Arab nations have long been making sensational claims about Israel attacking them. Syria made such a claim a little over a week ago, and it was eventually confirmed by western intelligence sources that this time Israel did indeed conduct a raid on a Syrian target.
The mission has been the focus of intense speculation. The latest reports now claim the foray into Syrian airspace was an Israeli air strike directly linked to a North Korean shipment of suspected nuclear material that was delivered to Syria three days before the attack.
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad told a Lebanese newspaper said that he had a meeting with his Russian counterpart, that growing tension could spark a violent outbreak in the region, and that Syria has the "means to respond in ways that will preserve its position of power."
In an interview with Newsweek , Syria 's ambassador to Washington, Imad Moustapha, said that Israel would "pay a price" for violating Syria 's airspace. He said it went against Syria's national interests not to respond to Israel 's provocation. He also denied reports in the U.S. media that the IAF had been targeting a nuclear project that Syria was developing in cooperation with North Korea.
Israel's bold strike on Syria 's nuclear material is solid evidence that an attack on the Iranian nuclear program is just a matter of time. Analysts had speculated that Iran will try to generate trouble in Israel's immediate neighborhood to block such an attack.
The last time Israel and Syria were at war with each other was in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War. The Syrian and Egyptian armies caught Israel completely off-guard, and the Jewish state came very close to losing that war.
Back in 1973, the Jewish state had some nuclear capabilities, but it did not have the type of rapid response that could be quickly deployed at a moment's notice. Many intelligence sources say Israel had made preparations to use Jericho missiles and the nuclear strike F-4s for action against targets that included Damascus.
The next conflict between Israel and Syria will be nothing like any previous war. Both nations have weapons of mass destruction that only require the press of a finger to send them firing at each other's population centers. Israel has around 300 nuclear weapons, and Syria has stockpiles of chemical weapons.
One of the most dangerous factors at work in the Middle East is the idea that a conflict can be contained. Israel launched its attack against Syria with the belief that Damascus would do nothing. Syria has been giving arms to Hezbollah with the belief that any conflict would remain confined between Hezbollah fighters and Israel .
History indicates that this type of thinking always ends in disaster as events eventually spiral out of control. I'm reminded of the Chernobyl power plant accident. The scientists were tinkering around with the reactor. They turned off the cool water to the reactor to bring the power up. Once the fatal error was made, it only took a fraction of a second for the water in the reactor to flash to steam and blow off the top of the building with the force of a ton of TNT.
At some point, Israel and Syria are going to reach their uncontrolled flashpoints. The involvement of key prophecy players like Russia and Iran in this potential conflict leads me to suspect that the progression of Bible prophecy is an equally unstoppable flashpoint.