Israeli involvement in Syria will only increase- With a massive supply of chemical weapons that may, and the probability increases daily of falling into rebel hands. With Syria attempting to upgrade Hezbollah's weapons. The attacks, air attacks will only increase.
If Hezbollah attacks Israel then prepare for a destructive war.
And the natural reaction will be to condemn Israel.
Israel, Hizballah Spar as Syria's War Threatens to Spin Out of Control | TIME.com
A dangerous game of brinkmanship is unfolding in the Middle East pitting Israel against Syria and its militant Shi‘ite ally Hizballah in what threatens to expand the two-year Syrian civil war into a full-blown regional conflict. On three separate occasions since January — two of them within 48 hours of each other last Friday and Sunday — Israeli jets have attacked Syrian military bases, targeting consignments of advanced weaponry supplied allegedly by Iran that were pending transfer to Hizballah across the nearby border with Lebanon. The air raids were unprecedented. Israel has never before risked striking at Hizballah’s Iranian-supplied weapons inside Syria.
For now, though, Israel’s gamble seems to have paid off. Other than some initial huffing and puffing from Damascus, no immediate retaliation was forthcoming. But rather than acting as a deterrence, the air strikes appear to have galvanized Syria to promise even greater amounts of sophisticated weaponry to Hizballah and also to announce the launch of a popular resistance campaign to liberate the Golan Heights, the strategic volcanic plateau in the southwest corner of the country that has been occupied by Israel since 1967.
Israel’s intervention into the grueling Syrian civil war comes amid faint glimmers of a diplomatic breakthrough with the U.S. and Russia agreeing to an international conference to help end a conflict that has left more than 70,000 people dead. But the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has gained some tactical military successes of late, launching mini-offensives to retake territory previously lost to opposition rebels. The rebel setbacks may have strengthened the Assad regime’s grim resolve to win the conflict, especially given its confidence in the continued support of regional allies, Iran and Hizballah.
Certainly, the Syrian offer to supply more advanced weaponry to Hizballah has been warmly received. “This is a critical strategic decision,” said Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, Hizballah’s leader, in a televised speech Thursday evening. “We, the resistance in Lebanon, announce that we are ready to receive any sort of physical weaponry, even if it is going to disturb the [military] balance [in the Middle East],” Nasrallah added. “We are ready to receive these weapons, and we are competent enough to possess them. We will use these weapons to defend our people and our country.”
Syria’s embattled government has additionally served notice that any further air strikes by Israel will incur an immediate — albeit unspecified — retaliation. “The instruction has been made to respond immediately to any new Israeli attack without [additional] instruction from any higher leadership and our retaliation will be strong and painful against Israel,” Faisal Miqdad, Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister, told Agence France-Presse in an interview Thursday. His comments echo previous reports this week in Syrian media loyal to the Assad regime that missile batteries will be able to respond to another Israeli air attack.
The sophistication of the weaponry allegedly being transferred to Hizballah today underlines not only Israeli concerns but also the huge expansion of the group’s military capabilities over the past two decades. Twenty years ago, the largest rocket facing Israel from Lebanon was the 122-mm Katyusha with a range of about 12 miles, just far enough to cross Israel’s then-occupied border strip in south Lebanon and threaten a narrow ribbon of northern Israel. Since then, the Israelis have watched as Hizballah’s rocket arsenal has grown in size and quality: first came Iranian 240-mm Fajr-3 and 333-mm Fajr-5 rockets, which placed Haifa, 25 miles south of the Lebanese border, within range for the first time. Then came Syrian 220-mm and 302-mm rockets followed by the Iranian 600-mm Zelzal-1 and Zelzal-2s, the latter possessing a range of some 125 miles.
Israeli officials wrung their hands amid the buildup, unwilling to risk a war by attacking the arms depots in Syria or convoys moving into Lebanon. Instead they called for international pressure to check the flow of arms and regularly aired their assessments of Hizballah’s latest rocket tallies: 8,000 in 2000, rising to 10,000 two years later and 13,000 on the eve of war in 2006.
Hizballah’s military clout has helped ensure that the party remains the dominant political and military force in Lebanon. It insists that its formidable military might is necessary to defend Lebanon against future Israeli aggression, a justification that wins little sympathy from Hizballah’s critics, who fear the influence the party’s weapons bring to bear on the domestic scene.
