Putin, Netanyahu agree to coordinate efforts against terrorism

PM and Russian president in phone call discuss Syrian crisis, extremists.

By HERB KEINON
Updated: DECEMBER 22, 2015 18:00
Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin. (photo credit: GPO)
Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin.
(photo credit: GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in a phone conversation on Tuesday to continue their dialogue regarding the situation in Syria and other regional issues, the Prime Minister's Office said Tuesday,.
According to a PMO statement, the two leaders – who last met on the sidelines of the Paris climate conference at the end of last month—also discussed the war on terror, including on the Syrian front.
Reuters quoted a Kremlin source as saying that Putin stressed that “there is no alternative to the launch of intra-Syrian negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations, as well as to the continued and uncompromising fight against Islamic State and other extremist groups acting in Syria.”
Netanyahu flew to Moscow in September, soon after Russia's military engagement in Syria, to set up a mechanism to prevent the accidental confrontation of Russian and Israeli fighter-planes over Syria.