Moscow has decided to adopt a new strategy in Syria, pro-Syrian newspapers in Lebanon reported recently, in a move expected to severely impact Israel's security interests.
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In recent years, Israel enjoyed almost complete freedom of operations in Syrian airspace, conducting airstrikes on targets that posed a threat to national security, according to foreign reports.
News of the change in Syrian policy was reported in Lebanese media outlets whose senior political commentators have close ties to the Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime as well as senior officers in Russian military headquarters stationed in Syria.
According to the reports, the mechanism used by the Israeli security system and Russian forces for coordination inside Syria is no longer in use. The mechanism had been made possible due to direct ties between former Prime Minister and now Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who saw eye to eye on the need to prevent Iran from growing its presence in Syria.
A senior Russian official was quoted by Lebanese media outlets as saying: "The earlier coordination with Israel stopped as soon as the new government was established and Netanyahu finished his role. One can say that our ties with Israeli forces on the Israeli side of the border with Syria are now entirely concrete and based on interests."
On Saturday, Russia assisted Syria's aerial defense system in thwarting an Israeli attack near the city of Homs in western Syria, a senior Russian military official said Saturday.
A Russian source told the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat Moscow had already begun to aid the Assad regime in "closing off Syrian airspace to Israeli planes."
The senior Russian official said, "The decision is directly tied to summit talks between [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin and US President [Joe] Biden last month." The source claimed Washington did not approve of continued Israelis strikes on Syria and that Russia had received authorization from the US administration for the move.
The source said Russian military experts were already assisting Syrian anti-tank teams in intercepting Israeli missiles in the field through the use of the Buk missile system.
The interview with the pan-Arab newspaper followed two statements by the Russian Defense Ministry condemning attacks attributed to Israel in Aleppo and Homs provinces. The ministry had previously refrained from commenting on Israeli strikes in Syria.
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