Al-Monitor | Hamidreza Azizi: With the presidents of Iran, Russia and Turkey slated to attend a new round of Syria peace talks within the Astana framework on Feb. 14, the relationship between Tehran and Moscow � two main allies of the Syrian government in its eight years of fighting against rebel and terrorist groups � is facing a new durability test, mostly due to the Israeli factor.

On Jan. 21, Israeli warplanes carried out a series of strikes against alleged Iranian targets in Syria. The attacks were considered the most serious since the downing of an IL-20 Russian military aircraft by a Syrian air defense missile on Sept. 17. Russian officials interpreted the incident as the consequence of a deliberate attempt by the Israeli pilots to mislead the Syrian air defense by hiding behind the Russian surveillance plane. As a result, Moscow announced that it would provide Damascus with advanced S-300 missile defense systems and upgrade Syria�s air defense capabilities. However, the advanced Russian systems, seen by some observers as a potential game changer in Syria, were inactive during the latest round of Israeli airstrikes.

Head of the Iranian Parliament�s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh criticized Moscow, saying, �If the S-300 systems in Syria operated correctly, the Israeli military would be unable to easily conduct airstrikes on Syria.� He went on to speculate that there seems to be coordination between the attacks and Russian-provided air defenses deployed in Syria.

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