Contents tagged with Israel

  • Europe and Israel agree on alternative to Turkish Stream pipeline

    Gazprom’s prospective southern gas corridor to the EU, initially called South Stream but later renamed to Turkish Stream, now has a major competitor.

    Israel, Italy, Greece and Cyprus have reached an agreement to build the East Med gas pipeline, which will transport gas from the Leviathan gas field, the largest gas field discovered in the 21st century, with an estimated 3.5 trillion cubic meters of reserves.

    According to The Times of Israel, EU experts have given the go ahead to the project, …

  • Lavrov: Israel’s actions threaten the lives of Russian soldiers in Syria

    On multiple occasions, Israel’s actions have put the lives of Russian soldiers in Syria at risk, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Pais. He made the comment in response to a question about the Russian-Israeli agreements to cooperate in order to ensure the safety of flights over Syria.

    The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out that the leaders of the two countries, Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu, have only reached verbal …

  • Israel promises not to allow new incidents with Russian military aircraft in Syria

    The TASS news agency reported citing the director of the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Euro-Asia Department Jacob Livne that Israel would do everything to ensure that incidents similar to the tragedy with the Russian military aircraft Il-20 do not happen again.

     According to him, immediately after the crash, the head of the Israeli Air Force arrived in Moscow and handed data about the incident to the Russian authorities. “The situation is quite clear, transparent, we handed over all information …

  • Israel does not rule out striking Russian S-300 air defense systems in Syria

    The Israeli Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Minister of Environmental and Cultural Heritage Protection Ze’ev Elkin’s stated that if the Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems deployed in Syria open fire on the Israeli Air Force, Israel might strike at them, reports TASS. “By supplying such weapons to the Syrians, Russia bears partial responsibility for its use,” he stressed.

    According to Elkin, Israel “has been doing everything in its power throughout all these years” so that the …

  • Israel refuses to warn Russia about air attacks in Syria

    Israel rejected Russia’s request to notify Moscow of Tel-Aviv’s operations in Syria in advance.

    Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that the Israel Defense Force “does not intend to limit the freedom of its actions”, Times of Israel reported.

    Presently, Israel warns Russia about its military operations in Syria only a few minutes before they begin. Moscow requested Israel to notify of their operations in advance.

    Syrian anti-air defense systems shot down a Russian Il-20 …

  • Israel: Russian air defense systems will not protect Iranian forces in Syria

    Israel is convinced that it will be able to attack the Iranian forces in Syria even now that Iran’s partner, Russia, has transferred S-300 anti-air defense systems to Syria.

    In an interview with Voice of America’s Persian service in Jerusalem, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Michael Oren said that the Russian S-300 systems “will pose a problem, but one which can be overcome”.

    “Israel has been overcoming such problems since the day of its creation in 1948,” Oren observed, “We will overcome this, …

  • Netanyahu: Friendship with Putin is important for Israel’s safety

    A friendly relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin is important for Israel’s safety, stated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reports the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

    He noted that he supports “frequent friendly contact” with Putin which is marked with “mutual respect.”

    “This relationship is important for the safety of Israel,” stated the prime minister.

    It was also reported that earlier Putin and Netanyahu scheduled their first meeting since the incident on September 17th, …

  • Israel resumes flights for F-35I after inspection

    Israeli Air Force fully resumed flights for its F-35I fighters after completing technical inspections following the crash of an American F-35B aircraft at the end of September in South Carolina, reported the press service for the Israel Defence Force.

    “Israeli Air Force Commander Amikam Norkin ordered the return of the F- 35I to full activity in the Air Force after a professional inspection of all aircraft,” states a military communique. “Checks were done after the incident in the US, we …

  • Media: Russian S-300 systems in Syria to be operated by Iranian specialists

    The S-300 anti-air missile systems which Russia has sent to Syria will be operated by Iranian specialists, a source connected to US and Israeli intelligence told DEBKAfile.

    The Israeli military intelligence website notes that Russia was clearly planning to let Iranians operate the anti-air defense system all along, since it sent Syria S-300PMU-2 systems, exactly the same model which Iran received from Russia in 2016. Iranian operators are currently being transferred to Syria.

    Russia chose to …

  • Israeli Air Force resumes flights near Syrian borders

    On Monday, October 8th, four Israeli F-16 fighter jets flew near the borders of Syria through the airspace of Lebanon, reported by Interfax with reference to the data provided by Western aviation resources.

    It is noted that the Israeli fighter jets were seen near the Lebanese city of Tripoli.

     After approaching the borders of Syria in the sky over Lebanon, they made a U-turn and left in the opposite direction, towards Israel.

    At the same time, as indicated by Interfax, the air traffic …