Israeli official: Russia behind tension with Syria

Russia was partly responsible for the high tension between Israel and Syria at the outset of the summer, head of the Diplomatic-Security Bureau at the Israeli Defense Ministry, Gen. Amos Gilad (ret.) was quoted as saying on Thursday.

During an interview with Israel's Army Radio, the senior Israeli official said that recent messages sent from Tel Aviv to Moscow have caused the Russians to cease their activity, thus easing the tensions in the occupied Golan Heights. "At a certain time, the Russians caused the Syrians to believe that Israel was preparing for war," Gilad said. "I think that they have stopped this. Syria does not intend to attack Israel, and Israel is definitely not planning to launch attack against Syria."

According to an article published by the Israeli daily, Ma'ariv, diplomatic and security officials in the Kremlin "purposely mislead" the Syrians in order to further boost their profits from the sale of military equipment. Russia is currently one of the main sources of military equipment to Syria.