he “Adir” jets first flight in Israel. Pictured: “Adir” jet and F-16I “Sufa”. Photo by: Maj. Ofer
On November 7, U.S. envoy to Syria James Jeffrey said that Washington hopes that Russia will continue to allow Israel to strike Iranian forces in Syria, despite the recent tension over the downing of the Il-20 plane.
“Russia has been permissive, in consultation with the Israelis, about Israeli strikes against Iranian targets inside Syria. We certainly hope that that permissive approach will continue,” Jeffrey said in a conference call with reporters, according to the Reuters news agency.
Jeffery went on to stress that the U.S. understands and respects Israel’s efforts to prevent Iran from deploying advanced weapons in Syria or supplying them to Hezbollah through the war torn country.
“Israel has an existential interest in blocking Iran from deploying long-range power projection systems … inside Syria to be used against Israel. We understand the existential interest and we support Israel,” said Jeffery.
Earlier, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov revealed that Israeli actions have put lives of Russian troops in Syria in a danger “in a number of cases.” The minister also said that the use of force wouldn’t resolve Israeli security concerns and could only foment regional tensions.
Following the downing of the Russian plane, on September 17, Russia supplied Syria with the advanced S-300 air defense system. Since then, Israel has ceased its operations in the war-torn country.
