In addition to its military interventions in Syria and Libya, the Kremlin has in the past few years increased its involvement in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, cultivating friendly relations with Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas, and the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad. These initiatives, writes Oved Lobel, are all part of Vladimir Putin’s quest to make his country the Middle East’s “indispensable intermediary.” Now Moscow has turned its sights on Lebanon:
[U]ntil the recent explosion in Beirut and subsequent resignation of the government, Russia was simply not a significant actor in Lebanon. The political vacuum that has now developed, and Moscow’s close relations with all sides, may have opened a door for Russian influence in Lebanese politics.
For instance, on August 17, the former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri sent an adviser to consult with Putin’s Middle East envoy Mikhael Bogdanov on future political developments in the country. Bogdanov also had phone conversations with Hariri, the Druze powerbroker Walid Jumblatt, and the Free Patriotic Movement’s Gebran Bassil, and met in Moscow with . . . an adviser to the Lebanese president Michel Aoun.
What will certainly help [Russia in gaining influence in the country] is its increasingly close partnership with France, which has taken the leading role in Lebanon after the Beirut explosion across a spectrum of political and military issues, as well as its alliance with Iran, Syria, and Hizballah, the most relevant actors in the country.
As Lebanon sets out to rebuild its capital, Russia, the only country to maintain close relations with every state and non-state actor involved, could become supreme arbiter as it effectively has in Syria and Libya.
Read more on Strategists: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/russias-quest-to-make-itself-indispensable-in-the-middle-east/