Russia seeks bigger Middle East role through alliance with Israel

What had initially started as co-ordination between Russian and Israeli forces to avoid any clash over the Syrian airspace is now expanding into a sort of strategic alliance.

In the third week of April, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached Moscow to discuss with Putin the state of crisis in Syria.

While this was one of the many crucial issues reportedly discussed in the closed-door meeting, what stands out is the strong possibility of Russia’s Gazprom developing Israel’s Leviathan gas fields in the Eastern Mediterranean — a development that, if materialized, will have enormous implications for the future of the Middle East as it can, to a considerable extent, alter erstwhile regional alignments.

Russia’s tilt towards Israel, many believe, is happening at a time when Iran is equally tilting towards the West to re-capture the markets it had previously lost to its competitor, Saudi Arabia. As such, were Russia and Israel to strike a deal to develop the Leviathan, it would have enormous geopolitical implications not only for Iran but also for Saudi Arabia, Israel and the U.S.

http://atimes.com/2016/05/russia-seeks-bigger-middle-east-role-through-alliance-with-israel/