(VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has recently made a number of trips to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the situation in Syria. Clearly, there is significant Russian involvement in events in Syria concerning the ongoing civil war between government troops of President Bashar al-Assad and rebel forces. Israel continues to remain uninvolved but does respond to cross-border incursions and spillover fire from that conflict.

The most recent case was on Monday, 11 Menachem Av, when missile fire in Syria triggered emergency sirens in numerous northern areas including the Golan Heights, the Galil, Upper Galil, Meron HaGalil and Tzefas. B’chasdei Hashem the missiles landed in Syria, but the David’s Sling interceptor system responded.

In addition, numerous aerial attacks against weapons convoys in Syria and military installations in that country have been attributed to Israel, while officials in Jerusalem as a rule remain silent.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Jerusalem with Netanyahu on Monday in talks focusing on the Iranian presence in Syria.

Early in his meeting with the Russian delegation, also attended by Israeli defense officials, Netanyahu stressed the “extraordinarily important” link between the two countries, demonstrated by “the direct meetings between myself and President Putin and between our staffs.”

Netanyahu announced earlier at a Cabinet meeting that Russian President Vladimir Putin had a few days ago requested the meeting with the high level delegation that includes Russia’s chief of the military’s General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov.

Netanyahu said they were to discuss regional developments with “the situation in Syria being first and foremost.”

He said he would reiterate Israel’s position that it expects Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Iranian-backed allies to honor the 1974 agreement which sets out a demilitarized zone along their shared frontier, and that Israel will continue to act to stop its archenemy Iran from establishing a permanent military presence in Syria.

Israeli media reported that the teams discussed a Russian proposal that would see any forces linked to Iran distanced some 100 kilometers (62 miles) away from the Golan Heights.

Israel’s main concern is to keep Iran, which is fighting alongside the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad, as far away from its border as possible — along with its proxy, the Lebanese Hezbollah and other militia.

Russia, a key Assad ally, has warned it would be unrealistic to expect Iran to fully withdraw from the country.

(AP / YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)