If Hezbollah attacks Israel then prepare for a destructive war.
And the natural reaction will be to condemn Israel.
Israel, Hizballah Spar as Syria's War Threatens to Spin Out of Control | TIME.com
A dangerous game of brinkmanship is unfolding in the Middle East pitting Israel against Syria and its militant Shi‘ite ally Hizballah in what threatens to expand the two-year Syrian civil war into a full-blown regional conflict. On three separate occasions since January — two of them within 48 hours of each other last Friday and Sunday — Israeli jets have attacked Syrian military bases, targeting consignments of advanced weaponry supplied allegedly by Iran that were pending transfer to Hizballah across the nearby border with Lebanon. The air raids were unprecedented. Israel has never before risked striking at Hizballah’s Iranian-supplied weapons inside Syria.
For now, though, Israel’s gamble seems to have paid off. Other than some initial huffing and puffing from Damascus, no immediate retaliation was forthcoming. But rather than acting as a deterrence, the air strikes appear to have galvanized Syria to promise even greater amounts of sophisticated weaponry to Hizballah and also to announce the launch of a popular resistance campaign to liberate the Golan Heights, the strategic volcanic plateau in the southwest corner of the country that has been occupied by Israel since 1967.
Israel’s intervention into the grueling Syrian civil war comes amid faint glimmers of a diplomatic breakthrough with the U.S. and Russia agreeing to an international conference to help end a conflict that has left more than 70,000 people dead. But the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has gained some tactical military successes of late, launching mini-offensives to retake territory previously lost to opposition rebels. The rebel setbacks may have strengthened the Assad regime’s grim resolve to win the conflict, especially given its confidence in the continued support of regional allies, Iran and Hizballah.
Certainly, the Syrian offer to supply more advanced weaponry to Hizballah has been warmly received. “This is a critical strategic decision,” said Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, Hizballah’s leader, in a televised speech Thursday evening. “We, the resistance in Lebanon, announce that we are ready to receive any sort of physical weaponry, even if it is going to disturb the [military] balance [in the Middle East],” Nasrallah added. “We are ready to receive these weapons, and we are competent enough to possess them. We will use these weapons to defend our people and our country.”
Syria’s embattled government has additionally served notice that any further air strikes by Israel will incur an immediate — albeit unspecified — retaliation. “The instruction has been made to respond immediately to any new Israeli attack without [additional] instruction from any higher leadership and our retaliation will be strong and painful against Israel,” Faisal Miqdad, Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister, told Agence France-Presse in an interview Thursday. His comments echo previous reports this week in Syrian media loyal to the Assad regime that missile batteries will be able to respond to another Israeli air attack.
The sophistication of the weaponry allegedly being transferred to Hizballah today underlines not only Israeli concerns but also the huge expansion of the group’s military capabilities over the past two decades. Twenty years ago, the largest rocket facing Israel from Lebanon was the 122-mm Katyusha with a range of about 12 miles, just far enough to cross Israel’s then-occupied border strip in south Lebanon and threaten a narrow ribbon of northern Israel. Since then, the Israelis have watched as Hizballah’s rocket arsenal has grown in size and quality: first came Iranian 240-mm Fajr-3 and 333-mm Fajr-5 rockets, which placed Haifa, 25 miles south of the Lebanese border, within range for the first time. Then came Syrian 220-mm and 302-mm rockets followed by the Iranian 600-mm Zelzal-1 and Zelzal-2s, the latter possessing a range of some 125 miles.
Israeli officials wrung their hands amid the buildup, unwilling to risk a war by attacking the arms depots in Syria or convoys moving into Lebanon. Instead they called for international pressure to check the flow of arms and regularly aired their assessments of Hizballah’s latest rocket tallies: 8,000 in 2000, rising to 10,000 two years later and 13,000 on the eve of war in 2006.
Hizballah’s military clout has helped ensure that the party remains the dominant political and military force in Lebanon. It insists that its formidable military might is necessary to defend Lebanon against future Israeli aggression, a justification that wins little sympathy from Hizballah’s critics, who fear the influence the party’s weapons bring to bear on the domestic scene.
