Meeting lavarov and mashal
A meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Hamas political Leader Khaled Mashal in Damascus has irked Israeli officials. Senior officials in the Foreign Ministry were furious on Sunday over the news that Lavrov had held talks with Mashaal, saying that he felt maintaining contact with Hamas was ‘needed’. Israeli Foreign Ministry officials were mulling over a possible response to Russia’s move which came ahead of Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s visit to Moscow scheduled for next week, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported. The daily added that Tel Aviv might file an official complaint against Lavrov’s meeting. The Russian foreign minister, however, defended his move saying that Moscow believes it needs to keep its contact with Hamas. The meeting was held when Lavrov was on a brief visit to Syria to attend a session held by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). (Reference for text: Press TV. Photo: via mosnewes.com)