Category: Security

Fans reportedly walked out of legendary comedian Dave Chappelle’s recent comedy show after he criticized Israel for waging war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

The Wall Street Journal reported that during a Thursday show in Boston, Chappelle criticized Israel’s military response to the brutal Hamas terrorist attacks against the nation earlier this month. The famous comedian reportedly claimed that Israel was engaging in “war crimes” against the Palestinians in Gaza.

The Wall Street Journal noted that people in attendance at the comedy show claimed that Chappelle condemned the brutal attacks by Hamas against Israel before labeling Israel’s actions as “war crimes” in Gaza. Chapelle also allegedly claimed that the United States was helping aid the killing of innocent civilians in the Middle East conflict.

Additionally, The Wall Street Journal reported that Chappelle showed support for students who currently face limited job prospects for protesting on behalf of Palestinian terrorists and applauding the killing of innocent Israeli civilians.

READ MORE: Video: ‘Hamas supporters’ vandalize GOP Rep’s Pro-Israel sign

According to The Daily Wire, an audience member reportedly shouted at Chappelle to “shut up,” which resulted in the comedian further criticizing Israel for cutting off supplies to Gaza as part of Israel’s attempt to eliminate Hamas terrorists.

While some audience members were reported to have shown support for Chappelle’s comments and shouted “Free Palestine,” other fans reportedly left the event during the show.

One of the event attendees told The Daily Mail, “The audience was cheering Chappelle on during his tirade. I was sick. We were sick. I turned to my friends and wife and said I think it is time to go.”

“We walked out and met up with many other Jews leaving the show,” the attendee added. “Never in my life have I felt so unsafe and so fearful of what I was witnessing.”

The U.S. soldier who ran into North Korea earlier this year before being detained and released back to the U.S. military is facing charges of soliciting child pornography, as well as desertion, insubordination, and brawling with his superiors.

Private Travis King joined the Army in November 2020 and was involved in multiple alleged assaults between 2020 and 2022, according to charging documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.

In July 2023, the American soldier asked a minor to expose herself for money on Snapchat to “knowingly and willingly produce child pornography.”

The Army said King is being held in pretrial detention in Texas.

“U.S. officials have secured the return of Private Travis King from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). We appreciate the dedication of the interagency team that has worked tirelessly out of concern for Private King’s wellbeing,” Sullivan said.

READ MORE: US soldier detained by North Korea, US official says

Sullivan also thanked the Swedish government for “its diplomatic role serving as the protecting power for the United States in the DPRK,” as well as the Chinese government’s help in “facilitating the transit” of King.

North Korean state media, KCNA, reported the nation decided “to expel” King after concluding their investigation, according to the Yonhap News Agency. King’s initial entrance into North Korea was during a tour of the Joint Security Area (JSA) between North and South Korea.

“The relevant organ of the DPRK decided to expel Travis King, a soldier of the U.S. Army who illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK, under the law of the Republic,” the announcement stated.

The Pentagon expressed gratitude to the governments of both Sweden and China for their roles in the release process.

According to CNN, Pentagon press secretary Brig. General Pat Ryder commented, “We appreciate the hard work of personnel in the Army, United States Forces Korea, and across the Department of Defense to bring Private King home.”

U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga said his son was evacuated out of Israel earlier this month as the country waged war against the U.S.-designated terror group Hamas.

He got out with the help of a team affiliated with another congressman, Rep. Cory Mills of Florida, who also helped at least 96 other Americans flee by way of ground evacuation, Mills has said.

“When I told him my son was there, he said, ‘Don’t worry. I will get him,’” Huizenga said of Mills. “I told him, ‘Well, I’m trying to figure this out for safety levels.’ He said, ‘Bill, this is going sideways quickly. You need to get him out.’”

Adrian Huizenga, 24, was in his second semester as a master’s student in Jerusalem studying biblical history and geography when he woke up Oct. 7 to air raid sirens and a loud boom, which was the sound of the Iron Dome air-defense system intercepting incoming rockets, he said.

Adrian said he and his roommate exchanged nervous looks, trying to figure out what was going on. A text arrived from their school instructing them to shelter in place, as fear seeped in.

The sirens then continued on and off for days. Even though he was an hour away from the targeted areas, Adrian started to wonder about if and when he should try to leave before the conflict got more dangerous and other terror groups or countries potentially got involved, he said.

