Israel Requests Military Coordination from Russia in Syria

Following the deployment of advanced Russian air defense systems in Syria, Israel has requested Russia to strengthen, review, and update military coordination between the two countries. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Sunday, October 25, that this request was made so that Israel can continue to bomb its desired targets in Syria. Haaretz added that the request was made by the Israeli military in contact with the Russian Ministry of Defense. The Russian newspaper Izvestia reported that Moscow officials confirmed the deployment of the S-300 defense systems about two weeks ago at the naval base in the Tartus region of Latakia, Syria. The Russian Duma has recently made Russia's use of this base permanent, and President Vladimir Putin signed this law on Friday, October 23. Haaretz, citing Izvestia, also reported on October 25 that Israel is concerned about the possibility of inadvertently engaging with Russia during its potential air operations in Syria. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Moscow four times last year to discuss military coordination regarding Syria with Vladimir Putin. Netanyahu has implicitly confirmed several times that Israel has carried out attacks in Syria targeting Hezbollah. In one of the airstrikes attributed to Israel, Iranian General Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, along with Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Imad Mughniyeh, the military commander of Hezbollah, were killed in Quneitra, Syria. Less than a year ago, another heavy airstrike attributed to Israel resulted in the death of Samir Qantar, a commander of Hezbollah forces in Syria, at a military base in Damascus. Some regional media reports claimed that the Israeli attack that led to Samir Qantar's death occurred just half an hour after Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC, left a meeting with Qantar at this important Syrian military base. Meanwhile, based on documents recently released by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, Hillary Clinton, the current candidate for the U.S. presidential election, confirmed that Israel has carried out military attacks on Syria several times. According to WikiLeaks documents, Hillary Clinton stated that there is no doubt that Israel targeted weapon shipments intended to be delivered from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon.