Israel and Syria - Is War Coming?
Jerusalem----October 8......Syria President Bashar Assad stated yesterday that the Syria military is now preparing for war with Israel. This statement leaves many wondering what the Syrians have been doing before today? The eye doctor turned dictator of Syria badly needs glasses. During the second Lebanon war this past summer, Assad and Syria allowed Iranian military personnel, weapons and Katusha rockets to flow from Iran to Hezbollah fighters on Israel's border with Lebanon. Before the war, Syria allowed arms, Iranian military and rockets to flow into Lebanon to be used against Israel. Damascus, Syria has been serving as the headquarters for Hezbollah, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and a host of other Islamic terror organizations fighting US forces in Iraq and taking daily aim at Israel. Hezbollah is the same group which gave us the murder of 241 American servicemen - peace keepers, who died in a terror suicide bombing at Beirut airport in 1983. Syria has and continues to "harbor and support" terrorists which are bent at destroying anything which is not Islamic. And Assad now states that Syria is preparing for war? Syria has been in a state of war with Israel since the tiny and democratic Jewish nation was created in 1948. Syria continues to expand its arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. The Syrians can now manufacture several hundred tons of chemical warfare agents per year at four separate production facilities. In late 2005, Jane's Defence Weekly reported that Iran was providing technical assistance to help Syria develop the means to produce VX and Sarin nerve agents and mustard blister agent. Even more worrisome is a U.S. intelligence report issued in May 2006 that says Pakistani investigators have confirmed reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that the covert Pakistani supplier group headed by A.Q. Khan “offered nuclear technology and hardware to Syria.” Syria conducts nuclear research at three facilities located at Dayr, Al Hajar and Dubaya. Any action that Israel would now take would be a defensive one. And it would be greatly overdue. The best time to strike Syria would be now. The weather has cooled off from the searing Middle-East summer. And we have another two months before the rains begin. Ground forces do well when the earth is dry. Tanks and personnel carriers don't get stuck in cakes of mud. At Israel's army headquarters in Tel Aviv, there must be dozens of contingent plans for a war with Syria. Will it be what we expect, an October war or will we surprise everyone and find ourselves outside of Damascus as the clouds and rain move in. If anyone dares to think about the use of non-conventional weapons being deployed by Syria and Iran, then a winter war with rains deluding the chemicals would fit the script. Assad told the Quwait newspaper Al-Anba yesterday that Israel could attack Syria "at any moment." That "We (Syria) must remain ready at all times. We have begun preparations within the framework of our options." Assad also said he believes Israel has abandoned the peace process. The last thing that Israel wants is a war. A war with Syria, Iran or any nation is just bad business. It keeps the tourists and venture capital investment away. On the other hand, Syria is begging for a war. Having supplied Katusha rockets to Hezbollah, rockets which poured down on Israel civilian cities and towns was not really an act of peace or a good will gesture being made from Syria. Israel would rather be trading bread and butter with Syria than bullets and bombs. But Assad wants a war. Assad thinks that Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert needs a war to regain popularity in Israel. What Assad does not see, is that Israel, unlike Syria is not a totalitarian regime. The people of Israel will not go to war to solve Olmert's political problems. But they will go to war, an all out war to protect their families from acts of terrorism. Assad wants a war. He smells blood like a shark who believes that Israel was defeated by Hizbullah in Lebanon. That Israel was not prepared, sending IDF soldiers without water and food into Lebanon. Not being able to stop a rain of Katusha rockets from falling on Kiryat Shomona, Nahariya and Haifa. That Israel is weak, her people are divided, its leadership under attack from all directions. Perhaps that is the image that Israel wanted to provide Syria and Iran? Perhaps Assad has not learned from past wars with Israel. Perhaps Assad is banking on getting additional support from Iran, a country for which Israel intelligence knows the color of the underwear that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is now wearing. An Islamic blemish which supplied Syria with hundreds of extended-range North Korean Scud-C missiles, and is reportedly building its own ballistic missiles from imported technology. In 2003, Syria was said to have a new Scud-D missile, developed with North Korean assistance, which has a range of 300 miles (sufficient to cover all of Israel). The missile is also capable of carrying chemical weapons. Assad may very well think that Israel is unprepared. But as you read this editorial, Israeli forces are now on high alert on the Golan Heights. “In the past we prepared for a possible military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities,” said one Israel security source, “but Iran’s growing confidence after the war in Lebanon means we have to prepare for a full-scale war, in which Syria will be an important player.” A new infantry brigade has been formed named Kfir (lion cub), which will be the largest in the Israel army. “It is a partial solution for the challenge of the Syria commando brigades, which are considered better than Hezbollah’s,” an IDF military source said. From
the Bekaa valley in Lebanon to Tartus, Syria - Israel forces may already be waiting
for the signal. What
can Assad do? For starters he can shut down the offices of the Palestinian terror
organizations in Damascus and ban their members' activity. Assad can announce
that he agrees to meet with the prime minister of Israel in one of the two capitals
or in a neutral place, as a first step toward peace negotiations. To compromise
on the Golan Heights, for Israel depends on the Golan for much of its water. The greatest victory in war is peace. We could still attain peace, save the bullets and thousands of lives. It's up to Assad. If Assad chooses to remain blind, then the next Israel combat fighter jet "flyover" to take place over Syria President Bashar al-Assad's palace in the city of Latakia will not be a warning. It will not be an exercise. The exercises are over. And so is the saber rattling. Expect IDF forces to have water, food and additional supplies that Syrian forces will not see, but will deeply feel. The days of Syria exporting regional, international Islamic terrorism and verbal diarrhea from Damascus are rapidly coming to an end.
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