“Israel and Russia are working to remove Iran and its proxy Hezbollah from the county.” As strange as this development may sound, given the long history of cooperation between Russia and Iran, in the last few years, “Israel and Russia established a so-called deconfliction hotline to keep the sides from getting tangled up and accidentally clashing over Syria.”
In a world where “allies” are often simply collaborating on the basis of very precise mutual interests, Israel’s carefully coordinated cooperation with Russia is understandable. Israel’s interest in keeping Iran out of Syria is a priority now that Iran has been entrenching itself near the Syrian border with Israel, prompting Israel to launch a new phase in its campaign to protect itself from Iran’s jihad against it, as well as Iran’s proxies, such as Hizballah.
Despite the known alliance between Russia and Iran, especially in the Caspian region, “critics maintain that Russia’s interests in the Caspian have not always been in line with those of Iran,” and neither are Russia’s interests in Syria lining up with Iran’s. Three years ago, Al Jazeera noted that “Russia, Iran jostle for influence in Syria.” The Carnegie-Moscow Center has stated that Russia and Iran share both a historic mistrust and a contemporary partnership.
That partnership is turbulent. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett recently met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi. In that highly strategic meeting, Bennet “presented his world view on ways to stop Iran’s nuclear drive and Iran’s entrenchment in Syria,” but at the same time, a careful consideration of Russia’s presence was involved: “It was decided to keep policies vis-à-vis Russia in place (regarding airstrikes in Syrian territory).” Simply put, Russia will not stand in Israel’s way “to maintain its freedom of operation over Syria, as long as it does not endanger their forces.” A few days ago, that understanding between Russia and Israel stood the test. An Israeli daytime air strike on Syria with short-range surface-to-surface missiles to prevent advanced Iranian weapons systems from crossing over into Lebanon, carefully avoided Russian defenses protecting the capital.
Israel has this week begun extensive “drills for war with Hezbollah as tensions with Iran rise.”
It bodes well for Israel if, as according to Russian experts, “Iran is a headache for Russia In Syria,” and “it is only mutual fear of turkey’s expansionism that prevents Russia and Iran from coming to blows.” According to Vladimir Sazhin, Senior Researcher at Institute of Oriental Studies of Russian Academy of Sciences, “the contradictions between Russia and Iran in Syria have been evident for some time. They began to manifest themselves immediately after the defeat of ISIS.”
“Russia intervened in the Syrian conflict in September 2015 on the side of Assad and Moscow is seen as the main power to speak with when Israel wants to carry out strikes in the country.” It all comes down to regional power. As a result of America under Biden having gone MIA in the region, “Israel understands that while its strongest ally remains the United States, it is Russia who is the key influencer in the Middle East and it is Moscow who Assad will listen to in order to gain anything from the outside world.”
“Israel, Russia share common goal of ousting Iran from Syria,” by Anna Ahronheim, Jerusalem Post, November 2, 2021:
With the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad seemingly being reaccepted into the Arab world, Israel and Russia are working to remove Iran and its proxy Hezbollah from the county.
Israel has been working on the difficult task of destroying Tehran’s dreams of regional hegemony and a forward base against the Jewish state for close to a decade through its war-between-wars (MABAM) campaign with hundreds of airstrikes in Syria.
Most recently it was accused of using a surface-to-surface non-line-of-sight missile to strike Iranian targets outside Damascus in a rare daytime attack. That strike came as Russia was accused of striking some 20 opposition targets in Idlib province.
Israel does not comment on most alleged strikes, but it has been accused of carrying out strikes around the capital of Damascus as well as deep inside Syrian territory including in northern Syria near the Turkish border as well as the Al-Bukamal region near the Syrian-Iraqi border.
Russia intervened in the Syrian conflict in September 2015 on the side of Assad and Moscow is seen as the main power to speak with when Israel wants to carry out strikes in the country…..
Kesselman says
Israel has to deal with sinister forces on all fronts. No surprise that Israel seeks whoever is available in a communication. And Vlad Putin is not an unreasonable man. On a more personal level ties between the two countries are elevated due to the huge Russian immigration to the Jewish State. Russian is now sidelined with English on various posters and brochures and more official let-outs in Israel.
