WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday voiced his opposition to the US-Russia ceasefire deal because it would cement Iran's position in Syria.
"There is a shared interest that we have with Israel making sure that Iran does not gain any foothold military, base-wise in southern Syria. We are going to continue those talks [with Netanyahu]," Spicer stated.
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to establish the ceasefire during a G20 meeting in Germany's Hamburg. The deal went into effect at noon Damascus time (09:00 GMT) on July 9.
The Israeli-Syrian relations are strained, particularly over the disputed region of Golan Heights, which has been at the center of conflict between the two Middle Eastern states since the late 1940s. Hostilities also regularly escalate as Israeli planes hit targets in Syria in response to cross-border fire incidents.