(November 10, 2024)

Days later, Netanyahu and Putin — who have a long and, until recently, close friendship — discussed the S-400 sale as well as Russia’s involvement in Syria. The S-400 sale didn’t materialize, neither in 2020 nor to date, despite Iran’s pleadings over the subsequent years and Russia’s dependence on Iran for drones for its war with Ukraine.

Had Iran persuaded Russia to sell it the S-400, the Israel Air Force could have been hard-pressed to achieve mastery over Iran’s skies.

“A fly can’t buzz above Syria without Russian consent nowadays,” an Israeli defense official told the International Crisis Group after Russia installed and manned the S-400 in Syria, a long-standing Russian ally that Russia defends.