Likud MK Ayoub Kara has been identified as the “senior Likud official” reported by the Arab media as having met with a “senior Syrian official”.

Likud minister-designate Dr. Yuval Shteinitz played down the significance of the meeting, stating Kara met with exiled Syrian opposition leader Farad Gadri, whose citizenship has been revoked by the Syrians.

According to Shteinitz, Gadri has visited Israel in the past, and was even a guest at meetings of the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee. He did not however elaborate as to the significance of the meeting at this time.

The Arab media reported that acting upon a request from US President Barak Obama, Premier-designate Binyamin Netanyahu decided to send a representative to a high-level meeting in Damascus as the White House seeks to open diplomatic channels with the Syrians.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)