BICOM

A delegation of senior Israeli military officers will fly to Russia today for meetings with their Russian counterparts.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said the Israeli officers will brief Russian officers about ‘Operation Northern Shield’, the operation to detect and neutralise Hezbollah tunnels into Israel and other operational issues.

The visit follows a telephone conversation between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Vladimir Putin on Saturday in which the Israeli Prime Minister briefed President Putin about the operation on Israel’s northern border.

Israel’s delegation includes Major General Aharon Haliva, the head of the IDF’s technology and logistics division.

The Israeli military visit follows months of tension between Russia and Israel after Russia blamed Israeli actions for creating the circumstances in which a Russian surveillance aircraft was shot down by a Syrian anti-aircraft missile.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview yesterday that Syria and Russia agreed that the incident was caused by Israeli aircraft using the Russian plane as cover, an accusation rejected by Israel.

A face-to-face meeting between Netanyahu and Putin may take place soon after Putin stressed to Netanyahu in their phone call on Saturday the need for Israel and Russia to improve military cooperation in Syria, and the “need to ensure stability along the dividing line between Israel and Lebanon”, according to Russia’s embassy in Israel. During the call, Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s policy of acting “against the aggression of Iran and Hezbollah”.