TEL AVIV, Israel: Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will for the first time as premier meet Russian President Vladimir Putin later this month, with Iran at the top of the agenda.
Bennett will travel Oct. 22 to meet Putin in the seaside resort city of Sochi, Russia, to discuss political, security and economic issues, including the Iran nuclear program. Israel and Russia have long kept the diplomatic door open.
The two countries operate a military hotline to coordinate air force operations over Syria to avoid clashes. Israel often attacks Iranian-linked targets in Syria, while Russia has provided support to the Syrian government.
Russia also is one of the international parties that negotiated a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. The deal fell apart after then-President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018. But the new US administration is now trying to revive the deal with other international powers — a step that Israel opposes.
Bennett’s predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, met many times with Putin.
Israel’s new PM to meet with Putin in Sochi, Russia
https://arab.news/cpumy
Israel’s new PM to meet with Putin in Sochi, Russia
- Bennett will travel Oct. 22 to meet Putin in Sochi
- The two countries operate a military hotline to coordinate air force operations over Syria
Thirty four Australians released from Syrian camp holding Daesh affiliated families
- Roj camp holds more than 2,000 people from 40 different nationalities, the majority of them women and children
ROJ CAMP: Syrian Kurdish forces on Monday released 34 Australians from a camp holding families of suspected Daesh militants in northern Syria, saying they would be flown to Australia from Damascus.
Hukmiya Mohamed, a co-director of Roj camp, told Reuters that the 34 Australians had been released to members of their families who had come to Syria for the release. They were put on small buses for Damascus.
Roj camp holds more than 2,000 people from 40 different nationalities, the majority of them women and children.
Thousands of people believed to be linked to Daesh militants have been held at Roj and a second camp, Al-Hol, since the militant group was driven from its final territorial foothold in Syria in 2019.
Syrian government forces seized swathes of northern Syria from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in January, before agreeing a ceasefire on January 29.
The US military last week completed a mission to transfer 5,700 adult male Daesh detainees from Syria to Iraq.
