Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin about Israel’s offensive against Iranian targets in Syria.
Netanyahu says he informed Putin of Israel’s intention to continue defending itself against any aggression and to prevent Iran from establishing a presence “in Syria or anywhere else”.
Israel said one of its F-16s crashed after it came under fire from Syria. Israel responded with a “large scale attack” on 12 bases in Syria. The incident was sparked by what Israel said was an Iranian drone infiltrating its air space. A joint operation room of Syria and its allies, Iran and Hezbollah, denied the drone entered Israel airspace.
Russia backs the Assad regime and maintains a large military presence in the country. Netanyahu has met several times with Putin to co-ordinate military activities in the region.
Russia’s foreign ministry appeared to criticise Israel’s actions by saying it was “absolutely unacceptable to create threats to the lives and security of Russian servicemen”.
Read the report in the Townsville Bulletin.