“I knew I wasn’t a target. … I felt pretty safe at the school. It was more of a concern about what happens if things go badly, and how will I get out? Or would that even be possible? It was starting to ask those questions and wondering how long lasting will it be here?” Adrian said in an interview.

“All we saw were further escalations — declarations of war and all of that. That’s what felt more unprecedented. Israel has been through a lot of violence, a lot of tension in its history, but that’s what made it kind of stand out this time than others.”

Adrian studies at a small American Christian university with fewer than 100 students, so the student body is primarily U.S. citizens, he said. Huizenga, his wife and youngest son had visited Adrian over Easter break in the spring, so he knew the layout and location well and said he felt better knowing how secure it was.

But by the week before last, a number of other students had departed already.

It was Thursday, Oct. 12, when Adrian decided to contact the U.S. Department of State, filling out the same crisis intake form that his father’s office was instructing his constituents to fill out who were also stranded in Israel.

But the State Department has been inundated with calls and requests for help from thousands of Americans trying to get out of Israel when U.S. airlines weren’t flying in and out of Israel’s main international airport, Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, due to the risk.

Huizenga spoke to the staff of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on which he serves. That’s where he got the suggestion to contact Mills. The committee staffers said they’d had luck working with Mills’ group to get people home when they were stranded abroad, Huizenga said.

Mills, who was on the ground in Israel himself, was actively working with both large groups and individuals, some of whom had been trying to figure out a way home for days, Huizenga said. The group was helping to coordinate air flights and ground transportation at no cost, he said.

Adrian said Mills’ team picked him up at 10 a.m. that following Saturday to start his journey, which involved over 24 hours of travel. He and Huizenga aren’t not disclosing the route that Adrian took out of Israel, but said it was through a neighboring country.

“Whatever I needed, they were there, ready with resources to help. From the time that they got me, until I was getting dropped off and going inside to the airport to leave, they were there and making sure that I was safe,” Adrian said.

Eventually he made it to Dubai, from where he flew on to Chicago and then to Grand Rapids, where his parents picked him up around 10 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15.

“I held it all together until he got on the ground in Grand Rapids, and I gave him a big hug in the airport,” Huizenga said. “That’s when I finally felt like I let my guard down.”

Adrian also felt immense relief and gratitude to Mills and his team. He still hopes to return to Jerusalem and finish his last year of schooling for his degree. His university shifted classes online. He’s been in touch with classmates through group text chains, but he also can’t keep his mind off Israel, watching news about the conflict “like a hawk,” he said.

The whole episode “makes me really thankful to live in America,” Adrian said. “I think it’s really also admirable of people in Israel that they try and continue to live there, with some flying back to sign up for the military there.”

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© 2023 www.detroitnews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced Saturday that the United States is taking “additional steps” to increase U.S. strength in the Middle East, including preparing additional troops for potential deployment as tension continues to increase in the region.

“Following detailed discussions with President Biden on recent escalations by Iran and its proxy forces across the Middle East Region, today I directed a series of additional steps to further strengthen the Department of Defense posture in the region,” Austin stated in a Department of Defense press release. “These steps will bolster regional deterrence efforts, increase force protection for U.S. forces in the region, and assist in the defense of Israel.”

Austin explained that the Department of Defense was placing additional U.S. military troops on “prepare to deploy orders as part of prudent contingency planning.” He noted that the “prepare to deploy orders” would increase the “readiness” and the “ability” of U.S. forces to be able to respond to situations in the Middle East conflict.

READ MORE: U.S. hostage rescue mission in Gaza remains on the table

Last week, The Pentagon announced that 2,000 U.S. military troops had been selected to potentially deploy to help support Israel through non-combative roles.

In Saturday’s press release, Austin said the United States had redirected the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group to U.S. Central Command.

“This carrier strike group is in addition to the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, which is currently operating in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea,” he stated. “It will further increase our force posture and strengthen our capabilities and ability to respond to a range of contingencies.”

Austin also announced that the Department of Defense will be deploying a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery, as well as more Patriot battalions, to U.S. bases in the Middle East region in order to “increase force protection for U.S. forces.”

“I will continue to assess our force posture requirements in the region and consider deploying additional capabilities as necessary,” Austin concluded.

