JERUSALEM, Sept. 16 (UPI) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to visit Moscow next week to discuss Russian military aid and troop deployments to Syria, his office said Wednesday.
He will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to express concerns the buildup of a Russian military force in Syria could lead to some of the weaponry ending up in the hands of Hezbollah or other groups Israel regards as enemies.
Russia has come under international scrutiny for its support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a civil war lasting nearly five years and provoking a humanitarian crisis in which about 250,000 people have died and nearly half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million has fled.
Earlier this week, U.S. officials said Russian military supplies are arriving at the Latakia, Syria, airbase, which is controlled by troops loyal to Assad.
Last week, U.S. officials said Russia was sending a missile defense system to Assad’s forces. Meanwhile, Israel also objected to the sale in April, by Russia to Iran, of a state-of-the-art missile defense system.
Netanyahu’s visit to Moscow, his first since 2013, will come prior to his scheduled address, later this month, to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, and his planned November visit with President Barack Obama in Washington.
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