The end of Benjamin Netanyahu’s grip on power in Israel fueled media speculation of what it means for Russian-Israeli coordination in Syria. Sources in Israeli, Lebanese, Saudi and Russian media outlets already began discussing the prospect of an impending crisis between the two countries. The memories have not faded from autumn 2018, when a Russian II-20 reconnaissance plane was hit by Syrian air defenses during the Israeli airstrikes, causing a scandal between Moscow and Israel.

Al-Monitor columnist Ben Caspit has noted Israel’s unease with the possibility of Russia changing its position on Syria. Publicly, the comments indicating a change are largely limited to Russian Defense Ministry’s claims about its supposed success in repelling Israeli missiles with the aid of the Russian/Soviet-made air defense systems. Caspit’s sources among Israeli security officials said that Russia’s bullish rhetoric is little more than a tactical ruse, yet both the target of this rhetoric and its strategic purpose remain unclear. Moreover, Russia’s claims are contradicted by images of targets hit by Israeli missiles in Damascus and Aleppo.

Further fueling the narrative of Moscow altering its stance vis-à-vis Israel are pro-Syrian Lebanese media outlets and the Russian Spring website, which is affiliated with Russian Defense Ministry. Both claim that Russia and Syria conducted military exercises to protect against Israeli airstrikes and that Syria would soon receive additional air defense systems delivered from Moscow. Asharq al-Awsat claimed that the Kremlin is looking into closing down Syrian airspace from Israeli airstrikes.

All this seems to indicate that the Kremlin is about to revise its approach to Israel in order to force the Israel Defense Forces into accepting new rules of the regional game. Such a shift would certainly help Russia to mitigate the challenge that IDF poses to Moscow’s propaganda by testing the strength of the Kremlin's security guarantees to Syria, as well as challenging the superpower image of the Russian military projects. Revising the rules of the game vis-à-vis Israel’s operations in Syria would also help Moscow cover for Iran, Russia’s ally that is conducting talks on a potential return to the original parameters of its 2015 nuclear deal.