Israeli PM: Iran's presence in Syria poses threat

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA

Iran's efforts to strengthen its presence in Syria pose a global threat, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday.

"Iran is making great efforts to strengthen its presence in Syria. This poses a threat to Israel, to the Middle East and, I believe to the whole world," Netanyahu said during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Russia's coastal city of Sochi, according to the Kremlin.

Netanyahu said Tehran was already "in an advanced stage" of controlling and influencing Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon, according to the statement issued by Moscow.

"Mr. President, we are all jointly defeating ISIS [Daesh], and this is a very important thing. But the negative thing is that where we defeat ISIS and it disappears, Iran enters there," he said.

The premier said Iran continued to threaten to destroy Israel "every day" .

Putin said he was pleased to see that Russia and Israel have developed "effective" cooperation mechanisms.

"We hold regular and urgent meetings when the circumstances call for our direct involvement, and discuss bilateral relations and the situation in the region," he added.

Israeli officials have repeatedly said they do not want to see war-torn Syria become a forward base for Iran.

Since the outbreak of the Syria conflict in early 2011, Israel has occasionally struck targets inside Syrian territory.