Russia's foreign ministry said that Israel is violating the 1974 pact with Syria that ended the Yom Kippur war, calling Israeli air strikes on Syria a matter of grave concern.
Similarly, France has asked Israel to immediately vacate the Syrian buffer zone that IDF recently invaded following the fall of the Assad regime in the country.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that his country aims to impose a sterile defence zone” in southern Syria as the Israeli military said a wave of its air strikes had destroyed the majority of Syria’s strategic weapon stockpiles.
Russia's foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said while briefing the reporters that Israeli actions in Syria did not serve to stabilise the situation.
When asked about the Russian interests getting damaged in the Middle East after the fall of the Assad regime, the Kremlin played down the damage to Russian influence, saying Russia was focused on Ukraine and that Moscow was in contact with new rulers of Syria as well.
“You know, of course, that we are in contact with those who are currently in control of the situation in Syria,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
While answering a question, Peskov said that Moscow maintained good contacts with all the countries in the region and would continue to do so.
Moscow’s priority, Peskov said, was the war in Ukraine, which President Vladimir Putin calls a “special military operation.”
“The special military operation is the absolute priority for our country; we must ensure the interests of our security and the interests of our Russian people, and we shall do so,” Peskov said.
Since Syria descended into chaos after 2011, Moscow has been a major ally of Assad, protecting the regime and also its military operations base in Tartus in the country.
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