Author: Petr Lyukimson, Israel, exclusively to VK
The very first results of a recent emergency visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Russia are known. According to informed sources, Russia has decided to scrap the supplies of S-300 missile systems to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The official reason is the hundreds of thousands of current and former citizens of the Russian Federation living in Israel, the safety of whom could be threatened by these anti-aircraft complexes. As a condition of non-supply of S-300, President Vladimir Putin called on Netanyahu not to carry out new air strikes on Syria.
But that's only part of the deal. Another secret part of them provides for a more intensive exchange of investments between the two countries (according to Putin, the current rates in the short term may be increased almost by half) and more active involvement of Russia in the Middle East peace process and the political process in the Middle East as a whole. It is also possible that Netanyahu and Putin have again discussed the possibility of Russia's participation in the development of Israel's gas fields (before Israel gave an unequivocal rejection of this proposal, saying that it prefers to have only Azerbaijan as a partner).
Be that as it may, the latest step by Russia proves that the meeting in Sochi, despite the claims of a number of Russian and Israeli media, was a success, and the two sides shook hands and exchanged smiles not only for the record.
As for the situation on the Israeli-Syrian border, according to the commander of the Israeli Air Force Gen. Nathan Eshel, "both sides do not want war, but they are slowly slipping down to it - war could start at any moment."
Israel reiterated that it cannot prevent the supply of Syrian stockpiles of missiles and chemical weapons to Hezbollah. However, Israel and is not highly interested in a global war with Syria, which, first, is fraught with huge loss of life among the civilian population, and secondly, can distract the attention of the international community from the Iranian problem – which, according to Israel, is a threat to peace and security in the region and around the world.
At present, Israel is continuing intensive talks with the United States about the possibility of a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. According to information leaked to the media, the Americans have developed a detailed plan for the destruction of these facilities. The plan provides for massive air strikes from Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE and other countries in the region. The duration of the operation, according to the plan, should be a little more than an hour.
