Can Israel Split Syria from Iran?

The IDF’s deployment along the Golan Heights did not change on Thursday, despite the escalation in rhetoric on both sides of the Israeli-Syrian border.

Relations between the countries took a turn for the worse on Monday, when Defense Minister Ehud Barak told a gathering of senior IDF officers that in the absence of a peace deal with Syria, Israel could find itself at war with its neighbor to the north. The war, he said, would be pointless since its conclusion would likely be followed by immediate peace talks that would focus on the same issues that are currently separating the two states.

The response from Damascus came the next day, when Foreign Minister Walid Moallem warned Israel not to test Syria’s resolve. Israel quickly fired back with its own foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who warned Thursday that not only would Syria lose a war with Israel, but the Assad family would lose the presidency.