BORDER DEAL SOUGHT
Vladimir Putin in Mideast talks on Syria
Moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin stepped up efforts to broker a deal on the pullback of pro-Iranian militias from Syria’s border with Israel. Putin met Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior Iranian foreign policy adviser, outside Moscow on Thursday, a day after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Kremlin. Russia has agreed to US and Israeli demands that the Iranian-backed forces be kept away from Israel’s border. "On the eve of the summit between Putin and Trump it seems like Russia’s mediation efforts are bearing fruit," said Elena Suponina, a Middle East expert in Moscow. Netanyahu told Putin that Israel’s top concern is the Iranian presence in neighboring Syria. He said Israel doesn’t object to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s continued hold on power, Haaretz newspaper reported, citing a media briefing by Netanyahu in Moscow. Trump also has shifted away from his predecessor Barack Obama’s policy of demanding the Syrian leader’s ouster, a position the US ...
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