Israel's Barak in US for top-level talks

JERUSALEM: Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak was hold a series of top level talks in Washington later on Wednesday which Israeli media said would centre on the unfolding crisis in Egypt.

Barak left Israel on Tuesday for a two-day’s visit to Washington and New York, and was expected to meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defence Secretary Robert Gates and National Security chief Tom Donilon, his office said.

He was to brief Congress on Wednesday and later meet with senior White House adviser Dennis Ross alongside a number of other top defence and intelligence officials, his office said, without saying what would be on the agenda. Media reports said he would also meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York.

The English-language Jerusalem Post and the Y net news website both said Barak's visit would focus on the Egyptian unrest and its impact on Israel and the strategic balance in the region. With the Mubarak regime under threat of collapse, Israel fears a power vacuum could be exploited by Muslim militants elements determined to rescind the 1979 peace treaty between two countries.