Aug 19 (Reuters) – The head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, Roman Gofman, held a phone call with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani last week in which they discussed Turkey’s military presence in Syria, three people familiar with the matter said.
The call, which the sources said took place on August 14, came days before Israel launched airstrikes on a Syrian military airbase in the north of the country on Tuesday.
It marks one of the highest-level contacts yet between Israel and the new Syrian government since the fall of former dictator Bashar al-Assad in December 2014.
The Israeli prime minister’s office, which handles queries regarding Mossad, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did a spokesperson for Shaibani.
(Reporting by Timour Azhari; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
