US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet next week in Brazil with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Washington prepares to withdraw troops from Syria, the State Department said on Thursday.
Pompeo and Netanyahu will meet in Brasilia where both will be attending the New Year’s Day inauguration of president-elect JairBolsonaro, a right-wing firebrand who has vowed to move Brazil closer to Israel and US President Donald Trump.
Netanyahu has met frequently with Pompeo and enjoys a warm relationship with Trump, happy about his withdrawal from a denuclearization deal with Iran and his landmark shift of the US embassy to Jerusalem. But Netanyahu has for the first time found himself at odds with Trump after the US leader’s sudden announcement last week that he will bring home all 2,000 American troops from war-ravaged Syria, where Israel saw Washington’s presence as a bulwark against Iran and counterweight to the influence of Russia.