Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will pass up no opportunity for political points as the April 9 elections approach. Today, April 4, he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, their second meeting in about six weeks. The last one took place on Feb. 27, after a long disconnect between the two leaders. This one comes only a few days before the political electoral verdict that will also decide Netanyahu’s personal fate. During this meeting, Netanyahu will also thank Putin. The Arab media reported that Russia was a third country that helped Israel to return the body of soldier Zacharia Baumel, who had been missing for 37 years. After he milked the March 25 celebration with President Donald Trump in the White House, Netanyahu is looking toward Putin, who is still venerated by many former Soviet Union citizens who moved to Israel. In this last-minute trip, Netanyahu is again trying to convey that no one can replace him in terms of international status.

Behind political considerations lies a complex security drama that is not entirely new. According to a report on Channel 13, on his last visit to Israel on March 20, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo received sensitive intelligence regarding continued Iranian efforts to establish itself militarily in Syria and Lebanon. Pompeo received new details that evidently included the exact placement and aerial photos of a production plant for precision missiles that Iran is secretly building in Lebanon to serve Hezbollah. Netanyahu asked Pompeo to relay the information directly to Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who Pompeo met after he left Israel.

The Lebanese got the hint from the Americans that if the Lebanese government won’t halt the construction of the plant, then Israel will be forced to destroy it. A mysterious airstrike hit an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base near Aleppo in Syria March 28, reportedly killing at least seven people. Intelligence Affairs Minister Israel Katz acknowledged Israel's role publicly, contrary to standard government policy. It seems clear at this stage that everyone in the Middle East, especially the Iranian-Syrian-Hezbollah alliance, along with the Lebanese government, knows that Israel is serious about preventing Iranian consolidation in the area.

These developments have put the Lebanese government and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leader Qasem Soleimani, who is in charge of Iran's consolidation efforts in Syria and Lebanon, in an extremely delicate and explosive situation. Israel has a long history of attacking Syrian territory. But operations in Lebanon are another story. Netanyahu and the Israel Defense Forces higher-ups are well aware that an airstrike in Lebanon would be tantamount to declaring war on Hezbollah or even the entire Hezbollah-Syria-Iran front. The question is: How far will Netanyahu go, considering his longstanding aversion to major military operations?