Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Russia that Israel would not seek to topple its ally, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, but Moscow should encourage Iranian forces to quit Syria. This happened just hours after Israel shot down the third Syrian drone that had penetrated its airspace recently, underscoring the frontier’s volatility. Israel is on high alert as Assad’s forces advance on rebels in the Golan Heights (land which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and annexed in a move not recognised internationally). Israel worries that Assad could let his Iranian and Hezbollah reinforcements entrench near Israeli lines or that Syrian forces may defy a 1974 Golan demilitarisation. Russia has an active interest in seeing a stable Assad regime, and Israel want the Iranians out. These aims can clash or align. Israel will not get involved in Syria’s civil war, but said they will ‘act against anyone who acts against us.’