Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Russian President Vladimir Putin last Monday to set up a conflict-avoiding and communications system to avert any accidental clashes between the Russian and Israeli forces currently in the region.

This comes amid a Russian troop build-up as bases in Latakia and Tartus. According to news reports and intelligence analysis of satellite images, Russia has at least 28 military aircraft at Latakia now, up from a mere four only a few days back. There are also reports of Russian drones operating as for pre-sortie reconnaissance.

It is against this background that the Netanyahu-Putin meeting took place. The Israeli PM previously visited Russia in 2013 in a bid to stop Russian military equipment sales to Iran. Back then, the Assad regime in Syria seemed on the verge of collapse as moderate rebels made repeated territorial gains, ISIS was not the force it is now, and Iranian involvement as negligible.

Now, the Assad regime has proven to be much more durable than anyone expected. Although his forces have been decimated by the war of attrition, he has held on to a rump state in his Alawite heartland on the western coast, with the old post-colonial borders between Syria and Iraq crumbling under the ISIS onslaught.

It is in these circumstances that Russia has rapidly intervened, shocking all the opposition forces. Currently, there are over 500 Russian marines in Syria alongside fighter jet squadrons, drones, T-90 tanks and massive artillery support.

Underscoring the seriousness of the situation, Netanyahu was accompanied on his Russian visit by his military Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot and Military Intelligence Chief Maj.-Gen. Herzl Halevi.

As Netanyahu told the press, President Putin was informed of two scenarios when Israel might be forced to act. These were the Palestinian Hezbollah getting any modern Russian weapons, or if there was an immediate threat to Israeli lives. Apparently, President Putin understood the concerns.

Russia and Israel, therefore, are setting up joint communication centers, and hotlines between their military forces, a standard procedure in any region where areas of operation might overlap. Actually, initial Russian operations will focus on the northern and eastern parts of Syria, while Israel has only ever intervened in the south, thus diminishing any chance of accidental clashes.

So why did Netanyahu head off to Russia? First, it is a prudent calculation for the Israelis to talk to the Russians. Israel is facing a potentially hostile superpower close to her borders the first time since the Yom Kippur War and the burden of de-escalation always tends to fall on the smaller power in a conflict zone.

Having said that, it would be a mistake to imagine Israel and Russia are adversaries. Even though they have lot of areas where the interests of the two countries are not aligned, they also have a surprisingly good understanding of each other's foreign policy. For example, Israel decided to stop selling Georgia weapons during 2008 war, and Russia decided to postpone selling military equipment to Iran after the conclusion of the nuclear negotiations with the West.

Another important thing to note is that Netanyahu does not have a good working relationship with U.S. President Barack Obama, and he would much rather work with Putin, a military-intelligence man, who is quick to decide and can bypass his cabinet in ways Obama cannot do. It is always easier to do business with a pragmatic, authoritarian leader, as they both can understand each other and their interests well.

Finally, there is a consensus, in both the U.S. intelligence and political community and Israel, that maybe the preservation of Assad is a good thing in the fight against ISIS. Also, the U.S. and Israeli administrations in private may be more than happy to delegate the security of Syria to Russia.

This stems partly from Middle East war fatigue and a sense of guilt that military actions that removed leaders from Libya to Iraq and beyond are an importance cause of the refugee crisis that is wrecking the EU. It is still unclear as to how much Russia is willing to actively participate in cleaning Syrian mess, but what is clear is that Russia is back as a major player, and is getting recognition for ending the Middle East power vacuum.

The writer is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SumantraMaitra.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

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