Israel arming of Georgia sours Russian relations

Now that the fog of war in the turbulent Caucasus region is beginning to lift, the full extent of Israel's involvement in the affairs of Georgia, ­ whose 30-year-old defence minister, Davit Kezerashvili, is himself a Hebrew-speaking former Israeli, ­ is beginning to become clear.

As a result, there are serious implications for the future of Middle East geopolitics. There is a danger that Russia will lift any restraint on the sale of state-of-the-art S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems to Syria and Iran and play an even tougher part in sabotaging diplomatic efforts to halt Tehran's alleged nuclear weapons programme.

And for Tzipi Livni, or whoever emerges as the new Israeli prime minister to replace the disgraced Ehud Olmert, the issue of Israel's continued links with Georgia is one of the most sensitive on the political agenda.

The list of Israeli personnel involved in either supplying arms to Georgia or training elite Georgian military units (while at the same time trying to guarantee Israeli take-off rights from two south Georgian airfields - to be used in any attack against Iran's nuclear network) speaks volumes for the extent of Israeli involvement in a country to which it feels close psychological attachment.

Kezerashvili's ties to Israel (he made aliya with his grandmother and attended Kugel High School in the town of Holon, near Tel Aviv) have been well known since his father told the biggest-selling Tel Aviv daily, Yediot Ahronot, a year ago: "He has a lot of friends to this day in Israel, and he has maintained good relations with them."

More recently, his pro-Israeli sympathies have been fortified by President Mikhail Saakashvili's (left, with Ehud Olmert)  typically over-the-top description of his country's role in the face of Russian aggression as the "Israel of the Caucasus", and backed up inside the Georgian government by his fellow cabinet member, Temur Yakobashvili, the minister of reintegration.

Another Hebrew-speaking Jew, Yakobashvili told Israel's Army radio: "The Israelis ought to be proud of the fact that Georgian soldiers received Israeli education and training and are fighting like I don't know what."

On the Israeli side, military sales to Georgia stretching back to the early days of 2000 have totalled around $200m. According to sources in Jerusalem, they are understood to have included powerful Lynx mobile rocket systems, night-vision equipment, mortar shells, and rockets. In addition, Su-25 ground-attack fighters were upgraded and 18 Sky-Lark mini-drones and five Hermes unmanned aerial vehicles supplied.

However, aware of the sensitivity in Moscow of such sales, the Israeli government put its foot down at one deal said to have involved 200 Israeli-built Merkava tanks, known in Israel as the 'mothers' tank' because of the unparalleled protection it offers its crews.

To those familiar with the men in senior positions inside the large Israeli industrial-military complex, the roll-call of those on the ground inside Georgia in the months before the August fighting broke out was impressive.

It included former police minister and Tel Aviv mayor Ronnie Milo (once a personal aide to Yitzhak Shamir, a top Mossad operative before becoming a Likud Prime Minister), and his brother Shlomo, an ex-Israel Air Force pilot and former director-general of Israel's biggest arms company, Israel Military Industries.

In Tbilisi, both men represented the Israeli defence electronics firm, Elbit Systems.

When questioned by Israeli journalists, Ronnie Milo, once seen as a potential young meteor inside the right-wing Likud establishment, refused to comment on the performance of the arms he sold.

Instead he again reflected the depth of the link between Tel Aviv and Tbilisi. "The phenomenon of a small country standing up to Russian might is not their invention," he stressed. "We faced that situation for many years, and no one wanted to help us because they were afraid of the Russians and the Arabs."

The two leading Israelis helping train elite units of the Georgian army with a squad of about 100 Israeli 'special advisers' were Reserve Major General Yisrael Ziv, 61, who served with distinction as commander of the paratroopers' elite reconnaissance unit during the First Lebanon War, euphemistically named by the Israeli government 'Operation Peace for Galilee', in 1982. He went on to serve in the occupied Gaza Strip and is now the CEO of a security consulting firm.

Better known to the outside world - and more controversial - was Reserve Brigadier General Gal Hirsch, who resigned from the Israeli army in the wake of official criticism of his dismal performance during the Second Lebanon War in 2006 as commander of the Galilee Division.

Hirsch is one of the owners of the security consulting firm Defensive Shield. His presence training the Georgian Special Forces earned him a memorably mocking riposte from Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon, who taunted: "Gal Hirsch, who was defeated in Lebanon, went to Georgia and they too lost because of him. Relying on Israeli experts and weapons, Georgia learnt why the Israeli generals failed. What happened in Georgia is a message to all those the Americans are seeking to entangle in dangerous adventures."

Allowing for the hyperbole of such an observation from the Shia leader, it was nevertheless a fair reflection of the interconnection between different conflicts. It probably also helps explain why, at least overtly, the Israeli Foreign Ministry is now anxiously trying to play down stories of Israel's military role in Georgia.

One official at the Foreign Ministry explained: "Israel needs to be very careful and sensitive these days. The Russians are selling many arms to Iran and Syria and there is no need to offer them an excuse to sell even more advanced weapons."