Last week, I was on the Golan Heights, a mountainous area where Israel and Syria meet.  In Israeli hands, this bitterly contested frontier has nonetheless for the past four decades been one of the world’s most quiet.

I could hear heavy weapons fire from Syria’s civil war in the distance, though.  And this week, some two hundred of Bashir Assad’s armored vehicles have been shooting at rebel forces so close to the border that two Israeli soldiers were injured yesterday.

The last time massed Syrian armor fired on the Golan was to launch the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Ever since it won, Israel has been told to return the Heights to Assad.  Had the Israelis foolishly done so, instead of a civil war in Syria, the next regional conflict might already have started.

Frank Gaffney, Jr.
Latest posts by Frank Gaffney, Jr. (see all)

Please Share: