BICOM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will urge the US to step up efforts to contain Iran in Syria when he meets US President Donald Trump in Washington next week.

Israel’s Channel 10 News reported last night that senior Israeli officials believe the US is not doing enough to help counter Iranian entrenchment in Syria, highlighting the gap between US rhetoric and action. In a sign of increasing frustration with the US administration, a senior Israeli official told Channel 10’s Diplomatic correspondent Barak Ravid: “It is comfortable for the Americans to let us be their sub-contractor against Iran in Syria. We are very worried.”

Israeli Internal Security Minister, Gilad Erdan, addressed the issue in his speech to the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organisations in America. Erdan said: “Friends let me be direct. There is a need for greater American involvement in making sure that Iran doesn’t turn Syria into a puppet state. Every day that Iran entrenches itself in Syria brings war closer. There is no vacuum. If the US chooses not to be a major player in shaping the future of Syria then others will — and trust me it won’t be the democratically elected representatives of the Syrian people.”

On Tuesday, General Joseph Votel, Commander of  US Central Command (CENTCOM) told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the US remained in Syria to deal with ISIS. He said:  “The principal reason we are in Syria is to defeat ISIS, and that remains our sole and single task,” adding that “countering Iran is not one of the coalition missions in Syria”. He also explained that “Sunni populations remain vulnerable to identity-based recruitment” into terrorist groups.

According to Kan Radio News, Iran denied media reports yesterday that it was building a military base near Damascus with warehouses for missile storage and said the stories were an American and Israeli invention.