Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu realized early on that Putin was determined to play a pivotal role in Syria, and flew to Moscow to meet with him in September 2015. As a result of that meeting, a “deconfliction mechanism” was established between the Israeli and Russian air forces, including a hotline installed between the Russian operations center and Israel Defense Forces headquarters in Tel Aviv.

Israel has continued carrying out airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Syria [according to foreign media reports], including within the area dominated by Russian air power, without any official response from the Kremlin. Netanyahu and Putin have continued meeting every few months and speaking frequently by telephone.