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Netanyahu seeks to calm Israeli concerns over Trump’s Syria pullout
JERUSALEM, Dec 23, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu sought on Sunday to calm domestic concerns over US President Donald
Trump’s decision to withdraw from Syria, saying his country will still act
against Iran there.
Netanyahu will also reportedly meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when
he travels to Brazil for the January 1 inauguration of new president Jair
Bolsonaro.
The prime minister’s office has not confirmed the meeting reported by
Israeli media.
Trump last week said the Islamic State group had been defeated and he was
withdrawing the United States’ 2,000 troops from Syria.
Israel has seen the US presence in neighbouring Syria as a bulwark against
its main enemy Iran and a counterweight to Russia.
Both Russia and Iran support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in
the country’s civil war.
“The decision to remove the 2,000 US soldiers from Syria won’t change our
consistent policy,” Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting.
“We will continue to act against Iran’s attempt to establish a military
presence in Syria, and if the need arises, we will even expand our activities
there.”
He added that he wanted to “calm those concerned”.
“Our cooperation with the United States continues full-force, and takes
place in many fields — the operational field, the intelligence field, and
many other security fields.”
Separately, Israel’s military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot told a
conference on Sunday that the US decision was “a significant event but it
should not be overstated”.
“For decades we’ve been handling this front alone,” Eisenkot said.
Trump’s decision to withdraw from Syria — as well as reduce forces in
Afghanistan — led US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis to quit in disagreement.
The US special envoy to the coalition fighting the Islamic State group,
Brett McGurk, has also resigned.
The withdrawal abruptly ends American influence in the war-ravaged country
and gives Turkey an opening to attack US-backed Kurds in Syria.
But Israel is particularly concerned about the presence of Iran there as
well as Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite group backed by Tehran.
Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria against what it
says are Iranian military targets and advanced weapons deliveries to
Hezbollah.
A friendly fire incident in September that led to a Russian plane being
downed by Syrian air defences during an Israeli strike has however
complicated Israeli operations there.
Russia subsequently upgraded Syrian air defences with the delivery of the
advanced S-300 system, which Damascus had said would make Israel “think
carefully” before carrying out further air raids.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1948 hrs