Israel rebuffed on Monday a new Russian offer to keep Iranian forces in Syria away from the Golan Heights cease-fire line, an Israeli official said, complicating Moscow's bid to stabilize the country amid a waning civil war.
The latest disagreement arose in a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russia's top diplomat and top general, dispatched to Jerusalem as Syrian government forces routed rebels near the Golan.
In Monday's meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Netanyahu said a Russian offer to keep Iranian forces 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the border was not enough, according to an Israeli official.
"The Russians are speaking about the [100-kilometer] buffer zone and are committed to it, but we said there are also long-range weapons beyond this zone, and all those forces must leave Syria," the official said.
Israel had previously turned down a proposal by Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar Assad, that Iranian forces be kept 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the frontier, according to Israeli officials.
The Russian Embassy in Israel tweeted that Lavrov and Chief of Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov and Netanyahu discussed Assad's advance in southwest Syria and "issues related to Israel border security."
Netanyahu held talks with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on July 11 amid Israeli concern that Assad, an old adversary, might defy a 1974 demilitarisation deal on the Golan or allow his Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah allies to deploy there.
Russia has said it wants to see the separation of forces on the frontier preserved. Lavrov's deputy, Grigory Karasin, told Russian media the foreign minister's trip was "urgent and important".
Before the meeting, Netanyahu said he would tell the envoys that "Israel insists on the separation of forces agreement between us and Syria being honoured, as they were honored for decades until the civil war in Syria broke out.".
He also reaffirmed "Israel will continue to act against any attempt by Iran and its proxies to entrench militarily in Syria."
