Russia has asked Israel to avoid launching aerial strikes as part of its offensive against Lebanon’s Hezbollah near one of Moscow’s bases in Syria, a top official said, according to . “Israel actually carried out an air strike in the immediate vicinity of Hmeimim,” Alexander Lavrentiev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy in the Near East, told the press agency. “Our military has of course notified Israeli authorities that such acts that put Russian military lives in danger over there are unacceptable,” he added.