Mere Rhetoric: This Summer's War With Syria - Assad To Respond To Tribunal By Trying To Kill Jews

An international tribunal has been authorized to investigate the Hariri assassination, perhaps terminally endangering the Assad regime. So he's going to do what every other erstwhile dictator and demagogue does in the face of instability: try to kill Jews. Failing that, he's certainly going to do his best to make it about them:

The UN Security Council's decision to establish an international court to try Basher Assad and his relatives for the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has made the Syrian government frantic. This development may come at Israel's expense, as within the battle for his survival Assad may embark on a war against Israel sooner than expected. It's difficult not to notice that the Syrians are heading for war since they are convinced that Israel has lost its former "killer instinct" and fears a conflict... As a result of the last war they understood that there is no need for a large ground force, but rather, missiles aimed at dense Israeli population centers.

They're not exactly keeping their Hezbollah style reorganization a secret. Although the article reports that Russia has offered to give Syria missiles capable of reaching any point in Israel, it's not like they really need them. Iran has been providing Assad with most of the offensive capabilities that he'd need to devastate densely-packed Israeli population centers.. Which is why Assad is calling for even tighter cooperation with his Shiite overlords in Tehran:

Syrian President Bashar Assad has called for "better cooperation" between Damascus and Tehran in "the confrontation with the Zionist regime and the USA," according to a report published on Sunday by Iran's official state news agency, IRNA. The report... quoted a telephone conversation between the two leaders, after Ahmadinejad congratulated Assad on winning the Syrian elections.

The Russian missiles are mostly anti-aircraft batteries - so Putin isn't really helping Syria blanket Israeli cities with missiles, he's just helping them protect the weapons that will be blanketing Israeli cities with missiles.

References:
* Another Yom Kippur? [YNet]
* Syria Reorganizing Their Military Hezbollah-Style, Moving SCUDS To the Border To Target Israeli Population Centers [MR]
* This Summer's War With Syria, Iranian Coordination Edition [MR]
* 'Coordinate confrontation against Israel' [YNet]
* Syria Modernizing Its Airforce With Russian Help - War With Israel On The Horizon [MR]

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