Putin tells Israel’s Netanyahu new spiral of violence in Syria should be
avoided
Israeli Prime Minister agreed in a phone conversation with Russian President
that interaction between the two countries’ militaries would be continued
February 10, 22:11 updated at: February 10, 22:44 UTC+3
http://tass.com/politics/989426

MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/. In a phone conversation with Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the
air strikes conducted by Israel’s Air Force against targets in Syria, the
Kremlin said on Saturday.

"The Russian side called for any steps, which might trigger a new spiral of
dangerous for all confrontation in the region, to be avoided," the press
service said.

In the meantime, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s press office
said that Netanyahu agreed in a phone conversation with Russian President
Vladimir Putin that interaction between the two countries’ militaries would
be continued.

"I have recently spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin," Netanyahu
said cited by his press office. "We agreed that security coordination
between our countries will continue."

Putin and Netanyahu held a phone conversation amid a sharp deterioration of
the situation on the Israeli-Syrian border after an Iranian drone had been
shot down in the Israeli airspace and an F-16 fighter jet of the Israeli Air
Force had crashed.

"I emphasized in the talk with him [Putin] that it is our [Israeli] right
and duty to defend themselves from attacks from Syria," Netanyahu said.

On Saturday, the Israeli military said their helicopter downed above the
Golan Heights an Iranian UAV, which had entered the Israeli airspace from
Syria. In response, Israel conducted air strikes against Iranian facilities
in Syria and destroyed the Iranian UAV control center.

During the operation, the Syrian air defense launched a few missiles to hit
Israel’s F-16. The pilots ejected - one of them was badly injured, while the
other received minor wounds. After that, Israel delivered a heavy strike
against Syrian air defense and Iranian facilities in Syria, hitting twelve
targets in the neighboring country, Israel’s Defense Forces said.

In the autumn of 2015, Israel and Russia agreed to exchange data in order to
safeguard their militaries against any accidental engagements during
operations in Syria. A special coordination center was set up at Israel’s
General Staff for the purpose.