Questions? What questions? I have one rhetorical question: Why are they even discussing the Golan Heights.
I do believe Assad is getting desperate. Does he really think the people will rally around him if he only gets into a shooting war with the US and France?
I'm discussing the Golan Heights because the current situation in Syria demonstrates that the Syrian leadership is willing to ignore human rights, murder its own people, and ignore standards of international behavior when it suits their purpose. And these are the people that liberals thought Israel should give the Golan Heights to if they "promised" not to attack. Thankfully, the Israelis are not as stupid as liberals.
The value of Arab "promises" - whether in the Vienna Conventions, the Geneva Conventions, nuclear non-proliferation or in so-called "peace treaties" is zip, zilch, nada, null. However, they do have a keen sense of who is weak so I expect our embassy will be taken over (a la Tehran) because Assad knows that Obama won't do anything about it.