Israel proposed that some U.S. sanctions should be lifted from Syrian President Bashar Assad in exchange for his involvement in preventing the flow of arms to Hezbollah across the Syrian border with Lebanon, the Lebanese daily Al Jounhouria reported on Tuesday.
According to the paper, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer raised the possibility of sanction relief to ensure Russian involvement in the effort to block the smuggling of arms from Syrian territory into neighboring Lebanon and block what has been termed the "Iranian highway," connecting the Dahieh in Beirut to Iran via Syria and Iraq.
Dermer committed to request the Biden administration to freeze sanctions on Assad as well as Russian and Syrian companies. The idea was discussed during the first Trump term and may have come up now after his reelection.
IDF forces operate in South Lebanon
(IDF)
Dermer was in Moscow earlier in the month on a secret visit to try and promote the matter. Israeli officials said there was an understanding that Russia can influence Hezbollah, Syria and Iran and that Moscow was hoping for a cease-fire in the war in Lebanon.
The Wall Street Journal reported in an article on Tuesday that Russian-made weapons were found in by troops in Hezbollah's weapons stores in South Lebanon and that new, even recently produced weapons made in Russia were transferred through Syria recently and replace old Soviet-era armaments.
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