Russia ‘losing patience’ with Iran

Syria,’’ Tzuriel said. ‘‘I think they understand that if the Iranians continue on the present course this will lead to escalation and will blow their plans out of the water.’’ Israel’s long-standing goal has been to prevent Iran from gaining a permanent military foothold in Syria, which could be used to threaten Israel.

Michael Horowitz, a senior analyst at Le Beck geopolitical consultancy, said Israel had been trying for a long time to warn Russia about the dangers of Iran’s presence in Syria but had only recently gained traction.

‘‘The Israeli strategy was always to convince Russia that they had a lot to lose if they didn’t do anything about Iran. Until a few weeks ago, I would have told you they were doing that in vain and that Russia didn’t understand and didn’t care. But it’s changed because the escalatory strategy of Israeli strikes in Syria is really threatening to trigger conflict,’’ he said.

Horowitz spoke as unconfirmed reports emerged that the Syrian regime’s air force was trying to expel Iranian troops from airbases because they were a frequent target of Israeli attacks.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, said in mid-May that all foreign forces would leave Syria once the Assad regime was fully in control.

The comments appeared to anger Iran, which warned in a statement that it ‘‘has its own independent policies’’.

The change of Israeli outlook came as the US expressed alarm over the weekend that Syrian regime forces were massing to assault a rebel-held area in the southwest of the country, near the border with Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The area is part of a ‘‘deescalation zone’’ where both Assad’s forces and rebel fighters are supposed to be observing a ceasefire. The agreement on the de-escalation zones was made last year between the US, Russia and Jordan. – Telegraph Group