| Syria has spent the past few months constructing and moving infrastructure to its southern border that could be used to launch a war against Israel, senior defense officials have told The Jerusalem Post.
According to the officials, the Syrian military - while restricted in the number of troops it is allowed to deploy along the border - has moved military infrastructure, including fuel depots, closer to the frontier. The Syrians have also built structures in the area that could serve as weapons stores and military bases.
"There is no doubt that something out of the ordinary is taking place on the Syrian side of the border," a high-ranking official said.
The IDF and Syria raised their levels of alert along the Golan Heights during the second Lebanon war last summer. The IDF has noted a reinforcement of forces on the Syrian side but the meaning of the move is unclear. Some security officials believe Syria is preparing to initiate a war. Others believe that President Bashar Assad is concerned that Syria will be attacked by Israel as Lebanon was last summer, and that the beefing-up of forces is a defensive measure.
The commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), deployed in Israel and Syria and responsible for maintaining the cease-fire between the two countries, told the Post in an interview that he had not noticed any military changes on the ground.
from: "http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894553128&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull" http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894553128&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
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Carl in Jerusalem at Israel Matzav is going out on a limb ? he says the new war will begin soon, only this time he thinks it will skip the proxy and go straight to the patron. He?s predicting an imminent war between Israel and Syria.
Carl bases his prognosis on recent stories about the movement of Syrian arms and personnel, and the shipment of advanced weaponry from Russia to Syria. According to an article in the Jerusalem Post, Syria has recently massed troops and equipment on the border between Israel and Syria, increasing their presence there to levels not seen for many years.
Haaretz and Jerusalem Post have reported on the flow of advanced weaponry to Syria from Russia. Diplomatic attempts to get the Russians to scale back their arms sales to Syria have been brushed aside ? the Russians are always ready to sell, and in Boy Assad they have found a buyer.
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The Syrians reportedly were impressed with the success that Hizbullah had using the latest Russian-made anti-tank missiles. Even the best Israeli tank armor was vulnerable to Hizbullah?s missile attacks. The Chinless Ophthalmologist in Damascus has put the new missiles onto his must-have list, and they and other Russian armaments are flowing into Syria.
Here?s the bottom line from Carl: I?ve already gone out on a limb and said that I believe that there will be another war in the north by late spring or early summer. I?ll go further: May 24. That?s the day after the Shavuoth holiday here. I believe war will happen on the northern front no later than May 24. You heard it here first.
from: "http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2007/03/war-between-israel-and-syria.html" http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2007/03/war-between-israel-and-syria.html
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