It is no secret that Baku's occupation of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) has heralded the entrance of Israel to this sensitive region north of Iran.
Israel was the key military and diplomatic backer of Azerbaijan's campaign to seize this critical territory and its 138km border with Iran.
An earlier 2016 attempt failed in four days, as Armenia had a pro-Artsakh gov't, but found legs four years later, with anti-Artsakh Pashinyan installed in Yerevan.
Though the 2020 war, Israel finally got in Artsakh what Iran had in south Lebanon: an outpost directly on its enemy's border.
Armenian and Russian forces were withdrawn over the past three years, the former by Pashinyan's order, and the latter by Pashinyan's treasonous decision to recognize Artsakh as Azerbaijan.
Aliyev during this time period presided over construction of not one, not two, but three, airbases in the territory, and Israel began to build a "smart city" on the border with Iran.
Iran has tried to maintain the minimum of diplomatic engagement with Baku, while setting red lines regarding the last sliver of a border with Armenia, hence Iranian President Raisi's acceptance to inaugurate new infrastructure with Aliyev on the border this morning.
Mike
