The Syrian civil war has truly gone international, after Hezbollah terrorists from Lebanon attempted to plant explosives near the Israel border with Syria. Despite being from Syria’s neighbor, Hezbollah has been fighting inside Syria on behalf of the Syrian regime for some time. But Wednesday’s border attack on Israel from inside Syria highlights the regional range the fight is reaching.
Israel didn’t take any chances, with the IDF Twitter feed reporting that Israeli forces fired at the terrorists and recorded direct hits. The Washington Post reported that an anonymous Israeli official said that Hezbollah border explosives have been planted before. Such incidents are increasing, he said.
The Syrian civil war has been bigger than just one country for a while. Hezbollah receives plenty of weapons and support via Syria and has joined the fight to defend their brutal patron. Meanwhile, Israel has had to face errant bullets and the like from Syria as the civil war has reached the border region.
Still, terrorists intentionally placing a bomb along the fence—and the fact that such incidents are increasing—is a sign for the worst.
After Israel recently bombed a weapons shipment bound for Hezbollah, most analysis doubted Hezbollah would do much in response for fear of provoking a conflict with Israel. After all, Hezbollah is already tied up in Syria and Lebanon.
But the fence bomb attempt raises questions about how far Hezbollah is willing to go. Could they eventually be bold enough to kill Israelis in an attack? It’s a possibility that has been very unlikely ever since the Second Israel-Lebanon war in 2006.
Now? It’s still unlikely. Too risky. But when it comes to terrorists, you never really know. And that’s scary.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, March 6, 2014)