Russia has rejected an Israeli request to monitor and prevent the passage of military shipments through Syria to Lebanon’s Hezbollah in a bid to disrupt the group’s supply chain, according to a report by The New Arab‘s sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
Russia’s presidential envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, told Russian media on Wednesday that such a request would require the setting up of new checkpoints along the border – something that falls outside the mandate of Russian forces in Syria.
Lavrentiev claimed that the presence of Russian forces in Syria was strictly related to “counterterrorism” operations.
“These responsibilities should fall directly on the Lebanese authorities and the Syrian government,” Lavrentiev said, adding that Russia was incapable of “influencing this matter”.
He said that fulfilling such a commitment would be “extremely challenging […] even from a practical standpoint, we cannot guarantee this”.
“We are operating in a sovereign and independent Syrian territory, and we cannot establish physical barriers to ensure the closure of all these routes,” he added.
Russia maintains a significant military presence in Syria, operating several bases and establishing checkpoints in strategic areas.
It has provided crucial backing to the regime of President Bashar al Assad, allowing him to retake most of the territory once held by Syrian opposition forces.
Lavrentiev also dismissed reports that Russia’s Hmeimim air base near Syria’s Latakia was being used to supply Iranian weapons to the Lebanese group.
He described the reports as “rumours”, adding that the Russian army had made it clear to Israel that any attacks it would carry out near the base were “unacceptable”.
However, he added that “the number of Iranian flights arriving in the base with humanitarian aid has risen recently” – a reference to Iranian relief aid to Lebanese and Syrian people who fled the war in neighbouring Lebanon.
Lavrentiev added that Hmeimem had served as a “civilian airport and also as a base for Russian air forces”, and adding that every shipment arriving there was subject to inspection.
Israel has carried out intensive bombing of Syria but rarely targets Latakia, in northwestern Syria. It accuses Hezbollah of transporting weapons through Syria.
Israel dramatically escalated attacks on Lebanon and Hezbollah in September this year, turning a low-level conflict into a full-blown war and killing hundreds of civilians.
Since conflict broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes on Syrian regime forces as well as Iran-backed groups assisting the Assad regime, including Hezbollah fighters.
