The following is what a high-ranking Israeli politico, of the kind that is deeply involved in the goings-on and makes the fateful decisions, had to say this week. “Nobody knows how all this is going to end in Syria.” He continued, “It turns out that it’s much more complicated and complex than we thought. The conflict there has three prongs. It’s national, religious and ethnic. Everything is intertwined there. It’s the Sunnis against the Shiites; it’s the Alawites against everybody else. You’ve got Kurds and Christians and Druze there — you’ve got it all. There’s also the Hezbollah against al-Qaeda, and all of this creates a huge radioactive powder keg just waiting to explode. Not to mention the innumerable interests at play in Syria. Every powerful country has its finger in the pie, from Iran via Turkey and China, Russia, the US and France; even Israel is stuck deep in the mire, and the situation can explode at any moment and in any direction.”

In the high-ranking source’s statements, I recognized a longing for what once was in Syria. He didn’t confirm this, but didn’t deny it either. He said that we used to know who was who. Back then, things were stable, there was someone we could rely on, we knew who the enemy was, what the threats were. There were intelligence objectives, we could define targets and make assessments. Today, according to the same source, it’s a free-for-all. Problems can spring up anywhere, at any given point in time. He didn’t say that he missed the "old" Syria, Assad’s Syria, but you could tell from the well-placed Israeli political source that they were starting to yearn for what was. That’s life in the Middle East. Nothing ever changes for the better. You’re always longing for what was, no matter how bad it might have been.

What’s going on now in Syria is that everyone has become embroiled in the war. Today, it’s hard to distinguish between the various axes of evil. Hezbollah raised its bet at the table yesterday on May 9, when it confirmed, through a statement issued by its secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, that Syria had committed to give the group “everything it's got.” The Syrians themselves have ceremoniously stated that they will respond to the next Israeli attack. Will there be another Israeli attack? Nobody can answer that question for sure. The Russians joined the festivities with new announcements of their plans to sell 300 missiles to the Syrians, who will certainly pass them on to Hezbollah. Would that cross the Israeli red line? What would the US say? It’s complicated, volatile and tense.

To date, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made the right calls and shown constraint when carrying them out, which isn’t very typical of Netanyahu. It could be that time has taken its toll, and Bibi has learned. The question is what will he do from here on out. The more time passes, the higher the bets at the poker table will be. Netanyahu’s diplomatic-security cabinet couldn’t be smaller or more amenable. Just seven members, three of whom have no real experience, including two who have never served as ministers (Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Trade and Industry Minister Naftali Bennett). Netanyahu can push anything he wants through his cabinet. The material the cabinet members and secret subcommittee of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee have seen is scary and unequivocal. The momentum for a follow-up attack on Syria was created skillfully and based on logic and responsibility. The only problem is that the result of those strikes could be ruinous and worse than the potential result of not attacking.