Israel-Lebanon Peace Path Might Run Through Moscow
Date
11/13/2024 9:05:38 AM
(MENAFN- Asia Times)
MOSCOW – The recent report that Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer secretly visited Russia highlights the potentially big role that Moscow could play in resolving Middle Eastern wars.
Russia's position has consistently been that Hamas provoked the initial Gazan dimension of these conflicts, but Israel disproportionately responded by collectively punishing the Palestinians.
The Kremlin still favors a two-state solution since Moscow voted for associated UN Security Council Resolutions, though it hasn't pressed the issue.
That's because Russia appreciates that Israel hasn't abided by the West's sanctions against it and has refused pressure to help arm Ukraine.
Their highly charged political differences over the Ukrainian conflict and the Middle Eastern wars haven't changed this, nor has it led to Russia interfering with Israel's regular strikes against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah in neighboring Syria.
On those, Russia respects Syria's right to partner with whoever it wants, but it also informally appears to consider Iran to be a troublemaker.
This assessment weighs on the fact that the abovementioned arrangement has been in force since the start of Russia's anti-terrorist intervention in the Arab Republic over nine years ago.
It can accordingly be surmised that Russia lends credence to Israel's claims that Iran and Hezbollah are building up their military capabilities there in preparation for a larger attack against Israel. Even though Russia occasionally criticizes Israel's strikes as violations of international law, it has never taken action to stop them.
One can thus assume that Dermer discussed the proposed plan for cutting off Hezbollah's Iranian arms imports via Syria during his reportedly secret trip to Russia.
Not only could this help maintain whatever post-conflict status quo is ultimately agreed to in Lebanon upon the inevitable end of Israel's military operations there, whenever that may be, but it could also stabilize the Israeli-Syrian front along the Golan Heights.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September 2015 during their meeting in the Kremlin on the eve of the Syrian intervention that“we are aware of
these (Iran's and Hezbollah's) attacks (from Syria's Golan Heights into Israel) and
we condemn them.”
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