page_title: Iran–Israel proxy conflict
section_title: Russia
hierarchical_section_title: Iran–Israel proxy conflict / International responses / Russia
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Президент России Владимир Путин с Премьер-министром Израиля Биньямином Нетаньяху
context_page_description: The Iran–Israel proxy conflict, or Iran–Israel proxy war and Iran–Israel Cold War, is an ongoing proxy war between Iran and Israel. The conflict is bound in threats and hostility of Iran’s leaders against Israel and their declared objective to dissolve the Jewish state, while Israel is concerned by Iran’s nuclear weapons program and is seeking to downgrade Iran’s allies and proxies, such as the Lebanese Hezbollah political-militant organization.
  The conflict gradually emerged from Iran's hostile stance toward Israel following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, into covert Iranian support of Hezbollah during the South Lebanon conflict and by 2005 developed into a proxy regional conflict. In 2006, Iran was actively involved in supporting Hezbollah during the 2006 Lebanon War and in parallel began supporting Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Israel, on the other hand, initiated a campaign to harm the Iranian nuclear program, utilizing several anti-regime militias within Iran. Upon the onset of the Syrian Civil War, the conflict escalated and by 2018 turned into direct Iranian-Israeli warfare.
context_section_description: Russian foreign policy in the Middle East during the early 2000s, in light of the Iran–Israel proxy conflict.
  After 2001 the government of Vladimir Putin intensified Russia's involvement in the region, supporting Iran's nuclear programs and forgiving Syria 73% of its $13 billion debt.
  In his 10 September 2004 article Middle East Horizons of Russian Foreign Politics: Russia returns to one of the world's key regions, Mikhail Margelov, the Head of the Foreign Relations Council of the Russian Federation, wrote:
  "President Putin called for the renewal of contacts with the countries with which Russia maintained long friendly relations and invested a lot of material and intellectual resources. The Arab countries constitute a large part of those counties. ... In general, the positions of Russia and the majority of Arab countries on key issues of development of the political situation in the region coincide."
  According to March 2007 brief entitled Russia's New Middle Eastern Policy: Back to Bismarck? by Ariel Cohen (Institute for Contemporary Affairs),
  "Syria ... was supplying Hizbullah with Russian weapons. In 2006, Israeli forces found evidence of the Russian-made Kornet-E and Metis-M anti-tank systems in Hizbullah's possession in southern Lebanon. The Russian response to accusations that it was supplying terrorist groups with weapons was an announcement, in February 2007, that Russia's military will conduct inspections of Syrian weapons storage facilities with the goal of preventing the weapons from reaching unintended customers. Predictably, such developments placed considerable strain on the already-deteriorating relations between Russia and Israel...
  For several years Russia has been attempting to engage in military cooperation with both Israel and Syria. However, the levels of cooperation with the two states are inversely related and an escalation of arms sales to Syria can only damage the relationship with Israel. Russian-Syrian military cooperation has gone through numerous stages: high levels of cooperation during the Soviet era, which was virtually halted until 2005, and now Russia's attempt to balance its relationship with both Israel and Syria. However, Russia's recent eastward leanings might indicate that Moscow is prepared to enter a new stage in its military cooperation with Syria, even if this is to the detriment of its relationship with Israel.
  Israel–Russia relations improved after the Russian military intervention in Syria in September 2015. From then until July 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Putin met a total of 9 times. Prior to and immediately after the 2016 United States presidential election, Israel began lobbying the United States to strike a deal with Russia over restricting the Iranian military presence in Syria in exchange for removing U.S. sanctions against Russia.
  In 2019, Russia rejected an Iranian request to buy  S-400 missile defense system. Ruslan Pukhov, head of the Center of Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow, said: "If Russia decides to provide Iran with S-400, it will be a direct challenge to Saudi Arabia and Israel, so it will be against Russia’s own national interests."
caption: Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018
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