So they’re sending more troops to Iraq, and of course the ostensible reason is to help quell the ever-spreading insurgency, with their purported destination said to be Baghdad. But there’s another possibility: are they positioning to move against Syria? Damascus is next, says Bashar al-Assad — and the he’s mobilized the Syrian army to back up his contention.
Every day the Israelis bomb closer to the Syrian-Lebanese border: it wouldn’t take much to push them over the edge. As I wrote on July 21:
“Bashar al-Assad is a pincer movement away from being deposed. A right hook from U.S.-occupied Iraq and a left from the Israelis would knock out the last remaining Ba’athists “Â
I see Antiwar.com blogger Margaret Griffis is on the case ….
UPDATE: An Israeli airborne commando unit has dropped into Baalbeck, about 12 miles from the Syrian border. CNN reports they have taken control of a Hezbollah hospital:Â Israeli special ops are said to have checked the identification papers of all medical personnel and patients, supposedly looking for a “high value” target, perhaps a member of Hezbollah’s “shura” or high command.
This report, however, claims that the raid was prompted by a belief that the two captured Israeli soldiers — remember them? — were being held there:
“The Israeli army confirmed Wednesday that paratroopers landed in helicopters near the city Baalbeck in north-eastern Lebanon and that a number of ‘terrorists’ were taken prisoner. The prisoners were brought to Israel and “all soldiers returned to to their base in Israel” without any casualties, said an Israeli army spokeswoman without giving further details of the overnight raid.Â
“…Â Lebanese security sources said that reports from the area suggested that Israeli troops were pursuing suspicions that two abducted Israeli soldiers were being held or treated inside the hospital.”