According to Stars and Stripes, the Defense Department’s latest moves are intended to deter terrorist groups, such as Hezbollah, from escalating the current conflict in the Middle East.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Thursday that Iran-backed terrorist groups are allegedly planning attacks against U.S. forces in the Middle East as part of a “Revenge for Gaza” campaign.

Stars and Stripes noted that terrorist groups in the Middle East have used rockets and drones to target U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks against Israel.

Amazon announced this week that Amazon Pharmacy has begun testing the use of drones to deliver prescriptions to customers’ front doors. Amazon’s drone delivery service is now available for customers in College Station, Texas — where Amazon claims its drones can drop off packages in 60 minutes or less.

Eligible customers in the area can now select “free drone delivery in less than 60 minutes” at checkout to participate in the test. From there, a pharmacist with access to over 500 different medications will ensure the prescription package is delivered within the hour.

“We’re taught from the first days of medical school that there is a golden window that matters in clinical medicine,” Dr. Vin Gupta, chief medical officer of Amazon Pharmacy, said in a press release. “That’s the time between when a patient feels unwell and when they’re able to get treatment. We’re working hard at Amazon to dramatically narrow the golden window from diagnosis to treatment, and drone delivery marks a significant step forward. Whether it’s an infectious disease or respiratory illness, early intervention can be critical to improving patient outcomes.”

The automated drones travel at an altitude of 40 to 120 meters, navigating by utilizing a series of sensors and cameras to avoid people, pets and power lines. Once it reaches its destination, the drone will slowly descend to a delivery marker, where it will deliver the prescription package.

“Our drones fly over traffic, eliminating the excess time a customer’s package might spend in transit on the road,” Calsee Hendrickson, director of product and program management at Prime Air, said in a news release. “That’s the beauty of drone delivery, and medications were the first thing our customers said they also want delivered quickly via drone. Speed and convenience top the wish list for health purchases.”

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© 2023 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Medicare open enrollment season started Oct. 15 and ends Dec. 7, and this year there will be more plan choices, more benefit offerings, and potentially some cost savings on medications. There also will be more reason to scrutinize your existing plans and weigh your options.

During open enrollment, you can make changes such as join, switch, or drop a private insurer’s Medicare Advantage plan for 2024 or a Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. When you are 65, there are two routes you can go: A Medicare Advantage plan offered by a private insurer, which includes hospital care, physician care, prescription drug coverage and other benefits. Or, Original Medicare, provided by the federal government, which includes hospital care and physician care, and pair it with a Part D drug plan.

This year there are more reasons to do your homework and consider your options.

“Plans change every year,” said Bob Rees, vice president of Medicare Member Loyalty for eHealth insurance agency. “Look beyond monthly premiums at the full cost and determine if your plan is changing. You may not be required to change plans, but look to see if your out-of-pocket costs are changing, and that may be a good reason to make a switch.”

What’s new with Medicare Advantage?

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services expects more people to enroll in Medicare Advantage plans in 2024, estimating enrollment at approximately 50% of Medicare eligible seniors, compared to approximately 48% for 2023.

While premiums, deductibles, co-pays and out-of-pocket maximums for Medicare Advantage plans differ greatly, every person with Medicare Advantage coverage must pay the Medicare Part B premium (part of Original Medicare) in addition to their private plan’s premium. If enrollees choose to stay in their plan, most will experience little or no premium increase for next year. In Florida, the average premium will increase slightly by 79 cents.

But there are more than premiums to consider.

In choosing among Medicare Advantage plans, an important determinant in 2024 is whether your doctor and preferred hospital will continue to accept your Medicare Advantage plan. Becker’s Healthcare reports a growing number of hospitals and health systems nationwide are pushing back and dropping the private plans altogether. The reason: Excessive prior authorization denial rates and slow payments from insurers. You also will want to see if your primary care doctors and specialists are in the network, and look at whether a plan includes dental and vision coverage.

“If you keep it simple and ask ‘Are my doctors in network? Are my hospitals in network?’ — by doing that you will eliminate half the plans,” said Evan Tunis with Florida Health Insurance in Coral Springs. “Once you are done with that, ask, ‘Am I okay with an HMO or do I want bigger access to doctors and hospitals, and in that case maybe I need to go with a PPO.’”

