Officials in Washington, Jerusalem, Damascus and Tehran are all anxiously awaiting the meeting scheduled for Wednesday between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. The intensive talks that U.S. President Donald Trump and his aides conducted this week with Erdogan and Ankara’s road map for resolving the question of control of the Kurdish areas will be the focus of the talks in Russia, but the latest skirmishes between Israel and Iranian forces and their missile exchange are also expected to be on the two leaders’ busy agenda.

Israel has recently benefited from a relatively free hand toward the Iranian forces operating in Syria, Trump gives his backing to Israel’s military activity as part of his joint strategy with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to minimize the Iranian presence in Syria and even Russia responded rather meekly to the latest strikes. But the amount of leeway that Israel can expect will depend not only on the upturn in Jerusalem’s relationship with Moscow, but also on Russia’s success in advancing its diplomatic program.

Read More at Haaretz.