Israel and Russia Set Up Military Coordination Team on Syria
An Israeli-Russian coordination team set up to prevent the countries accidentally trading fire in Syria will be headed by their deputy armed forces chiefs and will hold its first meeting by Oct. 5, an Israeli military officer said on Thursday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on Monday to set up the team as Moscow steps up military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been losing ground to an Islamist-led insurgency.
Israel is worried the Russian deployment, which U.S. officials and regional sources say includes advanced anti-aircraft units and warplanes, risks pitting Russian forces against its own over Syria.
Israeli jets have occasionally struck in neighboring Syria to foil suspected handovers of sophisticated Russian- or Iranian-supplied arms to Assad’s guerrilla allies in Lebanon.
An Israeli military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the talks with Moscow would focus on aerial operations in Syria and “electromagnetic coordination.”
The latter appeared to refer to the sides agreeing not to scramble each other’s radio communications or radar-tracking systems, and devising ways of identifying each other’s forces ahead of any unintended confrontation in the heat of battle.
Israel and Russia will also coordinate on sea operations off Syria’s Mediterranean coast, where Moscow has a major naval base, the Israeli officer said.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30