Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he discussed Syria and Iran with U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of the latter's meeting in Helsinki with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Moscow is the big-power ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose advances against rebel areas close to the Israeli frontier worry Israel. The Russians are also regular interlocutors with Iran, an adversary of Israel and the United States that has forces fighting alongside Assad in Syria.
In remarks during the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said that in a phone conversation on Saturday he and Trump discussed "security and diplomatic issues arising from regional developments, chief among them, of course, Syria and Iran."
The prime minister said he thanked Trump for his tough stance against Iran. The U.S. president, Netanyahu said, "reiterated with sharp clarity his commitment to the security of Israel and his willingness to help Israel in various realms."
Trump is slated to meet Putin in the Finnish capital on Monday.
Last week, Netanyahu flew to Moscow for talks with Putin that focused on Israel's demand that Iranian forces leave Syria.
