In a lengthy telephone conversation on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu discussed ways of coordinating their nations’ respective fights against terrorism. The conversation came against a background of suggestions by Arab sources that Moscow was complicit in the assassination on Saturday of Hizbullah icon Samir Kantar in a hit most believe was carried out by Israel. Keeping to its policy of neither confirming nor denying such events, Jerusalem has not commented. While Israel and Russia have established a communications mechanism to avoid confusion and possible collisions by their air forces operating in the skies above Syria, there has been no confirmation that Russia had been forewarned of the mission to take out Kantar. Released in the 2008 prisoner swap after being jailed since he carried out a notorious terrorist attack in northern Israel in 1979, Kantar was stationed by the Lebanon-based Hizbullah in the Golan Heights, reportedly with responsibility for recruiting fighters for the terrorist organization and coordinating armed attacks against Israel. Arab media posit that if Moscow was not in the loop in the operation against Kantar, Syria would have activated the Russian-built S-300 defensive missile system recently deployed there. Observers also note the Putin-Netanyahu talks come as the long-strained Israel-Turkey relationship appears to be on the mend at the same time Moscow’s relationship with Ankara continues to deteriorate. On Wednesday, Amnesty International accused Russia of using illegal cluster ammunition, bombing civilian neighborhoods and killing hundreds of non-combatants. The report cited six specific examples in Homs, Aleppo and Idlib provinces.