Speaking on Israel’s Channel 10 news, Russian Ambassador Anatoly Viktorov told the interviewer that Russia cannot force Iran to withdraw its military from Syria, no matter how many times Israel demands them to.
Israel has been demanding Russian intervention for months, but Iran has ruled out leaving unless Syria tells them to. Russia tried to come up with a compromise where Iranian forces would stay 100 km from the buffer zone, but Israel rejected that as well.
Viktorov told the reporters that Iran’s military presence in Syria “is fully legitimate according to the UN principles and the UN charter.” He added that Russia is “not okay” with any Israeli attacks on Syria, but that it wasn’t up to Russia to prevent them.
Israel’s position on “Iranian troops” in Syria not only demands their unconditional removal, but claims that all Shi’ite militia forces are effectively “Iranian,” which is why Israel often claims that there are many-fold more Iranians in Syria than there actually are. Most of the militia members are Hazaras from Afghanistan and Pakistan, or Iraqi and Lebanese Shi’ites.
Well the Russian position seems quite reasonable. It really isn’t up to one set of guests to tell another set of guests what to do in their host’s country. Nor really is it up to the neighbors either. The shame of it is that Syria/Israel situation had been quiet for a long time, but Nuttyyahoo thought he saw an opening. Now he has Iranians on his border, in politically significant quantities.
What a dilemma this poses for the Israelis – how do you deal with an honest person? This is an unusual situation for the Israelis.so used to dealing with bribable, corrupt people in Washington.