Also in 2024: Your plan must notify you if your provider is leaving the network so you have time to choose a new plan. You’ll get this notice if it’s a primary care or behavioral health provider and you have gone to that provider in the past three years.

For the last few years, Medicare Advantage plans have added more supplemental benefits that change yearly, such as dental, vision, meal delivery or gym memberships. Jenny Chumbley Hogue, an analyst for medicareresources.org , said that trend will continue in 2024. “There are going to be even richer benefits,” she said. “If those things are important to you, then it’s important to look at the options.”

However, experts say don’t pick a plan just because of a benefit like dental or vision. It’s more useful to find a plan that covers your cover your health care providers and your medications.

Saving on drug costs

Where you likely will see big differences in 2024 is in the drug plans, also known as Medicare Part D. Your Annual Notice of Change for a Part D plan will arrive in the mail and say how much the insurer will pay for prescriptions as well as rules regarding which pharmacies are included. The notice also will break out the costs of buying prescriptions via mail order versus at a retail pharmacy.

Florida will offer 21 stand-alone Medicare prescription drug plans, according to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Of those, 81% of people with a stand-alone Medicare Part D option will have access to a plan with a lower premium than what they paid in 2023.

The average Part D plan’s premium will decrease slightly, from $56.49 in 2023 to an expected $55.50 in 2024. Many plans will have improved benefits for drug coverage costs, including a $35 cost-sharing limit on a month’s supply of insulin and free adult vaccines recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, including the shingles and COVID-19 boosters.

Not every drug plan’s premium will decline.

“It will depend on the prescription drug plan, but we anticipate that while some carriers will decrease their premiums, others will nearly double their rates,” said Chumbley Hogue with medicareresources.org.

Chumbley Hogue said beyond just looking at the premium, check your prescriptions to see what tier of coverage they are and how much your out-of-pocket costs will be at various pharmacies. If a medication falls into a different tier within a plan in 2024, that could make it significantly more costly for you.

Three major changes in Part D drug plans will go into effect in 2024:

—People with Medicare prescription drug coverage who fall into the catastrophic phase of the prescription drug benefit won’t have to pay anything out of pocket during that phase for covered prescription drugs.

—Everyone qualifying for Medicare’s Extra Help subsidies won’t pay anything for Part D premiums and deductibles and will pay a reduced amount for generic and brand-name drugs. You’ll be eligible for Extra Help if your 2023 income was under $21,870 ($29,580 for a couple) and have less than $16,660 in resources other than a primary residence, vehicles and personal possessions (below $33,240 for married couples). If you meet the thresholds, you’ll want to sign up for Extra Help when enrolling in a Part D plan. Enrollees can save nearly $300 per year, on average, according to estimates.

—In the deductible phase, Part D enrollees pay 100% of their drug costs up to $545 in 2024 compared to $505 in 2023. Not all Part D plans charge a deductible, but some do.

Traditional Medicare

Florida’s seniors enrolled in Original Medicare will receive better mental health care coverage in 2024. You pay nothing for your yearly depression screening if your doctor or health care provider accepts assignment. New this year, Medicare will cover mental health services provided by marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors as well as intensive outpatient program mental health services.

During the pandemic, seniors were able to have their telehealth appointments covered by Medicare. This will continue for now. You can still get telehealth services at any location in the U.S., including your home until the end of 2024.

For 2024, Medicare is prohibited from covering weight loss drugs, worth noting with the popularity of Ozempic and Wegovy. There are efforts underway to change that, but it won’t happen in 2024. However, Medicare is covering acupuncture, up to 12 visits in 90 days for chronic lower back pain and an additional eight visits if you are showing improvement.

If you have Original Medicare and want a supplemental plan, also known as Medigap, Tunis said there are some well-priced plans available in South Florida this year. He suggests shopping around.

“Look for a carrier who has been in South Florida a decent amount of time,” Tunis said. “You don’t want a carrier who has only offered supplemental insurance one or two years. If they know the market, they are not going to be shocked if one year claims outnumber premiums. You want that rate stability with a company that has been here.”

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© 2023 South Florida Sun Sentinel

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed his resolve to fulfill agreements made last month with Russian President Vladimir Putin as he met visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, state media KCNA reported on October 20.

Kim and Lavrov discussed ways to ramp up cooperation to actively respond to regional and global issues, KCNA said.

