“Some “pricking” of the Syrians in response to their victories up north at Aleppo?
Is Israel a neutral in the “Syrian Civil War” or really picking sides since Assad is an ally of Iran?”
Israel does not want to see Assad overthrown. Anything that replaces him will be much harder to deal with. (More suicidal when it comes to dealing with Israel.) So far, the Israelis have only hit Hamas and convoys carrying certain types of weapons that can strike deep into Israel, like rockets and ROV’s. You can bet this attack was based on information that Hamas was about to move some asset to Lebanon or use it from inside Syria.
Interestingly, Hamas and the Russians are allies. But Russia allows Israel to hit Hamas targets without sending up interceptors to engage the IAF. Apparently, also, the much feared Russian anti-air missiles have not been used against the IAF. This must be a very uncomfortable dance Russia is doing.
I agree with your reasoning but, Hamas is predominantly in Gaza. I believe you are thinking of Hezbollah here.
I would not want to see Assad replaced but Assad is an ally of Iran and the message from Israel has been “Iran is bad, Iran is evil” consistently especially on the much very noisy Iran Nuclear Deal issue.
Israel and its supporters allowed Bob Corker to pass a bill to enable Obama’s nuclear deal.
Israel’s supporters in the USA never made support for the deal an issue with the members of Congress in favor, they still consider them Israel’s supporters.
“Jihadi John” McCain spoke at AIPAC as a “featured speaker” a few years ago.
Is the Syrian Civil War an “alternate anti-Iran policy”?