“‘If there is no stability here, there’s no way there will be stability in Israel,’ said Rami Makhlouf, Syrian president Bashar Assad’s cousin, during an interview with The New York Times published on Tuesday. ‘No way, and nobody can guarantee what will happen after, God forbid, anything happens to this regime.’

The interviewer wondered whether this constituted a threat of war.

‘I didn’t say war,’ Makhlouf retorted. ‘What I’m saying is don’t let us suffer, don’t put a lot of pressure on the president, don’t push Syria to do anything it is not happy to do.’ The implication: If Syria is pushed too hard, Israel may pay a price.”

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