The axis of “resistance” in Lebanon - led by Hezbollah – is avoiding a dispute with Russia over the mediation by President Vladimir Putin that led to the extradition of the remains of an Israeli soldier killed in battles between the Israeli and Syrian armies in the Bekaa town of Sultan Yaqoub, during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June 1982.
The extradition took place in Moscow three days before the date of the parliamentary elections in Israel. This is not the first time that Hezbollah refrains from engaging in a debate with Moscow. The party kept silence when Putin offered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an Israeli tank given to him by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Hezbollah, in one way or another, was not satisfied with this Syrian gift to Israel through Russian mediation. Instead of asking its Syrian ally about the secret behind the timing of this step, right before the parliamentary elections in Israel, the party turned to the inside.
Hezbollah could have coordinated with its Syrian ally to include the handover of the remains of the Israeli soldier as part of a Moscow-sponsored deal that would guarantee the return of the remains of those killed in its open wars with Israel, including Arabs of several nationalities.
Therefore, the Syrian regime did not offer the remains of the Israeli soldier “for free” to Moscow without a political price, especially as Russia was working with Washington to provide support for Netanyahu’s renewed chairmanship of the Israeli government.
In this context, Lebanese political sources ask whether the consensus between Moscow and Washington in their support of Netanyahu was born by chance, and question the position of the “axis of the resistance” in this regard, amid claims that the renewal of Netanyahu’s term would allow Moscow to mediate between Tel Aviv and Damascus.
This mediation, according to the sources say, could be seen as a first step to encourage the Syrian and Israeli sides to avoid tension at the military level, in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territories.
Moreover, Moscow, which has managed to distance Iran’s military groups from southwestern Syria, is now trying to mediate between Damascus and Tel Aviv with the knowledge of the US administration.
