MOSCOW. Dec 5 (Interfax) - Russia will not allow Iran to take a harbor in Tartus to build a naval base there, Israel's Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee's head Avi Dichter said in an interview with Interfax.
"Of course, there are two different locations. And, as I understand, Russia does not plan to allow Iran to take a harbor in Tartus, where it is present itself. I do not know whether the Iranians plan to take a territory to the north, that is, in Latakia, where a port controlled by Bashar al-Assad's regime is situated, or to cross redline and begin the use of a port in Lebanon, if certainly the Lebanese authorities permit them this," Dichter said in comments on the reports about Iran's possible plans to create two military bases in Syria, a naval one and a land one in 16 kilometers from Damascus.
He led the Knesset delegation, which visited Moscow last week.
"So now they [the Iranian side] faced Russia's refusal, the absence of a final response from Syria and the prospect to get problems, if they attempt to realize their plans in Lebanon," he also said.