Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported on Wednesday that the Zionist entity held secret rounds of talks with the United States and Russia to discuss the ceasefire in southern Syria and creation of de-escalation zones on the country’s south.

According to the Israeli paper, the meetings were held in the Jordanian capital of Amman and one of the European capitals before the Russia-US agreement on Syrian ceasefire was announced on July 7.

The Israeli side reportedly objected to the deal due to the fact the Moscow and Washington “did not focus their attention on the withdrawal of Iranian forces from Syria,” Haaretz reported, citing unnamed sources.

The talks engaged leading diplomats, defense and security officials from the three sides. The Israeli side reportedly included representatives from the Zionist Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry and intelligence community.

The US team was comprised of US Special Envoy for Syria Michael Ratney, Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL Brett McGurk. The Russian delegation was represented by Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev, the newspaper said.

Amman reportedly hosted two meetings on one day: the first was between ‘Israel’, Russia and the United States, and the second was between ‘Israel’, Jordan and the United States.

Several days later another meeting was held in an undisclosed European city. The main dispute was over the fact that the ceasefire was considered by Russia and the United States to be a tool for stabilizing the situation and enhancing the fight against ISIL.

Source: Newspapers