Syria, Israel & The USA

By Gilad Atzmon

Syrian government agreed today to allow UN inspectors to investigate allegations of a suspected chemical weapon attack near Damascus.

The team is to begin work on Monday. Activists say Syrian forces killed more than 300 people in several suburbs east and west of the capital on Wednesday. But more than a few leading commentators admitted in the last few days that it is unlikely that Assad forces have anything to do with such an attack. The chance that the Syrian army would call such an attack on Damascus at a time when UN inspectors are in town is beyond imagination. It is pretty clear that if such an attack took place, it was perpetrated by elements that are foreign to Syria.

But as it seems, the Israelis are excited about the prospect of a big regional war.  The Israeli Ynet is reviewing the American might and the prospect of intervention. It is hard to gather why the Israelis are so excited about such a possible escalation, do they really prefer to face Islamic Jihad on their Northern border?

In the meantime, the UN inspectors already confirmed that they will be able to verify whether the attack was of a chemical nature, yet verifying who stood behind the attack would be an impossible task.