Russia’s envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentyev, said on Wednesday that Iranian forces in Syria had retreated 85 kilometers from the border with Israel following efforts by the Jewish State to increase pressure on the Kremlin, Reuters reported. However, an Israeli official deemed the pullback insufficient.
“The Iranians withdrew and the Shi’ite formations are not there,” TASS news agency quoted Lavrentiev as saying. “There are no units of heavy equipment and weapons that could pose a threat to Israel at a distance of 85 km from the line of demarcation,” he added.
The envoy clarified, however, that Iranian service personnel, whom he described as “advisors,” could still be embedded among Syrian regime forces who remain closer to the Israeli border.
Israeli officials see Iranian forces and their terror proxy Hezbollah as a direct threat to the Jewish State, and have demanded that Iran completely withdraws from the war-torn state.
“What we have laid down as a red line is military intervention and entrenchment by Iran in Syria, and not necessarily on our border,” Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi told Israel Radio, citing the longer-range threat posed by Iranian missiles or drones positioned in Syria.
“There’ll be no compromises nor concessions on this matter.”
Hanegbi observed that Israel is determined to prevent Iran and Hezbollah from effectively extending their Lebanese front against it.
“We are not ready to see a new Hezbollah front on our northern border between Israel and Syria. This is something that is dangerous. This is something that, if we don’t prevent it today, when still at its outset, will exact a heavy price of us down the line,” he said.
Last month, following a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel rejected a Russian offer to withdraw Iranian troops some 40 to 80 kilometers from its border as insufficient.
On Monday, Syrian regime forces regained control of the frontier with the Golan Heights for the first time in seven years, after ISIS-affiliated militants gave up their last pocket of territory in the province of Daara.
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