Israel’s power show on northern border aimed at Hezbollah

On Feb. 6, Israel’s Security Cabinet paid a visit to the country’s northern border. The ministers, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, were photographed in fashionable windbreakers, baseball caps and binoculars looking out over the Syrian border from the Golan Heights. Photos from the tour that reached the press were shot in the Golan Heights, with the ministers looking northeast, or in other words, at the Syrian front.

According to official reports from the Syrian army, that same night, Israeli aircraft attacked a target on the outskirts of Damascus. That same area, where a Syrian research facility involved in the “Precision Project” for missiles is located, had already been bombed in the past. Indeed, this site is considered by Israel to be a direct strategic threat. The Syrian army’s statements about the attack were unusually detailed. The official statement said that Israeli jets fired missiles from Lebanon’s air space. The Syrians are trying to reshuffle the deck and get Israel to violate its “balance of fear” with Hezbollah. The Syrians charged Israel with having “complete responsibility for its repeated and uncalculated adventurism and shows of force.”