Russia has redeployed “critical” troops and hardware from Syria, The New York Times reports, citing sources.
“Russia has now removed the S-300 system from Syria to bolster its flagging invasion of Ukraine — reducing Russian leverage over Israel in Syria, and altering Israeli considerations with regards to Ukraine,” the newspaper writes, citing three “senior officials based in the Middle East”.
NYT notes that, although Russia has never transferred control of the S-300 system to the Syrian authorities, the Israeli government had concerns that it could have been used against their planes. NYT reports that this was one of the main reasons “Israel has rebuffed Ukrainian requests for military hardware since the Russian invasion began in February.”
The newspaper’s sources also claim that up to 1,600 Russian soldiers have been withdrawn. According to one of the interlocutors of NYT, the number was “far more”.
One of the officials also said that “several Russian commanders had been redeployed from Syria to Ukraine.” According to the source, “Russia’s military leadership in Moscow has become less involved in day-to-day management of operations in Syria, including with military coordination with Israel.”
NYT previously reported, citing a senior Ukrainian official, that Israel had been providing Ukraine with “basic intelligence” about Iranian drones that Russia uses in the Ukraine War. Furthermore, a private Israeli firm provided Ukraine with “satellite imagery of Russian troop positions”.
Yesterday, 19 October, Defence Minister of Israel Benny Gantz declared that Israel would not be supplying arms to Ukraine.
