After Israel heavily bombarded positions inside of Syria in January (see Israel), the spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry said on 23 January that the Israeli “practice of arbitrary strikes on the territory of a sovereign state, in this case, we are talking about Syria, should be ruled out.” The spokesperson further stated that, “[w]e should never allow Syria, which has suffered years of armed conflict, to be turned into an arena where geopolitical scores are settled.” Israel said earlier that it was targeting Iranian positions in Syria. Several people were killed in the Israeli strikes, some of them Syrian nationals. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian president Vladimir Putting met in Moscow on 27 February where they discussed the situation in Syria. Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov later stated that President Putin had offered Prime Minister Netanyahu and PA president Mahmoud Abbas a summit on the Middle East peace process and that both leaders had expressed some interest. Russia hosted representatives from Hamas and Fatah in February, seeking to facilitate in the reconciliation process (see Intra-Palestinian Affairs).
Quarterly Updates for (1 Jan 2019 — 31 Mar 2019)