Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in the southern Russian city of Sochi on Thursday, Russian news agency TASS reported, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Russia relies heavily on foreign military sales to boost its economy. So the Kremlin scrambled to avoid bad publicity for one of its weapons systems last week after it took a direct hit during Israeli airstrikes in Syria.
U.S. military equipment and ammunition, sent to Syria as part of a failed Obama administration plan to find and arm moderate forces to defeat ISIS, were instead simply handed over to an Al Qaeda group, according to the man who said he himself brokered the deal.
Following Israeli strikes on Iranian targets in Syria, Russia has positioned itself as a mediator between the Middle Eastern rivals as it has maintained good relations with both countries.
During two pre-dawn hours, Israeli F-15 and F-16 fighter jets evaded ‘dozens of missiles’ and dropped ‘many dozens’ of bombs on over 50 Iranian targets throughout Syria as the Israel air force carried out an extensive campaign, dubbed ‘Operation House of Cards,’ to try and destroy Iran’s military presence in the country.
The Israeli military published pictures Friday that it said showed Iranian intelligence installations in Syria that it attacked during a massive bombardment a day earlier. The attack was in response to a volley of rockets shot toward northern Israel.
Iran still has long-range capabilities to strike Israel, a senior officer in the Israel Air Force said on Thursday, even though ‘every target we wanted to hit was struck and destroyed.’
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Thursday morning that the IDF had destroyed ‘nearly all’ of Iran’s military infrastructure sites in Syria overnight in response to a rocket barrage on Israel’s north, and warned Tehran that attacks on Israeli territory will be met with ‘the strongest possible force.’
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said Wednesday that a decision has not yet been made on supplying Syria with advanced air defense systems, a development that Israel fears could hamper its efforts to prevent Iranian military entrenchment in Syrian territory and transfers of arms supplies to the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon.
Archaeologists have found a secret passageway where early Christians used to hide to escape Roman persecution.
Wrapping up a day-long visit to Moscow, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday evening said he has no reason to believe the Kremlin will attempt to limit Israel’s freedom of operation in the region, an apparent reference to alleged Israeli airstrikes in Syria.
Some 20 rockets were fired at Israeli military bases by Iranian forces from southern Syria just after midnight on Thursday, sparking the largest ever direct clash between Jerusalem and Tehran, with Israeli jets targeting numerous Iranian-controlled sites across Syria.
Some 20 rockets were fired at Israeli military bases by Iranian forces in southern Syria just after midnight on Thursday, with some of the incoming missiles being intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system, the army said, amid sky high tensions on the northern border.
President Trump says he hopes ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions will coerce Iran into accepting a better and stronger nuclear deal, but with Tehran unlikely to accept concessions being demanded by the White House, many are beginning to suggest that the administration’s actual goal is regime change.
The Israeli army has prepared for possible rocket fire towards Israel with plans for a number of potential responses after a strike in Syria was attributed to Israel hours after U.S. President Donald Trump announced U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear accord with Iran.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left Israel for Moscow Wednesday morning, saying that his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin would be focused on ‘ensuring ongoing military cooperation in Syria.’
The Israeli army sounded alarms Tuesday night over irregular Iranian movements in Syria, advising Golan residents to ready bomb shelters and putting its air defenses on high alert.
Syrian state media reported on Tuesday night that Israel conducted an airstrike south of Damascus, reportedly killing nine pro-Iranian fighters in an area previously identified as the site of a suspected Iranian military base.
Iran said Tuesday that it was prepared to quickly restart uranium enrichment — the process needed to make nuclear bombs — if President Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal leads to a total collapse of the Obama-era accord.
The Israeli military was in a state of high alert in the country’s north Monday, in readiness for possible retaliation by Iran over alleged Israeli strikes on its sites in Syria. Security forces are preparing for the possibility of attempted infiltrations of military bases and communities in the north, Hadashot TV news reported.