Netanyahu: Putin meeting crucial to avoiding ‘misunderstandings’ at snorthern border
Ynetnews/Itamar Eichner/9.21.15, 16:05 /Leaders meet on cooperation in Syria to avoid confusion and agree on protocol to allow Israeli action against Hezbollah in the Golan. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday in order to “communicate our policies,” and insure that there would be no “misunderstandings” between Israeli and Russian forces, in light of Moscow’s recent deployment of aircraft and soldiers into Syria.Netanyahu told a press conference after the meeting that Israel seeks to foil Iranian attempts to create a base for terror in the Golan Heights, and that his goal was “to prevent misunderstandings between IDF troops and Russian troops”. The main result of the meeting, he said, was to create a mechanism to avoid such misunderstandings. “Our main goal is to defend Syria,” Putin replied politely. “With that being said, I understand your concerns and I’m very happy you’ve come to discuss these issues in detail.” Though it’s currently unknown what was said in private between the two leaders, Netanyahu was expected to request that Israel maintain freedom for its air force in the skies above Syria.
The IAF has launched strikes in Syrian territory on several occasions either in retaliation to rocket fire or against weapons being transported to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Netanyahu and his delegation left for Russia Monday morning and also planned to establishing protocol to prevent identification problems and potential clashes that could occur between Israeli and Russia aircraft. Russian jets and other military forces recently arrived in Syria in an effort to save President Bashar Assad from defeat at the hands of the Islamic State and other rebels. During Putin’s meeting with Netanyahu, US officials said that Russian drones had begun surveillance missions in Syria. According to the prime minister’s office, Putin would also be presented with intelligence proving Iran’s direct involvement against Israel in the Golan Heights and that Hezbollah uses and has access to advanced Russian equipment. There is currently no Israeli ambassador in Moscow as Dorit Goldner completed her tenure and returned to Israel. Her replacement, Tzvi Hefetz, has already been approved, but will only arrive in Russia in another two months. Netanyahu’s last visit to Russia was in October 2013, and Monday’s visit was his first since conflict erupted in Ukraine, marring Russia-US relations
Netanyahu Meets Putin in Moscow over Syria Worries
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 21/15/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday as Israel frets over a Russian military buildup in Syria.Netanyahu was accompanied by his army and intelligence chiefs in a rare step for an overseas visit that Israel said would focus on Russia’s maneuvering in the war-torn nation. “It was very important to come here in order to clarify our position and to do everything to avoid any misunderstandings between our forces,” Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting. Netanyahu said he was determined to stop arms deliveries to Lebanon’s Hizbullah and accused Syria’s army and Iran of trying to create a “second front” against Israel. Putin for his part said Russia’s actions in the Middle East “always were and will be very responsible” and downplayed the threat by Syrian forces to Israel.”We know and understand that the Syrian army and Syria in general is in such a state that it isn’t up to opening a second front — it is trying to maintain its own statehood,” he said in comments broadcast on Russian television.
The United States has said Russia — one of the few remaining allies of President Bashar Assad — recently sent troops, artillery and aircraft to Syria, sparking fears that Moscow could be preparing to fight alongside government forces. Moscow argues that any such support falls in line with existing defense contracts, but Moscow and Washington on Friday launched military talks on the four-year-old conflict that has claimed nearly 250,000 lives. Reports in the Israeli press said that the aim of Netanyahu’s Moscow visit was to avoid any possible clashes between Israeli and Russian jets that could operate over Syria.Israeli military officials reportedly fear that any Russian air presence could cut their room for maneuver after several purported strikes on Iranian arms transfers to Hizbullah through Syria in recent months that were not officially acknowledged by Israeli authorities. ‘Lack of faith’ in U.S. Moscow has also been on a diplomatic push to get a U.S.-led coalition of Western and regional powers fighting the Islamic State group to join forces with Assad against the jihadists. Israel opposes Assad’s regime but has sought to avoid being dragged into the conflict in neighboring Syria. It also fears that Iran could increase its support for Hizbullah and other militant groups as international sanctions are gradually lifted under a July nuclear deal that Moscow helped negotiate between Tehran and world powers. Netanyahu is set to fly to the United States for talks with President Barack Obama in November in a bid to ease tensions over the Iran deal. But Israeli left-leaning daily Haaretz said the visit to Moscow appeared to reflect Netanyahu’s “lack of faith in the ability and willingness of the U.S. to protect Israeli security interests.” Netanyahu and Putin were also set to discuss the lack of progress in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, the Kremlin said, with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas set to meet Putin in Moscow on Wednesday.
