Jeffrey is making a brief visit this week to Israel, Jordan and Turkey. He is joined by Special Envoy for Syria Joel Rayburn.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFUpdated: SEPTEMBER 2, 2018 23:23PM Netanyahu Meets with US Special Representative for Syrian Affairs James Jeffrey(photo credit: AMOS BEN GERSHOM, GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underscored the danger of an Iranian military presence in Syria when he met Sunday night with US Special Representative for Syrian Affairs James Jeffrey.“The two discussed the situation in Syria and the joint effort to stop Iran's terror and aggression,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement it issued after the meeting.Jeffrey is making a brief visit this week to Israel, Jordan and Turkey. He is joined by Special Envoy for Syria Joel Rayburn.Prior to the visit of the two envoys, the State Department said they would speak with Israeli officials about “maintaining Israel’s security while countering Iran’s destabilizing activity throughout the region.”“They will also underscore that the United States will respond to any chemical weapons attack perpetrated by the Syrian regime,” a state department spokesman said.The United Nations on Thursday called on Russia, Iran and Turkey to forestall a battle in Idlib, Syria, which would affect millions of civilians and could see both militants and the government potentially using chlorine as a chemical weapon.Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem, speaking after talks with Lavrov in Moscow on Thursday, said government forces will "go all the way" in the rebel-held northern region of Idlib, but that they did not have and would not use chemical weapons.The State Department over the weekend warned that a “military offensive in Idlib will escalate the crisis in Syria and the region, risk the lives of humanitarians and Syrian civilians, and destroy civilian infrastructure.”On Saturday night the two envoys met with the head of the Defense Ministry political and security bureau Zohar Palti. He presented them with Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman’s stance against the entrenchment of Iran and Hizbollah in Syria.He also spoke of the importance of US sanctions against Iran in preventing its support of regional terror.
