Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid gives remarks at the U.S. Capitol on October 12, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

TEL AVIV: After weeks of attempting to keep the diplomatic peace with Russia over the looming invasion of Ukraine, Israel has denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked incursion — prompting worry from Israeli defense sources that Moscow could retaliate by strangling Israeli operations in Syria.

Though Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett did not mention Russia in an address today, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid condemned the attack on Ukraine as a “serious violation of the international order.”

“The first hours and days of any war are also the last time you can still stop and return to the negotiating table, mediated by world powers, to settle disputes peacefully,” Lapid said. “Israel has experienced wars, and war is not a method of resolving conflicts.” That message came a day after, again without mentioning Russia, Israel backed Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

In response, Russian officials in a United Nations Security Council meeting criticized Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights and said Russia does not recognize Israel’s sovereignty there.

What appears to be a diplomatic tiff could have immediate real-world consequences for Israel, which has relied on Moscow to allow it to launch military strikes against Iran-backed forces in Syria and stop Iranian-made weapons systems from transiting Syria on their way to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Earlier this month Breaking Defense reported that Israel went so far as to preemptively deny the transfer of Israeli weapons from Baltic states to Ukraine in an effort to appease the Kremlin.

The concern over Iran and its proxies is especially acute, sources here said, if the US signs a new nuclear deal with Iran, which one source said would cause Tehran to “increase its supply chain of advanced weapons systems” to Hezbollah via Syria.

In recent months Israel has intensified its operations against Iran and its various proxies, but even before the Ukraine invasion, Russia appeared to be less comfortable with Israeli operations in Syria. In a show of solidarity with Syria, Moscow flew a joint aerial patrol of Russian and Syrian military jets over the Golan Heights at the end of January. The Russian discomfort of Israeli operations also caused Israel to perform some of the attacks using ground-to-ground missiles and not air-dropped weapon systems, as noted by Eldad Shavit, a senior researcher in the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).

“The Russians may use the Middle East as an example to the US for what they can do in other parts of the world,” the researcher said. He added it was possible that more than hamper Israel, Russia might actually encourage Iran and its proxies to act against US forces in the region and against Israel.

For its part, Iran has firmly taken Russia’s side in the Ukraine invasion, saying it was “rooted in NATO provocations,” but still called for a ceasefire. “We do not see resorting to war as a solution,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Twitter.