Russia's expanding role in the Middle East took center stage last week when Israel faced off against Iran in Syria. Troops on the ground in Syria puts the Kremlin in a position where it can mediate between sides. CGTN's Stephanie Freid spoke with Israel's former ambassador to Russia, and an analyst on the Syrian situation, to get more on Russia's role.

ZVI MAGEN FORMER ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA "If you want to be a superpower, you're supposed to be involved in every crisis in the world. Otherwise, no one knows about you. Russia is in a fight for her international position as a power, a superpower."

ZVI MAGEN FORMER ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA "Of course Russia has interests in the Middle East itself because it's a good opportunity to have a military presence here, it's a good opportunity to sell arms but mainly - the main reason - is a global, political one. Now Russia has to find a future political solution for Syria and this is a very very complicated situation."

ZVI MAGEN FORMER ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA "Iran would like to have the whole Syria for itself to create an empire of Iran. Turks would like to push Iranians further south and to keep for themselves part of Syria and not to allow to the Kurds to create their own autonomy. Saudi Arabia is a very important country around this table and would like to stop or to block Iranians. Israel is against Iranian presence in Syria. It's not a big secret that if Iranians will stay in Syria it will be a war between Israel and Iran."

SHLOMO BROM FORMER IDF BRIGADIER GENERAL "The Syrian regime, as well as Iran knows that Israel is capable of changing the balance of power in Syria mostly with its immense air power."

ZVI MAGEN FORMER ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA "Russia's main lever in this game, on a global level, is to be a kind of mediator - a kind of go-between, when it goes, when it works, it's a great achievement for them."

SHLOMO BROM FORMER IDF BRIGADIER GENERAL "Israel has some maneuverability space here in its operations and so on. But of course, there is always the risk of miscalculation that will lead to a much larger conflict."

ZVI MAGEN FORMER ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA "The main problem is not the negotiation in the Middle East - the main problem or the main goal is to achieve something about the problem in Eastern Europe. Speaking about NATO and Ukraine and sanctions. So for Russians this Middle Eastern crisis is an opportunity to be a mediator."