Israeli PM meets with Russian counterpart in Jerusalem

By Kaamil Ahmed

JERUSALEM

Russia supports Israel’s goals of seeing the Daesh terrorist group defeated and preventing Iran from increasing its regional influence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday after meeting with Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in Jerusalem.

"Israel, Russia and the U.S. -- and many other countries -- share the goal of eliminating Daesh," Netanyahu said in a statement.

"To the same extent, we are also concerned by the second element leading radical Islam, and this is Iran -- which champions the destruction of Israel and supports 360-degree terror on five continents," he said.

Despite Russia's alliance with Iran in their shared support for the Syrian regime, Netanyahu said both countries wanted to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and establishing a military foothold in Syria, which borders Israel to the northeast.

"We are also determined to prevent it from bringing about the establishment of Shiite militias, which it is organizing, and of course the arming of Hezbollah with dangerous weapons aimed at us," he said.

Over the past year, Russia’s military operations in Syria -- and its cooperation with Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah -- have led to frequent meetings between Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin over how to manage their differing interests in the war-torn country.