What Russia wants from Israel-Iran escalation: Chaos good, war bad

Russia is dependent on Iran for military support in Ukraine, but has had complex ties with Hezbollah.

Anna Levina, a Russian researcher and photographer-documentarian living in Beirut, has been stocking up on supplies in preparation for Israel’s assault on Lebanon, and she still has non-perishables sitting in her kitchen since last October, when Hezbollah and Israel started firing missiles at each other.

“The feeling is, of course, unpleasant, but I’ve been waiting for this moment for a year,” said Levina, of the dramatic escalation in Israeli missile strikes on many parts of Lebanon, including Beirut, over the past two weeks, in which more than 2,000 people have been killed. On Tuesday, Israel also announced the start of ground operations in southern Lebanon, where its forces have since been locked in combat with Hezbollah fighters.

Levina spoke of how Israel was “bombing residential buildings, and just now there was another air strike three kilometres from me on some medical centre.”

“It is difficult to cope with this on a human level,” she said.

For Russia, her country, the expanding war between Israel and its neighbours is also difficult on a strategic level, say analysts.