Putin’s slippery evasions for Netanyahu’s concerns about Iran
DEBKAfile Special Report September 21, 2015
According to initial reports, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Vladimir Putin talked mostly at cross-purposes when they met in the presidential residence outside Moscow Monday, Sept. 21. According to debkafile’s sources, Netanyahu, who brought with him an impressive party of top Israeli generals, presented his host with intelligence evidence to demonstrate that Iran – under the cover of the Syrian army – is trying to “build a second terrorist front against us from the Golan Heights.” He indicated that Israel would be forced to resort to military action to counter this front and asked to see Putin in order to avert collisions between Israeli and Russian forces on Syrian soil. Putin greeted these words with slippery evasions. Syria is in no state to open up an additional front, he said, and Moscow’s main goal in its involvement in Syria is to defend that country. The point the Israeli prime minister tried to make was that Israel’s security was at stake here – not Syria’s. He stressed that Iran and Syria were arming the radical Islamic terrorist organization Hizballah with “advanced weaponry that is directed at us, and has already been fired at us.”But Putin sidestepped this too, remarking that that he is aware that Israel has been fired upon from Syria, and has condemned that, but added that those weapons were “locally produced.”
While the two leaders were still talking, US officials disclosed that Russia had started drone surveillance missions in Syria. On Sept. 16, debkafile’s sources warned that, like US President Barack Obama, who never tires of pledging his commitment to Israel’s security, yet turns his back on Iran’s pursuit of its ambition to destroy Israel, Putin too would have little time for Israel’s fundamental security concerns. debkafile reported before the meeting: On Saturday, Sept. 19, just two days before Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the presidential dacha outside Moscow, troops at the Russian base outside the coastal Syrian city of Latakia were seen preparing to deploy batteries of advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. Their presence in Syria will raise major questions, one of which is this: against which air power are they deployed, given the fact that the Islamic State has no air force.Their deployment therefore poses troubling ramifications for the ongoing Syrian civil war as well as the region as a whole. For Israel, the placement of S-300 missiles in Syria is problematic for three reasons:
1. They seriously reduce the Israeli Air Force’s freedom of action in Lebanese and Syrian airspace.
2. Following a spate of contradictory and muddled statements about Moscow’s intentions to withhold the S-300s from Syria and Iran – an apparent smoke screen -, it turns out that they are coming to Syria after all.
3. The Russians say they are building up military strength in Syria to fight ISIS. But neither ISIS nor any other regional power poses an air threat to the Russian deployment. So the state-of-the-art air defense missile delivered to Syria, to which Iran too has access, does pose a threat to Israel’s security.Its deployment in Syria appears to signal that Putin has a long game for his military buildup in Syria – more far-reaching that it would appear.Each day brings news of more Russian forces arriving in Syria. At first, reports said several hundred marines were being deployed, but now preparations are being made for 2,000 of them.
A similar process is occurring with the deployment of anti-aircraft missiles. Initially, reports said that Moscow was providing Syria with the SA-22, known as the Pantsir-S1, but those missiles never arrived. Now, it appears that the S-300 is to be deployed instead.
The arrival of four advanced multi-role Sukhoi 30SM (Flanker) tactical jets in Latakia on Sept. 18 has also raised eyebrows. It came just hours after US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in an effort to prevent collisions between US and Russian forces operating in Syria. As those jets are intended for air-to-air combat, observers wonder which forces are to be targeted. The same question hangs over the half a dozen MiG-31 interceptors, which landed in Damascus earlier this month.
So what is Putin’s real game in Syria?
In another development that was only noticed in very few circles in the West and Israel, Iranian Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, military advisor of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on ‘Friday, Sept. 18: “Russia moves in coordination with Iran in some regional issues including Syria.”
In other words, the US and Israel, which are attempting to coordinate their military steps with those of Russia, have already fallen behind.
Reports in Israel over the last few days have claimed that Putin was keen on holding the summit even more than Netanyahu, and that the Israeli Air Force had started setting up a mechanism for liaison with the Russian Air Force in order to prevent inadvertent collisions.
But these plans have been overtaken by events,
There is no doubt that Netanyahu is making a bold statement by bringing to the Kremlin meeting the IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gady Eisenkot and the head of military intelligence, Maj. Gen. Hertzi Halevi. This is the first time such high-ranking military officers have participated in a meeting of the Israeli and Russian leaders. debkafile’s sources in Moscow report that Putin will be attended by his national security advisor, Nikolai Patrushev. This is the Russian president’s way of indicating that, for him, the talks will focus on a general assessment of the Syrian situation, whereas Israel is seeking a discussion on the military aspects of the growing Russian intervention..In this context, it should be mentioned that, when the commander of Iran’s Al-Qods brigades, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, visited Moscow 10 days ago, the most senior Russian official he met was Patrushev.
