What did Putin mean by withdrawing 'foreign armed forces' from Syria?
Netanyahu leaves his troubles behind.
Putin’s diplomatic surge on Syria
Maxim Suchkov writes May 10 that “one shouldn’t be surprised to see a high-level visitor or two from Syria or Iran to Russia rather soon,” after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Moscow the previous day.
So no surprise for Al-Monitor readers that both Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have since come calling in Russia.
Last week, we described in this column Vladimir Putin’s role as "go-to" mediator between Iran and Israel. The US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) may have, inadvertently, strengthened Putin’s hand. Moscow’s good offices are, for now, the only diplomatic venue available where both sides can pass messages and expect them to be faithfully delivered. Russian diplomacy has since shifted into even higher gear on Syria.
