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Netanyahu, Putin hold phone talk amid regional tensions

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JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin talked over the phone on Wednesday amid rift between the two countries over Syria.

"The Prime Minister reiterated that Israel will not allow Iran to establish a military presence in Syria," the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said in a statement, without elaborating.

The Kremlin said in a separate statement that Putin urged Netanyahu to avoid actions that might destabilise the situation in Syria and stressed the importance of not violating Syria's sovereignty, reports Xinhua.

Russia accuses Israel of carrying out an airstrike on the T-4 Air Base in Syria, which claimed the lives of 14 people on Monday.

Tensions were mounting in the region after US President Donald Trump threatened military action in Syria as a response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in the war-torn country.

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