Israel and Russia are growing apart as Israel strikes Syrian targets without informing Russia beforehand, an agreement they made after 2015. (Image: Reuters/Representative)
Israel made a key change to their Russia policy with regard to Syria following the October 7 attacks where it did not inform Moscow of attacks on Syrian territory.
Before the October 7 attacks, Israel informed Russia in advance that it would strike targets on Syrian territory which pose a threat to Israeli security. Israel has now stepped up the number of strikes against Iran-backed terrorist groups in Syria who also have moved close to the Israeli border, but it does not inform Moscow before conducting those strikes.
“As a general rule, Israel isn’t informing Russia before its strikes in Syria. We only find out after they happen,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Friday, according to a report by news agency Bloomberg.
This new change in dynamic is further degrading the troubled ties between Israel and Russia. This also raises the danger of Syria emerging as a new front in the Israel-Hamas war.
The US does not want Syria or Iran to join the war and widen the conflict in the region.
The Israel-Hamas war has further fuelled tensions.
Israeli fighter jets on October 30 bombed a Syrian military base in the southern province of Daraa and it dropped leaflets warning Syrian forces to not allow Iran and its allies to operate near the Syria-Israel border.
Israel on October 25 struck a weapons depot at a large Syrian base in the south. The base was hosting security personnel from Iran and Hezbollah operatives who were embedded with Syrian forces.
More than a dozen Syrian soldiers died in the attack. Israel also struck air surveillance radars. Israel did not inform Russia in advance before these attacks. The Bloomberg report said that occasionally members of the Russian military police are present in these facilities but it is unclear if they were there during the Israeli strikes.
Israel also struck Syria’s main two airports in Damascus and Aleppo several times and rendered them out of service and affecting civilian travel. Civilian flights had to land in the Russian airbase in Hmeimim on Syria’s Mediterranean coast instead.
Israel has been striking targets in Syria to subdue Hezbollah terrorists and secure its own north-eastern border. But after Russia intervened in the Syrian war in 2015, Moscow and Tel Aviv have coordinated to ensure their forces don’t clash or mistakenly fire on each other.
Israel remains adamant on striking targets to protect its sovereignty. “We will not allow a new Hezbollah front there or permit an Iranian military presence in Syria,” Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said.
Tensions are rising between Israel and Lebanon where Hezbollah has a very strong base and continues to engage in small battles with the Israeli army on a daily basis.
Geir Pedersen, the United Nations special envoy, told the news outlet that the war will spillover into Syria and the process has already begun. “Fuel is being added to a tinderbox that was already beginning to ignite,” Pedersen said.
Syria has become a battleground for regional and western powers with the US, Russia, Iran and Turkey, all involved in fighting extremists, ethnic rebels and pro and anti government forces. The US has over 1,000 soldiers there fighting Islamist extremists. Turkey is fighting the Kurdish forces in the north while Iran and Russia are fighting anti-government forces and trying to keep Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power.
This has killed thousands and displaced millions.