Lavrov also conveyed Putin’s greetings to Kim. North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and Lavrov signed a plan for exchanges in 2024-25 as they explored ways to expand cooperation in politics, the economy, science, and technology, KCNA said.

This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.

Finnish police said on October 19 that they had completed their crime scene investigation into the damage to a subsea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia.

The Balticconnector pipeline linking Finland and Estonia ruptured earlier this month in what authorities said may have been a deliberate act of sabotage, cutting off the flow of gas between the two countries until April at least.

A gas pipeline and telecoms cable connecting the two countries were damaged on October 8. Helsinki is investigating the pipeline incident, while Tallinn is probing the cable incident.

Finnish police said in a statement that samples collected at the site of the damaged pipeline in cooperation with Finland’s armed forces and coast guard would now be analyzed.

Meanwhile, Estonia says it will also probe the damage to a Baltic Sea telecommunications cable connecting the country to Sweden as part of its ongoing investigation into the Balticonnector rupture.

Sweden said on October 17 that a third link had been damaged. Estonia said on October 19 its probe would be expanded to include that incident.

This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.

The U.S. Treasury Department on October 18 announced new sanctions on 11 individuals, eight entities, and one vessel that the United States says have enabled Iran’s “destabilizing ballistic missile and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programs.”

The individuals, entities, and the vessel designated by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) are based in Iran, Hong Kong, China, and Venezuela, the department said in a news release.

“The persons designated today have materially supported Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL), or their subordinates in the production and proliferation of missiles and UAVs,” the Treasury Department said.

Iran’s “reckless choice to continue its proliferation of destructive UAVs and other weapons prolongs numerous conflicts in regions around the world,” Treasury Undersecretary Brian E. Nelson added in the news release.

The sanctions, which freeze any assets held in U.S. jurisdiction and bar people in the U.S. from dealing with them, were a sign that Iran’s missile program will remain restricted after the expiration of UN Security Council sanctions on October 18.

The expiration of the sanctions falls under a sunset clause of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which gave Tehran relief from sanctions in exchange for limiting its nuclear program. Former U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned that deal in 2018 and restored U.S. on Iran sanctions. Efforts to revive it have failed.

Russia said on October 17 that after expiration of the sanctions imposed in the nuclear pact the transfers of missile technology to Iran would no longer needed Security Council approval. But Russia did not say whether it planned to support Tehran’s missile development.

In light of the expiry of the UN’s restrictions on Iran’s missile-related activities, the State Department on October 18 published a joint statement related to countering Iranian missile-related activities.

The 45 countries that signed the statement have committed to countering Iranian missile-related activities through the so-called Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), a program designed to prevent shipments of weapons of mass destruction.

The countries that endorsed the PSI said they reaffirmed their commitment “to take all necessary measures to prevent the supply, sale, or transfer of ballistic missile-related items, materials, equipment, goods, and technology, to protect peace and stability in the region.”

The statement said the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems continues to pose a significant threat to international security.

“In this environment, Iran’s missile program remains one of the greatest challenges to international nonproliferation efforts,” it said.

The U.S. effort to limit Iran’s missile and drone programs comes amid renewed American criticism of Tehran for backing Hamas, which on October 7 carried out a rampage against communities in southern Israel in which at least 1,300 people died.

U.S. officials have said they do not have evidence tying Iran to ordering or planning the attacks but have said Tehran is complicit because of its long-term support for Hamas.

This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.

The invasion of Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas has shattered the illusion of stability in the Middle East and triggered a war that could reshape great-power influence in the region and beyond.

How it all shakes out will depend in large part on the length and course of the war, including whether another Iranian-backed militant organization, Hizballah, opens a second front against Israel in the north, expanding the conflict to Lebanon and potentially Syria.

A blast that killed hundreds of people at a hospital in Gaza on October 17 ignited mutual accusations, increasing the tension hours before U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Israel on a visit that underscored the stakes for the Middle East, Washington, and the world.

The new war may help the Kremlin by drawing attention away from the carnage it is causing in Ukraine, squeezing U.S. military resources, and bolstering Russia’s anti-Western narratives, analysts say — but a widening of the Israel-Hamas conflict could strain Moscow’s carefully cultivated Middle East ties and jeopardize its clout in the region.

