Word coming in from the IDF on Twitter they have launched counterstrikes on anti-aircraft sites in Syria.
https://twitter.com/idfspokesperson
But don't you suppress AA sites before going in?
If you do it after, it sort of defeats the purpose.
Is this the start of the Northern War?
Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses is normally the first phase in a war.
Syria could long be deterred by its vulnerability to Israeli counter strikes - Damascus is only minutes away.
Iran likely feels insulated by its distance. The organizations and plans that Iran has been building for decades targeted against Israel have their own momentum - it would be hard for Iran to turn them away from attacking Israel, even if they wanted. It would be hard internally for Iran to even want to avoid war - their domestic politics has long punished such opinion as taboo.
Iran and Hizbollah are on a train they can’t stop - they will have to be stopped.