BICOM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Parliamentary committee hearing yesterday that Israel continues to take action in Syria, despite tensions with Russia after a Russian aircraft was shot down by Syrian missiles in September.

Netanyahu told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence committee: “Our spy-planes continue to fly and collect information. From the information we have, the amount of Iranian weapons transfers to Hezbollah through Syria has significantly dropped since the downing of the Russian plane.”

The Prime Minister met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Paris during events to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War. Netanyahu described the conversation as “excellent” and said: “I offered to increase coordination between [our] armies in Russia. Despite that, we are continuing to operate in Syria.” Netanyahu was asked by the Committee whether there was a need for other countries to intervene to remove Iranian forces from Syria and he agreed that Russia alone does not have enough leverage to push Iranian and pro-Iranian forces out of the country.

Amos Harel in Haaretz argues that the meeting between Netanyahu and Putin has not resolved the crisis that began when the Russian plane was shot down. Harel concludes that ‘Russian interests in Syria and Lebanon have limited Israel’s military options, with Russia now making it clear to Israel in many ways that the status quo ante is gone. The change has been evident in the more aggressive tone on the hot line connecting Israel Air Force headquarters to the Russian base in northwest Syria, whose purpose is to prevent aerial incidents between Israel and Russia. It’s also evident in the confrontational attitude of Russian planes and anti-aircraft batteries in Syria.’