Analysts to North Press: Jerusalem Security Summit Will Discuss Israeli Demands in Syria
North-Press Agency – West Bank
Israeli air strikes targeting positions in Syria has been escalating lately, the thing that becomes the main issue in upcoming tripartite security meeting in Jerusalem this month where the United States, Russia, and Israel will meet.
The tripartite security summit organized by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be held in the “National Security” headquarters in Jerusalem, where US national security advisor, John Bolton with his Russian counterpart, Nicolay Patrushev, and Israeli national security advisor, Meir Bin Shabat will meet.
Neither Tel Aviv nor Washington, in two separate statements, mentioned the specific date of the meeting, which is scheduled for this month.
Elli Nisan, an Israeli analyst told North-Press that during the mentioned meeting, both Tel Aviv and Washington will tell Russia that “So long as Iran and its allies are in Syria, there won’t be any reconstruction or stability in the country”.
While, Israeli affairs specialist, Nazir Mejeli told North-Press that this meeting is a sequence of US-Russian-Israeli coordination regarding Syrian events, pointing out that this meeting is a cornerstone of Syrian crisis solution, especially Tel Aviv claims that there is an escalated Iranian activity in Syria that’s risen again, which led recently to an increased Israeli air strikes.
According to Mejeli, Israel has got maps pointing that Iranian forces’ activities became close again to temporary limitations of ceasefire areas inside the occupied Golan, that could lead to military operations against Israel. Under this justification, Israel’s started targeting these forces in Syria by artillery and air strikes.
Therefore, Israel puts great importance to this issue, depending on US pressure on Russia in order to be more positive with Israeli demands.
Political sources tell North-Press that today, Russia controls Syria, and supports the Syrian leadership to preserve some of its independence in order to face Iranian sovereignty that upsets Damascus in some times, where there were military clashes between Syrian forces and Iranian militias.
Hence, strategic study centers in Israel think that the Russian existence promotes “Syrian independence” against Iran.
While Russia attempts to run a balanced process in the region, Israel tries to demand Russia to keep a portion for it in the region, in which to keep the Israeli control on occupied Syrian Golan, and the Israeli demands to clear the Iranian militias away from the Israeli borders of about 80 to 100 km.
So, we are talking about keeping Israeli interests in Syria, but Moscow considers it as limited, while on a way or the other, Russia accepts the Israeli maneuvers in Syria, as it considers “a balancing vision” between all sides, hence, Russia wants as well to prevent the expelling of Iran from Syria at this time, In parallel with its agreement to distance the Iranians from Israeli borders, so Moscow doesn’t want to urge the expelling of Iran from Syria, but seriously thinking about in the long term, according to Nazir Mejeli, who lives in Israel.
Mejeli added: that both Israelis and Americans try to influence the Russian “balancing” role in Syria, for more gains, especially with a new axis which worries Washington, Moscow and Tel Aviv, which is the Turkish-Iranian axis, which witnesses developing relations, as Israel thinks, as it’s one of the main issues the Jerusalem Security Summit will discuss among the triple coordination.
For his part, Moslem Sheito, Arabic-Russian Cultural Center chairman in Petersburg told North-Press: that in order to avoid the collision with US and Israel, Moscow had to be in continued military coordination with American forces in north and east of Syria, also with the Israeli army.
Sheito described what he called “the Israeli arrogance” in Syria as Tel-Aviv is a cosset for both Russia and the US.
Sheito states that Jerusalem Security Summit will discuss to what Israel has been committed to in southern Syria, where Russia will demand the Jewish state to stop its activities and infiltration into the southern territories of Syria, especially the support for Syrian opposition armed groups.
The summit will also discuss non-engagement between the Russian and US forces in north and east Syria.
While Russia will try to convince America and Israel that what is happening in Syria has come to an end and that the Syrian government forces will completely take control of Syria, and what is required now is that all sides be dealing in a different way, so that their practices don’t reflect negatively on the entire region, according to Sheito.
The reality, the triple security summit in Jerusalem reflects the formula of the ruling Trinity of the Middle East, that has been devoted in recent years, according to observers, while others consider that there is another conflict, a Sunni-Sunni contention, between Saudi Arabia and Turkey on ruling the Sunni world.
Jerusalem security summit is being held amid Israeli accusations that Iran is replacing Syria with lands in Iraq, and trying to implement a new influence area there, while North-Press was informed that the US had recently handed evidence maps to the Lebanese government shows Iranian and Hezbollah military activities in Lebanon, such as missiles factories.