Syrian President al-Assad Threatens Israel and the US with Missile Attacks

Newsmax reported this week that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the Turkish Foreign Minister, while he was in Damascus for talks, that if the United Nations tries to attack Syria as it did Libya, he will send missiles to the Golan Heights to be fired into Israel. Al-Assad added that that the maneuver would take one hour and that the next step would be to launch attacks on the United States’ fleet in the eastern Mediterranean and on its military bases in the region.

That’s pretty tough talk, coming from someone who can’t even subdue the unarmed citizens on Syrian streets demonstrating against his regime. But, maybe al-Assad doesn’t think about it that way. Maybe he thinks that he is free to commit any and all manner of atrocities without being stopped or punished by the world community. Maybe he thinks his missiles would prevail if launched against Israel or the US.

Maybe Bashar al-Assad has simply taken leave of his senses. That seems the most logical explanation for his recent outburst.

And, if it is true, then the world ought to be preparing to deal with him as he is, a madman bent on making the world dance to his tune. Qadhafi, Sadam, Milosovic, Hitler - they all had the same madness. And it cost the world enormously because there was an almost universal feeling that nobody could be that mad.

It is a strangely childlike characteristic of normal human beings that they cannot bring themselves to believe in evil and its consequences. But, history is filled with wars and slaughter arising from it.

Israel knows, as no other people can, the consequences of turning the face away from madness in political leaders. And, al-Assad’s comments make Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s efforts and words at this year’s UN General Assembly echo true. Israel is alone in its region and cannot give away the only thing that protects her people - high land overlooking Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.

It is time to deal with Bashar al-Assad, once and for all.