Like I wrote above, I’m not convinced Israel wanted Assad removed. I don’t see how they benefit from it. Perhaps I am wrong, or perhaps they tried to play both sides against the middle.
Of note, Israel and Russian ties has warmed up a bit over Obama’s term. Also of note, the Israeli natural gas find and the pipeline they are building into Europe is going to put a dent into Russian’s near monopoly in supplying gas to Europe. Anyway, in my opinion Israel wants stability over chaos and while no doubt Syria and Iran supply Hezbullah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, those kinds of militias do not exist in Syria and attacks do not come from Syria because unlike Hamas and Hezbullah Assad does have things to lose. So he goes along with the proxy war, leaving Israel no pretext to attack Syria. But if he is removed, then a 3rd wild front could be opened and I don’t see Israel gaining a thing from that.
“I’m not convinced Israel wanted Assad removed. I don’t see how they benefit from it”.
It’s all about priorities. Israel has made it clear that Shia Iran is their greatest existential enemy. Shia Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon is number two. The Shiite Assad is friendly with Iran and has direct alliances with Hezbollah in fighting the Sunni Salafists in Southern Syria.
In my opinion, this makes him a marked man as far as Israel is concerned.