Reply #70: that may not be technically true..

[Aidoneus]

it's true that the Assad family has actually tried meticulously to keep Syria out of direct war with Israel (strange for all of their rhetoric) for about 30yrs, though when Israel invaded Lebanon in '82 they attacked the Syrian airforce and destroyed a few token air defense structures. Also, when Hizbullah's resistance operations were attacking the illegal Israeli occupiers in Lebanon a few years ago, I believe the IAF would occasionally take their anger out on Syrian buildings like radar stations/etc.

Not sure if that would technically count towards this figure.. this probably is serious, though I imagine the Syrian response would either be the high road of restraint for now (they turned the other way when US invaders butchered a convoy of innocent sheep smugglers in an act of reckless and unprovoked aggression, claiming it was "Saddam Hussein's convoy") or the exact opposite. If the latter, the Israelis may actually intend to provoke a bigger war (if Gissen's remarks elsewhere in this thread are accurate), in which case they may be biting off more than they can chew considering that they don't really have enough of an army to keep a police state over Palestine and invade at least 2 other Arab states at the same time.

Seems to be following the script nicely, I'm sure we'll have a fine parade of Israeli gov't figures across the networks for the next few days whipping up support for more adventurism, though I'm not really sure what they can do except threaten.