Russian troops opened fire on Israeli aircraft with advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missiles and this could complicate relations between Moscow and Jerusalem. This is reported by the Israeli edition of The Times of Israel, citing an anonymous source..

The incident occurred on Friday, May 13, in the evening, when the Israeli Air Force bombed several targets near the city of Masyaf in northwestern Syria.. Syrian media reported five or six dead. There is information that the dead are members of the crew of the Pantsir air defense system, who were trying to shoot down Israeli missiles..

According to this anonymous source, the Syrian military has been ineffective at targeting Israeli air targets throughout the years of armed conflict.. However, this time the fire was opened by S-300 batteries, which are operated by the Russian military and cannot be launched without their consent..

Israel carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria during the country's civil war to counter the supply of weapons to the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon.. Therefore, if the information about the shelling of Israeli aircraft by Russians is confirmed, this will be an alarming signal for the country.. This shelling could have been a one-time incident or a signal from Russia to Israel that it is changing its policy..

The Masyaf area is believed to be used as a base for the Iranian armed forces and pro-Iranian militias and has been repeatedly targeted by Israel in recent years.. Satellite images taken after the impact showed that the underground facility was completely destroyed..

Iranian military base destroyed by Israel in Syria. Photo: ImageSat International.

It is noteworthy that the information appeared against the backdrop of a deterioration in relations between Israel and Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine.. Israel has tried to navigate the thin line between Moscow and Kyiv, but has recently become critical of Russia as evidence of Russian atrocities and increased anti-Semitic rhetoric from Russian leaders have surfaced..

We add that Russia is an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has its own military bases in Syria.. In addition to providing air defense to Syria, Moscow also maintains state-of-the-art S-400 air defense systems to protect its positions in Syria, but has never targeted Israeli aircraft before..

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Recall that relations between Moscow and Jerusalem seriously escalated after the anti-Semitic statements of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

A few days after these statements, another round of conflict took place - a delegation of the anti-Semitic terrorist organization Hamas, headed by Moussa Abu Marzouk, visited Moscow, where they met with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov.

Against this background, Israel is increasingly supporting Ukraine.. In particular, he extended tourist visas for Ukrainians.. And political and military officials in Israel are increasingly inclined to increase military and humanitarian support for Ukraine..