Israel treading carefully to avoid war with Syria

Image by MATEUS_27:24&25 via Flickr

Ezekiel 38
Gog and Allies Attack Israel
1 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh,[a] Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, 3 and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. 4 I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. 5 Persia, Ethiopia,[b] and Libya[c] are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6 Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops—many people are with you.
7 “Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them.

clipped from www.haaretz.com In the last few weeks, Israel has been at pains to cool tensions with Syria and prevent misunderstandings that could spiral into confrontation on its northern border. huge central command training exercise, "Firestones 12", which took place in the north last week, conspicuously omitted simulations of war with Syria. Instead, the IDF fought mock battles in preparation for clashes with Hezbollah in Lebanon or Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Recent weeks have seen increasingly frequent references by senior figures in Iran, Syria and Hezbollah of the prospect of war with Israel, which they accuse of planning a confrontation. Last week the Syrian and Iranian presidents held talks with the heads of Hamas and Hezbollah in Damascus, where Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proclaimed in a speech that the "Zionist regime" was approaching its demise.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Patrick Galey: Nasrallah and Ahmadinejad's Banquet of Defiance (huffingtonpost.com)
• Iran vows to stand by Hezbollah against Israel (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Obama's Middle East opportunities (trueslant.com)
• Iran and Syria deny arms claims (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Iran and Syria deny arms claims (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Hezbollah chief meets Ahmadinejad (news.bbc.co.uk)
• A route to resolution for Syria and Israel | Gabrielle Rifkind (guardian.co.uk)