israel and are embarrassed by them.

[Jingthing]

44 minutes ago, gamini said:

Exactly, it's the same as saying if you don't like Trump, you are anti-American.  Most Jews outside America despise the Zionist government in Israel and are embarrassed by them.

Most Jewish people in the world support the existence of Israel so are in effect Zionists. Zionist doesn't mean supporting a particular Israeli government, or being right wing or a religious fanatic. There are many liberal and secular Zionists as well. 

Jews outside the USA and Israel? Yeah I wonder what the 58 Jews in Ecuador that haven't moved to Israel think too. 

(The overwhelming majority of Jewish people in the world live in the USA and Israel.)

Edited March 10, 2017 by Jingthing

[pegman]

Nothing will change because there will always  something keeping these Zionists from  giving the occupied lands back. There needs to be a proper boycott such as happened with South Africa. Like with S.A. the solution will not be abetted by countries like the U.K.  or U.S.A. both of which were despicable  actors in the fight to end apartheid. The EU will likely need to lead on this one.

[Jingthing]

41 minutes ago, pegman said:

Nothing will change because there will always  something keeping these Zionists from  giving the occupied lands back. There needs to be a proper boycott such as happened with South Africa. Like with S.A. the solution will not be abetted by countries like the U.K.  or U.S.A. both of which were despicable  actors in the fight to end apartheid. The EU will likely need to lead on this one.

It might help to read the O.P. which is about Iranian forces in Syria seen as a threat to Israel, and absolutely nothing about the west bank or Israel demonization BDS fantasies.

[lungnorm]

Everyone with something to say about this topic seems to have a short memory or are blinded by hatred of Jews. You seem to have forgotten all the land that you seem to think Israel occupies and should not was all won by defeating all the bastards that attacked Israel many years back in war. They have given back a lot but have kept the land that any occupation by Arabs would become a threat. A threat that is real because it was a threat in the past hence the  wars.

[daveAustin]

3 hours ago, pegman said:

Nothing will change because there will always  something keeping these Zionists from  giving the occupied lands back. There needs to be a proper boycott such as happened with South Africa. Like with S.A. the solution will not be abetted by countries like the U.K.  or U.S.A. both of which were despicable  actors in the fight to end apartheid. The EU will likely need to lead on this one.

The EU couldn't lead itself out of a maze with one-foot high hedges.

[optad]

What does Israel expect Iran to do when they are so vocal and have the United States in the anti Assad's corner? It is a game of proxies with real lives being lost, and lives lost not by the major players but by those they are using. Makes me sick... this web of connected relationships.

 

Syria is totally destroyed and the calming, balancing minorities have fled. The Christian and Orthodox communities have gone and will not return. Most every country taking refugees have taken these groups first and they are resettled. When Syria is repopulated, no matter what Netanyahu tells Putin or Trump or whoever it will be in these roles in the future, it will be a more dangerous place for Israel because of their politics.

 

[In northern Ireland, it was like against like, in the end with enough commonality built to just quiten. And everyone got tired of it. Not the case in the middle east. Never will be until a generational mindset resets this problem] .

 

To get along you have to give and accede a little. It is a future parable in the happening.

[simple1]

18 minutes ago, optad said:

What does Israel expect Iran to do when they are so vocal and have the United States in the anti Assad's corner? It is a game of proxies with real lives being lost, and lives lost not by the major players but by those they are using. Makes me sick... this web of connected relationships.

 

Syria is totally destroyed and the calming, balancing minorities have fled. The Christian and Orthodox communities have gone and will not return. Most every country taking refugees have taken these groups first and they are resettled. When Syria is repopulated, no matter what Netanyahu tells Putin or Trump or whoever it will be in these roles in the future, it will be a more dangerous place for Israel because of their politics.

 

[In northern Ireland, it was like against like, in the end with enough commonality built to just quiten. And everyone got tired of it. Not the case in the middle east. Never will be until a generational mindset resets this problem] .

 

To get along you have to give and accede a little. It is a future parable in the happening.

Are you sure with your claims? There has not been that many Syrian Christian refugees as they are mostly located in regime heavily protected urban area concentrations,  Christians are fighting in Assad militias and military, as well as representation in the Assad government. It is also claimed Christians in Syria are generally better educated than many others.

 

One must assume the Israeli PM is not telling anything new to Putin, so wonder what his real agenda / expectations are

[ilostmypassword]

47 minutes ago, optad said:

What does Israel expect Iran to do when they are so vocal and have the United States in the anti Assad's corner? It is a game of proxies with real lives being lost, and lives lost not by the major players but by those they are using. Makes me sick... this web of connected relationships.

 

Syria is totally destroyed and the calming, balancing minorities have fled. The Christian and Orthodox communities have gone and will not return. Most every country taking refugees have taken these groups first and they are resettled. When Syria is repopulated, no matter what Netanyahu tells Putin or Trump or whoever it will be in these roles in the future, it will be a more dangerous place for Israel because of their politics.