Biden’s America is not Israel’s cup of tea.
gravenimage says
Kesselman, Putin has often appeased Islam–particularly Iran–and considers Islam a bulwark against the free West. Doesn’t sound very reasonable to me…
And while there are indeed a fairly large number of Russian Jews in Israel, most of them are there due to rampant antisemitism in the Soviet Union and Russia that followed. They are culturally Russian, but know from experience that trusting Russia should only be done with great care.
Kesselman says
Agree! Sentiments have little value here. One always has to go on cats’ feet dealing with Russia. That aside, it’s Politics with the capital P.
Infidel says
I think that as Russia sees the US becoming more hostile to Israel, they themselves are cozying up to Israel
gravenimage says
Could be. Israel should still be on guard and watch their back.
Mike says
Throughout the history of modern Israel, this has been a very temporary ally.
Infidel says
Until 1956, the Soviet Union was not quite an ally, but more like a country trying to woo Israel into the Soviet bloc. In 1956, that charade ended, when they discovered fissures in the Arab world b/w Arab sheikhdoms like Saudi Arabia, Emirates, Bahrein, Qatar on one side and left-leaning Arab nationalists like Syria and Egypt, followed by the collapse of Hashemite monarchy in Iraq. Once they had those allies, all of who wanted the destruction of Israel, the Soviets happily joined the club
Russia otoh had nothing against Israel once the Soviet Union ended, but they didn’t wanna lose their cushy military contracts w/ the likes of Syria, Iraq and Libya either. It’s one of the major reasons they were opposed to the US war w/ Iraq, and after the collapse of Libya as well, Syria was the only customer they had left, so they intervened to make sure that they don’t lose them. At the same time, they’re pretty mindful of how anti-Israel the US State Department is, so they make it a point to have channels open w/ Jerusalem. Israel has had more haters in countries like France and UK than they ever did in Russia
Mike says
Yes, it’s a game of short-term interests. At the end of the day, the Russians for religious Shiites are kafirs, and the Russians want to preserve strategic points in the Mediterranean basin in Syria in a future possible confrontation with NATO. Russia now is like Germany in 1914, they feel like a besieged fortress.
Tony Naim says
Hizballa has a network of underground tunnels stretching 100’s of kilometers in the south of Lebanon. Well connected to munition depots , command and control bunkers. They and Iran are trying to build the same infrastructure near the Golan heights in Syria.
Assad cannot remain in power without the support of Hizballa.
Iran does not given a damn about civilian casualties in a future conflict. An element it may use in its favor on the world stage.
The Shi’a axis aims at inflicting a very heavy human toll on the IDF, without allowing Israel to gain more territory if drawn into war.
These people are only hungry for blood, to spread their theology in the Islamic world.
Infidel says
Tony
Assad can remain in power w/ the support of Russian air power alone: Hizbullah is not needed. Indeed, Assad was on the verge of collapse 5 years ago when Russia intervened, much to the chagrin of Obama
peter says
Very good point !
peter says
+1
mortimer says
This is international oil-inspired geopolitics plus opposing jihadic ideologies on steroids.
If the Syrian Allowite government is protected by Russia and Israel it doesn’t need Iran to help them.
gravenimage says
Israel and Russia move on common goal of ousting Iran from Syria
……………
This is odd, since Russia has previously backed Iran and Hezb’allah in Syria.
I hope Russia is sincere here–but Israel should procede with caution.
Infidel says
Russia had backed the Assad regime, which they didn’t wanna see collapse. Iran and Hizbullah backed Assad as well b’cos Syria provided the continuity in the ‘shi’a Crescent’ from Teheran to Baghdad to Damascus to Beirut. Had Assad fallen, the Russians would have lost their last major Arab customer for their military hardware, while Iran and Hizbullah would have lost their land bridge
I don’t think Israel has much against Russia making their arms sales, but they do have an interest in seeing to it that Iran and Hizbullah can’t connect. Moscow recognizes that as well, which is a part of why they’re in constant contact w/ Jerusalem
OLD GUY says
If Russia and the US were smart they would quit fighting and start trusting each other, joining forces against the Islamic, China threat to both countries. Just think if both decided to help defend each other and Europe from aggression, free open and equal trade to goods and services. As a people we are way closer together than China or Islamic states in beliefs and life styles. Just a thought.