9/11 + 6

Six years after the tragic 9/11 attacks on the US by al Qaeda terrorists the world is not much safer. The wars that were initiated in Afghanistan and Iraq after the attacks continue to be fought by the US and a few of its allies and the public pressure for withdrawal continues in the face of military casualties and sectarian violence.
In Israel, the day brought a devastating attack by Kassam rockets from Gaza on the Zikkim military base near Ashkelon. One rocket exploded within a group of tents and shrapnel injured 66 sleeping IDF conscripts on the last day of their training. The soldiers had no protection against the rockets, so the question arises, how could the IDF allow soldiers to sleep in unprotected tents within range of rockets. This borders on the criminal. It was just a question of time before the constant daily barrage of rockets would cause mass casualties. Parents gathered outside the camp to protest the lack of protection of their sons. Although none were killed, 16 were seriously wounded and one lost a leg. In Gaza sweets were handed out and spontaneous celebrations occurred.
Since it was bound to happen eventually, why has the IDF not taken serious and sustained action to prevent these rocket attacks. It reminds one of the loss of life by rockets of IDF soldiers on the Israeli border with Lebanon in the Second Lebanon war, while Israeli citizens were ordered into underground shelters IDF soldiers were bunched together in the open, and several were killed by a single rocket. Will the IDF never learn from its mistakes, must Israelis die every time before appropriate action is taken?
The calls for an IDF ground attack on Gaza, and a more intense counter-attack against Islamic Jihad and Hamas leaders who order the rocket attacks, have increased. As usual, PM Olmert hesitates too long and avoids action until it is overdue. In this case, the Hamas leaders in Gaza have little world support, and even the Govt. of PM Fayyad in the West Bank has condemned the rocket attacks, although in a subdued way. The downside of an Israeli counter-attack are two-fold, first that it comes before the so-called Middle East peace conference due to take place in November and could have consequences for the convening of that conference. In the wake of a strong Israeli counter attack on Gaza, some of the Arabs States, while not supporting Hamas, would no doubt use this as a means to berate Israel.
The second more immediate possibility is that Syria, at present criticizing Israel for an apparent over-flight of its airpsace and a supposed attack on its military, would use this counter-attack in Gaza as an excuse to heighten the clash with Israel. Remember that the war in Lebanon started after an attack initated by Hizbollah to support their erstwhile Palestinian allies in Gaza, who were fighting the IDF after they killed three Israeli soldiers and kidnapped Cpl. Schalit. It is possible that Syria, having threatened retaliation against Israel, will feel that the time is ripe for an attack on the Golan front. Not only is Syria being goaded on by Iran, but there are credible reports that Iranian Revolutionary Guards are now stationed in large numbers on the Syrian-Israeli border and Syria had been building up its forces there for several months.
There is some mystery about the IAF overflight of Syria. While the Israeli Govt. refuses to comment, the finding of empty F15 long-range gasoline tanks on Turkish soil near the Syrian border adds significant credence to the basic Syrian report. The Syrian FM is currently visiting Turkey and the Turkish Govt. has demanded an explanation from Israel. It has been speculated that an Israeli attack actually took place on arms shipments that have been transported along this route from Iran for years without any intervention.
An alternative explanation for the over-flight is that this was a training flight for a possible IAF attack on Iran, and if that is so then this was a success in that the IAF planes were able to penetrate Syrian airspace without being detected by their newly installed radar defense system (paid for by Iran), and were able to penetrate as far as ca. half-way to the Iranian nuclear sites that would be targets if Israel decided to attack them. It is not impossible that Syria with Iranian support will feel it necessary to counter-attack for this embarrassing Israeli penetration, and this might cause another war. Certainly, if you were sitting in Teheran you would feel that much more vulnerable having seen how far the IAF could reach. So at the least this might be considered a covert message to Iran.