US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on phone on Wednesday amidst Israel’s concerns over US planned withdrawal of troops from Syria.
Netanyahu and Trump discussed “regional developments and Iran”, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement. The statement did not elaborate which developments were addressed.
According to the statement, cited by Xinhua news agency, Netanyahu thanked Trump for “his commitment to Israel’s security” and the two leaders “agreed to continue the close coordination in order to repel Iran’s aggression and its attempts to destabilise the region”.
On March 29, Trump said the US would “come out of Syria like very soon”. However, a US media report later said that their military was working on plans to send dozens of additional American soldiers to northern Syria.
Israel worries that the US withdrawal from Syria, its northern neighbour, would allow Iran to enhance its military foothold in Syria.
Top Israeli officials have warned that Israel will not allow a military Iranian presence in Syria.
The Netanyahu-Trump talk came as Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met in Ankara.
Their summit was aimed at discussing measures to consolidate the truce regime in Syria, ensure the operation of de-escalation zones and address the humanitarian problems in the war-torn country.