... including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, one of the top military commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. On July 30, senior Hezbollah operative Fuad Shukr was killed in a Beirut suburb, and on July 31, Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated ... ... leadership, not without reason, draws parallels between Palestinian radicals and the Muslim Brotherhood movement (banned in Russia) at home, which has been driven deep underground, but was, alongside Israel, among the founding fathers of Hamas. Damascus ...
... Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who have been in contact for many years and, it seems to me, have always sympathized with each other. Israel has always been a constructive partner for us.
With that said, Israel has always criticized Russia for its ties with Hamas and Hezbollah. Continued contacts with Hamas are automatically perceived in Israel as supporting terrorist activity. We have repeatedly stated that we cannot support either terrorist or military activity. Russia maintains political contacts, including with ...
... regime is “avoiding” both at home and abroad, particularly in the process of change or reform, or the settlement process and the requirements of UN Resolution No. 2254, the pressures that the regime faces concerning its relationship with Iran and Hezbollah, its concerns about the relationships between Russia, Turkey and Israel, and what Russia could do to dismantle the deep sources that threaten the Syrian authorities as a consequence of the war.
Nine: A Matter of Hope
Perhaps the biggest challenge or concern facing the Syrian people is to understand ...
... al-Assad government remaining in power. That would be the best explanation for why it was recently revealed that Israel is arming some Sunni jihadist rebels. Israel is willing to ally itself with Salafist rebels in order to prevent the “Iranian-Syrian-Hezbollah axis” from proclaiming victory in the Syrian Civil War. Whether this proves to be a wise decision for Israel, remains to be seen.
Russia’s Syrian Foreign Policy: The Israeli’s Vantage Point
Ruslan Mamedov:
Non-Governmental and Irregular Armed Groups in the Syria/Iraq Conflict Zone
Russia intervened in Syria in 2015 at the request of Syrian President al-Assad. Russia has no ...
..., Moscow is interested in a future Syrian regime that would recognize the legitimacy of the Russian military presence there. Russia also believes it is extremely important for the Syrian state to remain secular.
Iran’s interests are mainly connected ... ... materiel and human resources via Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, in support of its immediate allies in the Islamic resistance (primarily Hezbollah). Tehran views Syria as the central piece in this allied structure. In the future, these countries might be used as ...
... cohesion of its units, improve the training and equipment of soldiers and, as a result, multiply their efficiency on the front lines and behind the lines.
As-Safir described the creation of the Fifth Corps as an example of close coordination between Russia, Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah. According to the newspaper, the main attack force of the Fifth Corps will include the best trained units of the Syrian army and pro-government paramilitary groups, such as Liwa Suqur al-Sahara (Desert Falcons) and Liwa al-Quds. Both groups ...
... instances Moscow tends to establish relations with all the actors that are capable of influencing the manner in which a given situation may develop, with the exception of those that Russian law has deemed to be terrorist organizations. With respect to Hezbollah, Russia proceeds from the fact that it is not an “
imported product
”, but rather the “result of the development of political life in Lebanon.” Hezbollah leaders have confirmed that relations with Russia have stepped up, with their ...
... by religious, ethnic and other minorities.
Do you see any role in the Middle East settlement for Russia?
The Iranian issue remains of paramount importance for Israel, thousands or maybe even dozens of thousands of the latest missiles targeted by the Hezbollah against northern Israel from Lebanon, as well as the threat of shelling from the Gaza Strip.
Israel relies on Russia in its search for amenable solutions on Iran's nuclear program and the prevention of modern weapons supplies to the already volatile Middle East. Recently some of the latest American weapons and weapons systems were acquired in Aden by the Houthi,...
... scheduled for April 2, 2015) and an effective discussion of electoral reform. These factors include, among others, incidents between Hezbollah and the Israeli, as well as new anti-Lebanon border provocations, namely violations of the Lebanese airspace by a drone ... ... territorial waters by an Israeli gunboat (
NNA
, 11.03.2015 11:35
,
11.03.2015 21:50
).
Opportunities for cooperation between Russia and Lebanon in preventing the spread of jihadist influence across the region
www.flickr.com/photos/mfarussia
Russian-Lebanese ...