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This Summer's War With Syria - Israel Launches Massive Defensive Training Maneuvers On the Golan

The Assads have been threatening to take back the Golan ever since they were disciplined like errant schoolchildren in the Six Day War. That said, Syria's recent and aggressive mobilization on Israel's border makes the recent threats seem more serious. Certainly the IDF is taking it seriously:

The IDF on Thursday held intensive training maneuvers in preparation for a feared Syrian attack on the Golan Heights. Hundreds of tanks and thousands of soldiers, backed by helicopters and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, massed in the Judean Desert to drill simulations of war. The training exercise focused on Brigade 401 and its utilization of Israel's most advanced tank - the Merkava Mark 4 - against the Syrian advanced Russian-made T-72. Since the Second Lebanon War, Military Intelligence has claimed that war with Syria is now closer than ever, and the IDF is on heightened alert in the North in preparation for the possibility of a surprise attack.

Or course, that assumes that Israel will have those troops available to fight that war at that time. Any war with Syria will probably be preceded by some Hezbollah stunt designed to draw out Israel's forces into Lebanon. Even if that's not how it starts, you can be quite certain that Hezbollah will make its presence felt once Israeli and Syrian forces engage each other. Syrian generals haven't been spending time in Tehran for nothing.

Of course, any situation involving an actual invasion of Israeli territory definitionally represents an existential threat. That means that the IAF is let off the leash in terms of degrading Hezbollah's infrastructure, to say nothing of what will happen to Damascus. The calculus between military force and international condemnation changes when the alternative is the destruction of Israel.

References:
* Syria Reorganizing Their Military Hezbollah-Style, Moving SCUDS To the Border To Target Israeli Population Centers [MR]
* IDF prepares for Syrian attack on Golan [JPost]
* This Summer's War With Syria, Iranian Coordination Edition [MR]

Previously:
* Syria is Hiding Weapons in Civilian Aid Convoys. Of Course They Are.
* Screw Syria
* Who's Sending Arms to Hezbollah and Syria Today?

Cross-posted to:
* Israpundit

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