Yesterday, Israeli airplanes struck at least one target inside Syria. Israel is concerned about two things – missiles and other military equipment that Iran ships to Syria that is often intended for Hezbollah, and the chance that Syria’s cache of chemical weapons might end up in the wrong hands with the govenment being so weak and on the run. This strike was allegedly against an Iranian truck convoy carrying missiles to Hezbollah inside Syrian. Hezbollah of course is committed to the destruction of the Israeli state.
In another context, this strike might have led to extreme tension and the threat of war, but Syria’s government really has its hands full and may not survive in the end. In the Israeli government’s collective mind, any significant weapons shipment to a terrorist organization is a legitimate target, especially when they are missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv, Israel’s largest city by far. Hezbollah says it knows nothing about the strike. Right! That seems to confirm the report that it was either a shipment for Hezbollah or a Hezbollah convoy.
I don’t think this activity will have much effect on energy prices because of the Syrian government’s inability to retalliate and the fact that no other Middle Eastern country wants to jump in on behalf of the current failing Syrian government.
Hezbollah is also concerned about the state of things in Syria. It is believed to have stored a great deal of military equipment and weaponry along the Syria-Lebanon border, just inside Syria, They are supposedly moving that into the relative safety of Lebanon.
There is also a spreading rumor mentioned in the Jerusalem Post and seconded by a retired CIA agent, that Israel has somehow sabotaged on a major scale, the Iranian nuclear facility at Fordow, even perhaps another one in Tehran.
Israel seems to feel increasingly threatened and in the current state of things, increasingly able to attack some of these enemy targets without retaliation. This is a situation worth watching.