Despite talks, Russia, Israel hold firm to their interests
In a meeting in Moscow, Russian officials seek more information from Israel before it attacks targets in Syria as part of an ongoing "deconfliction" process.
The Russian and Israeli militaries recently held their first meeting in months to discuss Iran and Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets but both remained committed to their own policies on the issues.
According to the press office of the Israeli army, the Moscow meeting revolved around the topic of possible improvements in their structure to reduce conflict (deconfliction) in Syria. Created in 2015 to prevent air incidents, the structure seemingly functioned fairly well for almost two years. However, the Sept. 18 Il-20 tragedy showed the mechanism is by no means flawless.
Russian military leaders were generally concerned about Israel’s attacks in Syria, though they were not able to change anything; still, the nations pledged to continue cooperation in the deconfliction process.
Taking advantage of the incident, for which Moscow blamed Israel exclusively even though the Il-20 was brought down by a Syrian missile, the Russians requested more advance knowledge about Israel’s incursions. According to the Yediot Ahronot newspaper, during the meeting the Russians once again demanded that the Israelis, as part of the deconfliction mechanism, increase the lead time for warnings for operations and provide more details about the targets. Israel objected to these demands.