 

[In northern Ireland, it was like against like, in the end with enough commonality built to just quiten. And everyone got tired of it. Not the case in the middle east. Never will be until a generational mindset resets this problem] .

 

To get along you have to give and accede a little. It is a future parable in the happening.

Lebanon still has a very large Christian population. You're probably confusing it with Iraq or Syria.

[optad]

In the last six months, Syrian arrivals in western sydney and northern melbourne are 85+% christian. I can get the breakdowns but it will be substantially in this ball park. We have  also seen a large number of Iraqis,  some Iranian and Afghanis and these are often of mixed denominations, and outlooks. The two points i was making was that, once reconstruction takes place in Syria, the vacuum created by a mixed community exiting as it was moreso previously, will not be so into the future. This cannot be controlled by Israel and being so vocal on so many unconstructive categoricals,  they should pause and be more circumspect about their neighbourly relationships in 2018/19. 

 

Secondly, solutions as they have been over the last thirty years just have not had any traction. They come from the same interested and disinterested parties. It appears to be me that this will outlive us all unless there really is a people type response across borders. A romantic lament to be sure, because i cannot imagine this or any other solution given the negativity of Israeli positioning and foreign commentary.

 

RE Syrian community, they are well educated in general however cannot generalise re their consensus politics re assad. Never did. The post syrian politick is what israel should be concerned about.

[simple1]

2 hours ago, optad said:

In the last six months, Syrian arrivals in western sydney and northern melbourne are 85+% christian. I can get the breakdowns but it will be substantially in this ball park. We have  also seen a large number of Iraqis,  some Iranian and Afghanis and these are often of mixed denominations, and outlooks. The two points i was making was that, once reconstruction takes place in Syria, the vacuum created by a mixed community exiting as it was moreso previously, will not be so into the future. This cannot be controlled by Israel and being so vocal on so many unconstructive categoricals,  they should pause and be more circumspect about their neighbourly relationships in 2018/19. 

 

Secondly, solutions as they have been over the last thirty years just have not had any traction. They come from the same interested and disinterested parties. It appears to be me that this will outlive us all unless there really is a people type response across borders. A romantic lament to be sure, because i cannot imagine this or any other solution given the negativity of Israeli positioning and foreign commentary.

 

RE Syrian community, they are well educated in general however cannot generalise re their consensus politics re assad. Never did. The post syrian politick is what israel should be concerned about.

I would be interested to see your insight into numbers of Syrian Christian refugees. Let's say roughly 2.5 million Christians in Syrian prior to 2011. Total number of Syrian refugees and IDPs  around say approx 11 million, so curious as to the percentage makeup of Christians of the displaced population.

[Morch]

On 3/11/2017 at 9:39 AM, optad said:

What does Israel expect Iran to do when they are so vocal and have the United States in the anti Assad's corner? It is a game of proxies with real lives being lost, and lives lost not by the major players but by those they are using. Makes me sick... this web of connected relationships.

 

Syria is totally destroyed and the calming, balancing minorities have fled. The Christian and Orthodox communities have gone and will not return. Most every country taking refugees have taken these groups first and they are resettled. When Syria is repopulated, no matter what Netanyahu tells Putin or Trump or whoever it will be in these roles in the future, it will be a more dangerous place for Israel because of their politics.

 

[In northern Ireland, it was like against like, in the end with enough commonality built to just quiten. And everyone got tired of it. Not the case in the middle east. Never will be until a generational mindset resets this problem] .

 

To get along you have to give and accede a little. It is a future parable in the happening.

 

It's not a question of what a country expects. Each tries to get the best terms for the post-war era, in a way which will suit it's interests. For Iran (or Iran's leadership) this means expanding their foothold and influence in Syria and Lebanon. For Israel, it means pushing back against the very same.

 

Why do you think that post-war Syria will be "a more dangerous place for Israel"? Provided a central government, in one form or another, survives the war, the Syrian regime would probably be bogged down regaining control of the country and rebuilding for years to come. Even if it would consider engaging Israel militarily (as a distraction, perhaps?), it wouldn't pack the same punch it did. The

The remnants of Sunni Islamic militias may try the odd attack, to spice things up, but that's nothing unusual. Which leaves Iranian presence (direct or by proxy) as the main threat.

 

IMO, Netanyahu is well aware that he cannot fully block Iran from having a say in Syrian affairs, more like trying to improve the outcome. A publicly dialogue with Putin is not a bad way to go about it. Russia's connections with Iran do not imply similar interests or even full cooperation. Perhaps even more so when it comes to Syria. Could work nicely for Putin as well, a reason to limit Iran's influence, citing "keeping the peace".

 

In practice, there are two issues which seem to trigger Israeli actions with regard to Iran's presence in Syria - military operation, or proxy support for such in the Golan Heights, and transferring advanced weapons to their Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah. Almost all of the recent Israeli attacks in Syria can be attributed to these elements. Whether or not Russia can control things, or whether Putin sees it as an interest, are different matters.