IDF: WAR WITH SYRIA WOULD BE 10 TIMES WORSE THAN HEZBOLLAH

IDF: War with Syria would be 10 times worse than Hizbullah (JPost)
Predicting that war with Syria could erupt if Prime Minister Ehud Olmert does not begin peace negotiations with Damascus, the latest IDF assessment also states that such a conflict would be "at least 10 times worse" than last summer's conflict with Hizbullah.

Military Intelligence is also identifying and pinpointing targets for the IDF in the event that a strike is launched against Iran's nuclear facilities.

MI recently established a new division to translate intelligence into concrete targets and information that can be used by units in the field. The new division is headed by Brig.-Gen. Nitzan Alon, a former commander of the General Staff's Reconnaissance Unit (Sayeret Matkal.) The Israel Air Force has its own department that is responsible for processing intelligence and identifying targets.

According to IDF assessments, Syria is not interested in an armed confrontation, but has stepped up its preparations for war since last year's Israel-Hizbullah conflict.

Due to the lack of communication between the two countries, the IDF assessment is that a war could erupt sometime in the coming year if a diplomatic resolution is not reached first.

If war breaks out, the IDF believes Syria would fire thousands of long- and short-range missiles at Israeli cities.

The assumption is that a war with Syria would erupt due to a "miscalculation" along the border, in the form of a terrorist attack that escalates into a larger conflict.

Syria has come to believe that the United States will attack Iran this summer, and that as a result, Israel will once more go to war with Hizbullah. If that happens, Syria believes Israel will not confine its operations to Lebanon, but will also strike Syrian targets.

Syria has transferred several hundred medium-range missiles to Hizbullah, The Jerusalem Post has learned, which has completely replenished its weapon supplies, exhausted during last summer's war. The missiles include 220-mm. and 302-mm. Katyusha rockets that have ranges of up to 60 kilometers.

The IDF suspects that Hizbullah may have received more advanced Iranian and Syrian missiles, with the assumption being that any weapon small enough to fit into a standard 12-meter shipping container has been sent to the guerrilla group by the two countries.