Russia transferred critical military equipment and troops from Syria to Ukraine. According to Western diplomats, this may change Israelʼs attitude to the supply of weapons to the Ukrainian military.
This is reported by The New York Times with reference to two Western diplomats and an Israeli official.
We are talking about the S-300 air defense system and several thousand soldiers. Two interlocutors of the publication told that two battalions. That is, from 1 200 to 1 600 soldiers, were withdrawn from Syria. According to a third source, there were many more soldiers. An Israeli official also reported that several Russian commanders were relocated to Ukraine.
It is noted that Israel previously feared that this air defense system could be used by Syria against its planes. This was called the main reason why Israel rejected Ukraineʼs requests for military assistance. Now, as the newspaper writes, the withdrawal of the S-300 systems from Syria may help change Israelʼs views on helping Ukraine.
NYT sources emphasize that after the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia began to participate less in military operations in Syria, including in coordination with Israel.
Israel is keen to prevent any violations of the practice, which allows Israeli and Russian commanders to communicate with each other and avoid conflict between their forces. In 2017, an encrypted telephone line was installed that connects a Russian airbase in western Syria with the command center of the Israeli Air Force under a military base in Tel Aviv. This mechanism helps the parties avoid confusion between military actions and prevent incidents similar to the one that occurred in 2018, when Syrian forces shot down a Russian warplane. They mistook him for an Israeli, killing 15 Russians.