Israel Makes Sure Russian Soldiers Not Targeted in Operations in Syria, Foreign Minister Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Israel is determined to make sure that regardless of developments in Syria Russian soldiers would not be harmed, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid told Sputnik.

Last week, Israeli air force attacked targets in Syria. On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, regarding those strikes, that Moscow opposed Syria's "turning into an arena of confrontation between third countries."

"We have with Russia a deconfliction mechanism that works really well, because it is extremely important to us to make sure that whatever happens in Syria, Russian soldiers will not get hit," Lapid said.

The minister recalled the 2018 crash of Russia's Il-20 jet in Syria, mistakenly hit by the Syrian air defence systems when they were repelling an Israeli attack, and said that Israel and Russia were working together to prevent situations like that from repeating.

However, Israel will not put up with Iran's actions, Lapid added, saying that Tehran was a "destabilising" factor, "exporting terror" in the region.

Following the Il-20 plane crash, the Russian-Israeli deconflicting mechanism took on particular importance. The mechanism is based on the hotline that connects Russia's Hmeimim air base in Syria and Israel's Kirya base.