Over more than two decades in power, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made significant strides in rebuilding the influence Moscow lost among predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East following the Soviet collapse of 1991, while also establishing friendly ties with Israel.

But Israel sees Syria and Iran as serious national security threats, and Putin has strengthened Russia’s ties with both of those countries.

He has increased Russia’s military presence in Syria, where the Kremlin, Hizballah, and Iran have supported President Bashar al-Assad in his 12-year war against opposition groups — some of which are backed by the United States, which also has troops in the country. He has also expanded defense ties with Iran, a major supplier of attack drones that Russia is using in its war on Ukraine.

Now, something could break.

“The real test for Russia’s relationship with Israel is going to be what Hizballah does. If they attack, Israel is going to hit back hard at Hizballah, which is on the same team as Russia in Syria. And I think that is where we will see the relationship deteriorate,” Mark Katz, a political-science professor at George Mason University in Virginia who focuses on Russia and the Middle East, told RFE/RL.

Signs of strain are evident following Hamas’s October 7 invasion, which has killed more than 1,400 Israelis, making it the deadliest attack in the country’s history. Putin took days to comment — and when he did, in contrast to widespread Western condemnation of Hamas, he blamed the United States for failing to produce a two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In remarks during a 10-minute meeting, Putin did not mention Hamas by name, referring to “events” and “tensions” — and a draft UN Security Council resolution that Russia submitted on October 16 also made no mention of Hamas or its attack.

“Israelis are much more critical of anyone who is not siding with it, [or] at least not condemning what Hamas did,” Nimrod Goran, president of the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies in Jerusalem and a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told RFE/RL.

The Hamas invasion and Israel’s response brought a rash of criticism of Israel from pro-Kremlin analysts and commentators on Russian state TV. But Russia may be wary about tilting too far away from Israel and toward its foes, including Iran, analysts say.

Russia’s relations with Iran have “qualitatively changed,” Hanna Notte, a Berlin-based analyst with the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and an expert on Russian policy in the Middle East, told RFE/RL on October 9. “But still, I don’t think that Russia wants to go all-in with Iran, that it wants to disrupt its relations with Israel and with [Persian] Gulf states.”

Mark Galeotti, an author and analyst of Russian policy, said that “although there are positive relations between Russia and Iran in terms of sanctions-busting, we should remember that particularly when it comes to Middle Eastern politics, Russia and Iran are at best ‘frenemies’ — they’re rivals for supremacy.”

“We’ve seen that in Syria as well,” Galeotti said.

Syria War

Syria is Moscow’s biggest physical foothold in the Middle East. Russia’s naval and air bases there are its only military presence on the Mediterranean and thus of strategic importance, enabling it to project power outside its immediate region.

This presence depends on the survival of Assad’s government, which is also backed by Iranian and Hizballah fighters.

In 2022, Russia reportedly transferred more than 1,000 troops and an air-defense system out of Syria to support its war against of Ukraine, where Moscow’s forces suffered major setbacks in the months after Putin launched the full-scale invasion.

Should the Israeli-Hamas conflict expand and prompt Hizballah to shift fighters from Syria to Lebanon, “that would just make Russia’s job more difficult in Syria,” Katz said.

U.S.-backed and Turkish-backed fighters opposed to Assad control the country’s north. At the same time, Russia doesn’t want Iran and its proxies to gain too much influence in Syria — both because of its own relationship with Iran and because of concerns about angering Israel.

Russia, which controls a large part of the skies above Syria, has let Israeli jet fighters bomb Hizballah over the years. Israel and Russia have set up an exchange of information between their forces operating in and around Syria to reduce the risk of air incidents.

In September 2018, Israeli jets bombed a facility in Syria that Israel claimed was used to house Iranian military equipment that could be transferred to Hizballah fighters in Lebanon.

Syria fired back at the Israeli jets but hit a Russian military plane, killing all 15 people on board. Russia accused the Israeli military of using the Russian plane as a cover to dodge Syrian defense systems.

Thereafter the two countries deepened cooperation over Syrian airspace. That cooperation, analysts say, has been a key factor keeping Israel from supplying weapons to Ukraine.

“There is a need for Israel to maintain coordination with the Russians, mostly because of Syria. Even the decision taken by Israel on how to respond to the war in Ukraine was basically made on the potential impact for Israel in Syria,” Goran said.

