A few months ago I said Jameel was wrong when he said that we would be at war in the near future. I proved to be right.

But now, I think war is around the corner. Perhaps in as close as a month or two.

If you read a variety of papers, they all have their own little tidbits here or there describing what Syria is doing and responses by the Israeli government. Nothing in one big article (except here), and certainly this is all something being downplayed in Israel.

Russia is giving (has given?) Syria a serious weapons boost with the SA-18 anti-aircraft system.

Not enough to fight a war with, unless you are looking for a local war, say on the Golan Heights.

In that case, the Scuds and Katyushas that Syria (and Hizbollah) have (and they have enough) are enough to seriously cause major damage and disruptions (as Israel has no defense against them) while they send massive troops (and they have enough to throw away there too) to physically take over the Golan, while their very advanced anti-aircraft and anti-tank systems (as well as their very low-tech ones too) keep Israeli forces at bay.

Think about this for a second.

1) Israel has no effective defense against the myriad of long-range Scud-D (and Chinese C-802) missiles that Syria can rain down on us. (Our navy has a defense against the C-802 but only if they remember to turn the system on).
2) Israel may have no effective way to retaliate against Syria by air if Syria get their SA-18s in play.
3) Syria could probably hold off our troops with massive targeted artillery shelling.
4) Syria has already stepped up their troops near the Golan, and they have been practicing.
5) Syria wants the Golan.
6) Syria sees our still incompetent leadership and doesn’t expect much more from them this year (no one does actually).

Is this not an invitation to war?

I am worried that our politicians may not make the right choices, may avoid concepts like “total victory” and “preemptive strike”.

I am worried we may lose the Golan. After all, there is only one real issue here: Syria just needs to occupy the Golan long enough for them to get a cease-fire in play, and then we’ve lost it.