Lavrov Says Israel Agreed With Russia On Need To Respect Syria's Sovereignty In Practice

SOCHI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2019) Russia and Israel have agreed on the need to respect Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity in practice, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday following the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Israeli prime minister.

Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting the Black Sea resort of Sochi just days before the snap parliamentary elections at home. He said that his visit was meant to continue "important cooperation" with Moscow to prevent any collision between Israeli and Russian forces in Syria.

According to Lavrov, Russia informed Israel about steps that it was taking to "support the efforts of the Syrian government in its fight against terrorists, who still remain in the Idlib zone, and promote issues related to humanitarian assistance and facilitation of the political process in the context of the formation of the constitutional committee."

"We stressed, emphasized, the need - and here the Israelis fully agree with us - to ensure real, in practice, not only in words, respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic.

And in this sense, we on our part highlighted the issues of assisting the Syrian authorities and the Syrians on the whole in their returning to peaceful life," he told reporters.

Lavrov added that Russia had also noted that sanctions that the United States and European countries had slapped on the legitimate Syrian government were fully counterproductive.

"We, in my opinion, found understanding from our Israeli counterparts on these issues," the minister said.

Russia has been involved in the counterterrorism operation in the Arab republic at the request of the Syrian government since 2015. Israel has been conducting airstrikes in Syria without Damascus' permission, justifying its actions by the need to counter Iran's alleged military presence in the neighboring country.

For decades, Israel and Syria have also been at odds over the Golan Heights, a border area that the former annexed from the Arab republic in the 1967 Six Day War.