War could literally break out at any moment. In a nutshell: A war between Israel against Iran or Syria means war against the other nation due to a mutual defense pact, which means a regional war. A regional war means U.S. involvement and the a high likelihood of the Strait of Hormuz being closed. Once this happens, global oil prices would skyrocket and have a dramatic effect on the world economy – possibly a global collapse. Other threats include China dumping the US Dollar in retaliation and collapsing the currency, which they’ve been itching to do for quite a long time now. They’ve only needed a good enough reason.
Yet another scenario is a chemical, biological, EMP or suitcase nuke attack within the United States homeland. There are already thousands of sleeper cells planted and waiting for the green light. Hopefully none of these come to pass, but Israel with its back against the wall and having to defend its existence opens Pandora’s Box.
Syria declared it was ready to launch a “surprise” retaliation attack against Israel yesterday as Bashar al-Assad’s allies Russia and Iran both condemned air strikes on a suspected weapons shipment near Damascus.
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Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Abdul-Karim Ali, said Damascus “has the option and the capacity to surprise in retaliation” and that it was up to the relevant authorities to prepare the time and place for action.
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Tzachi Hanegbi, an Israeli MP allied to Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, said air strikes are not enough to counter the threat of Hizbollah obtaining sophisticated weaponry from Syria.
“Israel’s preference would be if a Western entity would control these weapons systems,” Hanegbi said. “But because it appears the world is not prepared to do what was done in Libya or other places, then Israel finds itself like it has many times in the past facing a dilemma that only it knows how to respond to.”
Full article: Syria ready to launch ‘surprise’ retaliation attack against Israel (The Telegraph)
Global Geopolitics 
Seriously…Syria will not be launching a retaliatory strike against Israel any time soon. Assad knows very well that his downfall comes before the war with Iran.
Out of curiosity… and not to be sarcastic, but do you really think he will retire and live life happily ever after on some beach house? He saw what happened to Mubarak, Ghadaffi, and Hussein. Logic dictates he’s learned after watching the U.S.-led toppling of countries and the killings of their respective dictators, sans Mubarak. I’ve followed this blog for a while and it’s been stated often, which makes more sense from an “Assad perspective.” I’d give a peaceful downfall a 10% chance or less. No other country is willing to provide a safe haven. Either way, kiss Damascus goodbye.