TEL AVIV – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied Israel’s claims that a Moscow-brokered ceasefire in Syria is allowing Iran and its proxy, the terrorist group Hezbollah, to expand their military presence near Israel’s northern border.
“Whatever area of cooperation between Iran and Syria, my position is that if their cooperation in whichever field does not violate the basic provisions of international law, it should not be cause for question,” Lavrov said in a press briefing in the Qatari capital Doha on Wednesday.
“We do not have any information that someone is preparing an attack on Israel,” Lavrov added.
His comments follow Arab media reports that a “senior” Israeli official warned that Israel would strike Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s palace in Damascus if Iranian military expansion continues. The official also reportedly said that Israel has not been kept abreast of developments in the ceasefire.
On Friday, Lavrov denied that Israel’s security concerns were being “ignored” when the terms of the ceasefire were laid out.
“When this decision was being prepared, the Israeli partners were being informed on the direction of this work, alongside trilateral contacts of Russia, the United States and Jordan,” Lavrov said.
His words echoed comments he made earlier in the week in which he “guaranteed” that “the American side and we did the best we can to make sure that Israel’s security interests are fully taken into consideration,” according to the Russian Tass news agency.
Maj.-Gen. (res) Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Monday that the new ceasefire terms in southern Syria “were done without taking into consideration the need of Israel to defend itself.”
Netanyahu himself came out against the ceasefire, for the first time putting him in direct disagreement with the Trump administration.
Warning of Iran’s “expansionist goals” in Syria, Netanyahu said the ceasefire terms do not take into consideration Iran’s plans to build naval and air force bases.