The events of Sunday afternoon and Monday morning mark a turning point in the Syrian-Israeli arena. Each of the incidents were by themselves not unusual, but their occurrence in a sequence, one after the other, could well signal a new era in the “war between wars” currently being waged by Israel against the Iranian regime in Syria and against the transfer of high-quality weapons from Iran to its Lebanon-based proxy Hezbollah. All of the parties involved are sending violent signals to one another regarding their positions and their intention of continuing this campaign.

The most significant event was Sunday’s launch of an Iranian surface-to-surface missile at northern Israel, apparently by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards themselves and not by their Shiite militia allies. The launch of such a missile, although short-range, isn’t something that can be done on the spur of the moment. It requires preparation, like placing a launcher so that it won’t be spotted by Israeli intelligence; it requires an order from above, apparently from Revolutionary Guards general Qassem Suleimani himself. The Iranians are well aware what such a move will mean from the perspective of Israel, who could not show restraint and would attack more Iranian targets, which is what happened.

Read the full article at Ynet.