“The problem in the region is not Iranian activities,” Russian ambassador to Israel Anatoly Viktorov told the Jerusalem Post in comments later shared by Moscow’s embassy in Tel Aviv. “It’s a lack of understanding between countries and noncompliance with U.N. resolutions in the Israel-Arab and Israel-Palestinian conflict.”
Israelis have steadily annexed and settled across territories deemed Palestinian by the United Nations. Violence between the two sides has stymied peace efforts for decades, though frictions between Israel and Iran, along with fellow pro-Palestinian partners such as Lebanese Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah, have taken precedence.
But Viktorov dismissed Israeli concerns of Hezbollah plots such as infiltrations and rocket attacks, pointing instead to regular Israeli operations against the group and other suspected Iranian assets in countries like neighboring Syria.
“Israel is attacking Hezbollah, Hezbollah is not attacking Israel,” Viktorov said, arguing there is “no proof Hezbollah created the tunnels” Israel has uncovered along its contested northern border with Lebanon.
Newsweek recently spoke to both Israeli and Hezbollah officials who said they were ready for another possible conflict between them as tensions ran high. In response to Israeli strikes on Syria, Damascus’ mission to the U.N. expressed to Newsweek last month that countries, especially permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, should stand against such aggressions.
Viktorov heeded the call.
He said Israel must “not attack the territories of sovereign U.N. members.” He acknowledged that Israel gave Russia prior notice before such strikes because “coordination is about the safety of the Russian military in Syria,” but emphasized that “there is no way that we are approving any Israeli strikes on Syria, never in the past and never in the future.”
Source Newsweek
