Since early September the Russian military allegedly prevented the Israeli Air Force aircraft from conducting three different attacks on Syria.
According to Independent Arabia, since early September the Russian military allegedly prevented the Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft from conducting three different attacks on Syria.
In the night of Sep. 10, 2019 Russian Air and Space Force (RuASF) Su-35 aircraft intercepted Israeli warplanes over southern Syria.
The previous day IAF conducted an airstrike against a Syrian Army post suspected of hosting Iran-affiliated militia.
Syrian S-300 missile systems do not seem to deter Israeli aircraft that continue to hit Syrian targets with impunity. However, with Russian warplanes in the sky, the Israeli aircraft withdrew without confrontation.
Citing a Russian source, the Independent said the Russian military threatened to bring down the Israeli warplanes using their own fighter jets or their S-400 system.
“These developments prompted Netanyahu (Israeli PM) to visit Russia urgently to try to persuade Putin (Russian President) to continue his policy of turning a blind eye to Israel’s attacks in Syria; however, the Russian president told his Israeli visitor that his country would not allow them to harm Assad’s forces or weapons supplied to the regime, saying that allowing this would be considered collusion with Israel and a nuisance for the Russians, especially since Russia considers itself the savior of the Syrian regime,” the Independent claimed.
Netanyahu told Putin that his country must be allowed to act freely against Iran. “Security coordination between us is always important, but it is especially important now, since in the past month there has been a serious increase in attempts by Iran to hit Israel from Syria and to place there precision missiles to use against us,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying in the Russian media.
Neither Russian nor Israel has commented on these claims.
As we have recently reported RuASF has deployed for the second time to Hmeimim Air Force Base, two Su-57 Frazor stealth fighters earlier this month. According to Krasnaya Zvezda, the official newspaper of the Russian Ministry of Defense the primary goal of the redeployment is a renewed demonstration of the latest Russian combat aircraft acting under “real-war conditions”.
The new Su-57 deployment coincides with intensive operations aimed at a large-scale reconstruction and improvement of the infrastructure of the Hmeimim air base, which has been going on since early May 2019.
As told by Russian senator Frantz Klintsevich, these reconstruction works meant Russia would transform Hmeimim from a temporary structure to a permanent base.
Photo credit: Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation and Israeli Air Force
