Russia offered Israel and the United States a deal involving Iran's withdrawal of its forces from Syria in exchange for a reduction in American sanctions, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a closed session of the Knesset's Foreign and Security Committee Monday, Channel 10 News reported. The offer was made by Russian President Putin, according to an MK who was present at the meeting.

Netanyahu met Putin in Paris last week during the ceremonies marking the centenial of the armistice that ended the first World War, but it is unclear if Putin made the offer then. After the meeting, Netanyahu said that "the conversation with Putin was good, productive and very important. There is no point in going into further details."

MKs said that Netanyahu said at the meeting that the Russians and Americans are in discussions on containing the Iranian influence in Syria, and held their last meeting on the issue on November 8 in Vienna.

According to the report, at the beginning of the month Netayahu met with the American envoy to Syria, Jim Jeffery, and discussed the matter with him. Netanyahu was asked by the Knesset members if Israel expressed its stance on the proposal, and he answered that at this stage there is no official Israeli position.

"We are continuing our conversations in order to reach a political solution in Syria," a senior US State Department official told Channel 10. "We will not go into detail on the content of those diplomatic conversations."

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