On 8 November just past, the US Ambassador for Syria was received in Moscow. Following this, when they met in Paris on 11 November to commemorate the end of the First World War, Russian President Vladamir Putin had brief interviews with his US partner, Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Russia proposed mediation with a view to loosening the tight grip the US sanctions regime was holding on the Iranian economy. In exchange, Iran’s military would retreat from Syria.

Several questions are raised. In particular, we need to ascertain if Washington is ready to leave Russia alone in Syria and if Iran has sufficient authority over Hezbollah — as the US and Israel claims it has – in order to compel it to withdraw.