Putin told US he can’t get Iranian militias out of Syria - Bolton

The US President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton, on a visit to Israel, said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin told the US that Moscow could not bring about the withdrawal of Iranian militias from Syria, Haaertz said.

In an interview with Reuters, Bolton said that Putin, who met US President Donald Trump in Helsinki on July 16, also "told us that his interest and Iran’s were not exactly the same. So we’re obviously going to talk to him about what role they can play." Bolton is slated to meet his Russian counterpart, Nikolai Patrushev, in Geneva on Thursday. 

Bolton also said that the Trump administration was not considering at this time to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, despite attempts to push for such recognition in Congress and from Israeli politicians. Such recognition is not on the table, at least for now, Bolton said.

Israel on Monday (July 23) rebuffed a Russian offer to keep Iranian militias in Syria at least 100 kilometres from the Golan Heights ceasefire line. The issue came up during a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a visiting Russian delegation led by Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.