JERUSALEM/MOSCOW (Reuters) - With the Obama administration in its final months, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been a more frequent and feted visitor to Moscow than Washington, his eye on shifting big-power influence in the Middle East.
No one expects Netanyahu, who was hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday for the third time in the last year, to break up Israel's bedrock alliance with the United States. But he is mindful of Putin's sway in the Syrian civil war and other Middle East crises as the U.S. footprint in the region wanes.