So it appears that Assad and his Iranian patrons want to divert Syrian anger from Assad to Israel. Our administration certainly blames Syria for recent border incidents:
The White House is blaming Syria for inciting deadly protests across its border and into the Israeli-held Golan Heights.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday [the border incidents were] intended to draw attention from the Syrian government's violent crackdown on its own people who are pushing for reforms.
Of course, if Assad's people really do hate Israel more than Assad, losing a conflict with Israel could be a death blow to his regime, as I've speculated.
If beating Israel is the only reason the people cab be diverted from their current desire for the overthrow of Assad, what use is he to them if he loses to Israel?
UPDATE: It sure sounds like Assad wants to stir up trouble with Israel to distract his people, but has to know that his military is incapable of defeating Israel:
“It’s a message by the Syrian government for Israel and the international community: If you continue the pressure on us, we will ignite the front with Israel,” said Radwan Ziadeh, a Syrian dissident and visiting scholar at George Washington University.
The message carried profound risks in a combustible region. Israel is perceived as preferring Mr. Assad’s government to an alternative that could empower Islamists, though Israeli officials stringently deny that. Poorly equipped and neglected, Syria remains utterly incapable of waging war, with its military deployed across the country in a ferocious crackdown on the two-month uprising. And even in Syria, some suspected that the Palestinians were being manipulated, though some warned that an even more aggressive Israeli response could quickly change that.
“Oh, Maher, you coward, send your army to the Golan,” protesters chanted just last week at Mr. Assad’s brother, who leads the elite Republican Guard and the Fourth Division, which has taken the lead in military operations against restive cities.
“The idea of war against Israel hasn’t even been part of Syria’s mindset for a long time,” said Louay Hussein, a prominent dissident who met with an adviser to Mr. Assad last week in what the government has called the beginning of a dialogue. “The Syrian government doesn’t have a strategy. Its political performance is based on improvisation.”
But Assad's military may also be unable to defeat the protesters, with insufficient loyal troops available to shoot at too many protesters. So trying to reduce the number of protesters by getting them to direct their anger at Israel may seem the only answer to the current problem.
This is a fine line to walk. Assad has to incite enough of the Syrian people with threat of war with Israel so that there aren't too many protesters for his military to handle; yet avoid inciting conflict with Israel to the extent that Syria provokes Israel to defeat Syria's military in battle--which would thoroughly discredit Assad's regime that rests on opposing Israel.
