Netanyahu to meet Putin as Israel-russia relations thaw

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, the Israeli prime minister, is to meet Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, for the first time since July in a sign of thawing relations between two of Syria’s key power brokers.

Russia-israel relations deteriorated sharply after 15 crewmen died on Sept 17 when a Russian IL-20 spy plane was mistakenly shot down by Syrian air defences targeting Israeli jets.

Mr Netanyahu told his cabinet yesterday that he had spoken with Mr Putin and would soon meet him to discuss military co-ordination around Syria, a battlefield that has drawn the two countries into sometimes fraught opposing stances.

Mr Putin absolved Israel of responsibility over the plane incident, but warned Mr Netanyahu “not to allow such situations in the future”.

Last week, relations were further strained as the first components of Russia’s S-300 air defence system were delivered to Syria, giving the country the capacity to repel the sort of aerial attacks Israel relies on to police its eastern flank from Shia militants.

Despite the recent chill, Russia and Israel have been largely successful at de-conflicting military actions in a highly complex theatre.

Russia is widely credited with turning the war around for Bashar al-assad, the Syrian president, whose victory now is all but assured. But in propping up Mr Assad, Russia has heralded the Syrian expansion of Iran and the Shia paramilitary group Hizbollah, on which Mr Assad has relied heavily.

For Israel, the growing footprint of Shia militancy in Syria, whether Lebanese, Iranian or foreign conscript, is a red line, and Mr Netanyahu has sworn to prevent Iran from deepening its military presence in Syria and using the country as a bridge to transfer weapons to Hizbollah in Lebanon.

He has made good on the threat: last month, Israeli officials claimed the country had launched more than 200 air strikes on Iranian military targets inside Syria since 2017. It is not known how the S-300 will impact such tactics.

Yesterday’s announcement was a bit of good news on an otherwise dark day for Mr Netanyahu, whose wife, Sara, appeared in a Jerusalem court on fraud charges, accused of misusing $100,000 (£76,000) in state funds to order highend takeaway meals.

Mr Netanyahu is implicated in the charges, with investigators alleging he told staff to cover up the fact that the couple had hired a cook. The next hearing is scheduled for Nov 13.