From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, August 10, 2021
Syria ship blast comes as Israeli, Russian national security advisers meet
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleLazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
The explosion on a ship in Latakia’s harbor comes as the incoming National Security Advisor Eyal Hulata and his predecessor Meir Ben-Shabbat are in Moscow to meet with their Russian counterpart, Nikolai Patrushev.
If Israel was behind the attack in Syria in response to the deadly UAV strike on the Mercer Street in late July that has been blamed on Iran, Russian President Vladimir Putin will likely be furious.
Russia is working to rehabilitate Syria and create some semblance of stability, and an Israeli operation in one of Syria’s two major ports runs directly counter to Russian interests.
הפגישה התקיימה כחלק מהחפיפה לתפקיד של חולתא ופרידה מבן-שבת. פטרושב הודה לבן-שבת והדגיש בפני חולתא כי הוא מקווה שהקשרים הביטחוניים הטובים בין הצדדים יימשכו, כך לפי הודעת הקרמלין pic.twitter.com/XwYRrctCBU
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) August 10, 2021
The Times of Israel Community.