Damascus denies Israel bought millions of Russian vaccines for Syria

Several media have cited “senior sources in Tel Aviv” as revealing that the purchase of millions of Russian vaccines for Syria was secretly embodied in the Moscow-brokered swap deal for recovering an Israeli woman detained in Syria

The Israeli woman returned home on Friday, after Israel handed over to Damascus two Syrian shepherds and pardoned a Syrian woman under house arrest. Publication was banned of an “extra price” paid for the deal. It was claimed by foreign media to have included Israel’s purchase of millions of doses of the Russian Sputnik V covid vaccine for Syria, a report subsequently denied by Syria as an Israeli attempt to present an “humanitarian” face.

However, on Wednesday, during negotiations for the Israeli woman’s release, the first  2,000 doses of the Russian vaccine were allowed to cross into the Gaza Strip, delivered “by the Palestinian Authority” after a long delay.

The day before, Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center announced an order of 1.5 million doses of the Russian vaccine against the coronavirus.