That is unlikely to change, he added.

Nonetheless, Russia’s relations with Israel have cooled since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Putin is widely believed to have expected to bring Ukraine to its knees within days or weeks. His apparent failure to foresee a long war left Russia unprepared militarily and, with Western sanctions hampering its weapons industry, prompted it to turn to Iran and North Korea for drones and missiles.

In return, Russia has promised advanced weapons to Iran, including fighter jets. The United States has described the relationship as “unprecedented” and “a full-scale defense partnership” that poses a threat to Iran’s neighbors, including Israel.

Still, Israel has refused to join the U.S. and European Union sanctions against Russia or send weapons to Ukraine, though it did allow Washington to shift U.S. ammunition stockpiles in the country to Ukraine.

The Ukraine Aid Conundrum

While the Israel-Hamas war could stretch Russia thin and disrupt its juggling act in the Middle East, particularly if the conflict expands, Putin may hope that the benefits will outweigh the costs.

For now, the war has enabled Russia to step up the anti-Western rhetoric that has become an extremely prominent aspect of its foreign policy, as Putin woos the countries worldwide that are not allied with Washington and casts the invasion of Ukraine as a forced defense against a U.S.-led effort to weaken or destroy Russia.

While ignoring its own attacks on civilians in Ukraine, which have drawn widespread accusations of war crimes, Russia has seized on the killing of civilians in Israeli bombardments of Gaza to accuse the West of double standards, addressing audiences in the Global South and beyond and seeking to dilute anger over its actions in Ukraine.

Many analysts say Putin’s best chance of achieving anything that it can call a victory in Ukraine is for Western backing for Kyiv to fade, drying up the supply of weapons it needs to fight Russia off. There were signs of slipping support before the Hamas attack, which may have fueled hopes in the Kremlin that the United States will struggle to supply both Ukraine and Israel with arms.

The United States is running low on some munitions after delivering Ukraine more than $45 billion in military aid since February 2022. But an analysis by Mark Cancian of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, indicates that at least in the short term, there won’t be much of a problem.

According to Cancian, only about a dozen of the 100 military items sent by the United States to Ukraine are in short supply. Furthermore, the most important of those – High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers, artillery, and 155-millimeter shells — are not among Israel’s immediate needs.

“The initial ask — as currently reported — does not conflict with Ukraine’s or Taiwan’s needs,” Cancian wrote. “Nevertheless, as time goes on, there will be trade-offs as certain key systems are diverted to Israel. A few systems that Ukraine needs for its counteroffensive may not be available in the numbers that Ukraine would like.”

Biden said this week that the United States has the military resources to support Israel in its war against Hamas and Ukraine. “We can take care of both of these and still maintain our overall international defense,” Biden said in an interview aired on CBS television on October 15.

Two days later, the White House confirmed that the United States had sent Ukraine long-range ATACMS missiles, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv’s forces used them in an attack on Russian airfields in the occupied Zaporizhzhya region.

Power And Personal Rapport

Meanwhile, Russia’s clout in the Middle East could be challenged by a stepped-up U.S. presence: With the deployment of two aircraft carriers, the Israel-Hamas war may reverse the recent U.S. disengagement from the region in the wake of the war in Iraq and its long aftermath.

Russia and China have been seeking to fill its shoes in the Middle East, with Beijing brokering a deal to restore diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The United States “may reaffirm its primacy” in the region, said Francois Heisbourg, a special adviser at the Fondation Pour La Recherche Strategique, a French think tank. “This could reinforce U.S. credibility in Europe.”

Bill Courtney, a foreign policy expert at the Rand Corporation in Washington, told RFE/RL that it is unclear how long-term such a shift might last, given the priority attention that the United States has given to China and the Indo-Pacific region.

Another factor playing into Russia’s prospects in the Middle East is the fate of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose grip on power is likely to slip as a result of the Hamas attack — a massive security failure.

Before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, analysts say the Russian-Israeli relationship was strengthened by the personal rapport between Putin and Netanyahu, who has led Israel for most of the past 14 years and traveled to Moscow many times to meet Putin, in large part to discuss Syria and Iran.

“He is probably gone, whether soon or a few months from now,” said Kawa Hassan, a fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Program at the Stimson Center, a think tank in Washington.