MOSCOW. Oct 4 (Interfax) - Israeli Ambassador to Russia Gary Koren does not rule out that Saudi King Salman will discuss Iran's actions and plans in Syria during his visit to Moscow this week.
Koren reiterated Israel's established position in the matter: "Iranian actions and plans in Syria are also of great concern to the majority of Arab countries. It is quite probable that the King of Saudi Arabia will touch on this subject during his visit to Moscow," Koren told Interfax ahead of the Saud king's state official visit that is due to begin on Wednesday.
"The focus of the Israeli stance was and remains closely connected with an obvious consolidation of the Iranian presence in Syria, which is extremely hostile to Israel, and the lack of any immediate answer to that in diplomatic discussions, including [the] Astana [talks]," Koren said, in commenting, at the request of the news agency, on an article in Foreign Policy about Israel's plans to be more active in opposing Iran in Syria.
Koren went on to recall that "the official Israeli stance in this regard was explained on numerous occasions, including those on the top level (for example, at the latest meeting between Benjamin Netanyahu and [Russian President] Vladimir Putin in Sochi on August 23, 2017)".
He also drew attention to Netanyahu's speech at the UN General Assembly on September 20, 2017. "All those threatening to eliminate us put themselves under lethal risk. Israel will defend itself with the full capacity of our arms and full power of our beliefs. We will act so as to prevent a permanent deployment of Iranian military ground, air and naval bases in Syria. We will act so as to prevent Iran's manufacturing lethal weapons in Syria and Lebanon with the intent to use them against us. We will also act to prevent Iran from opening new fronts of terror along the northern border of Israel," Koren said.