Wednesday, August 29, 2007

No Golan War?

The Israelis are pulling back ground troops from the Golan Heights region:


The decision by Israel's military followed months of growing tensions along the frontier and concerns that the escalation could result in war. Over the summer, media reports of impending war alternated with announcements by Syrian and Israeli leaders that they had no interest in hostilities.

The Israeli officials said Syria's military has now reduced its war readiness, but offered no details because the exact steps taken by the Syrians are classified.


I never thought that Syria was seriously considering a ground attack on Israel. Their strategy seemed more likely to be a terror and missile war with dug-in infantry along the border fighting defensively to bleed any Israeli ground attack, like the Hizbollah War of last summer. Syrian action would be in coordination with any Hizbollah and/or Hamas rocket barrage.

So Israel must see something regarding Syria's missile forces, I'd guess.

And of course, this doesn't mean that Hizbollah and Hamas won't strike while Syria stands aside.