There's Kind of a Hush all over the Middle East

On September 6, 2007 five Israeli fighters struck Syria.

Moderate Arab states were unusually quiet in the aftermath as were international players who are usually quick to condemn any act of Israel which they view as aggressive.

Israeli officials are neither confirming nor denying the target or the purpose for the strike and apparently there's a state imposed "silence" on the matter.

International observers see several key messages:

• Israel was able to strike at Syria without suffering any military or diplomatic consequences.
• Israel will take steps to prevent other countries in the Middle East from obtaining nuclear capability.
• If a Syrian nuclear installation can be targeted by Israel without any international outcry what does that say for Iran?
• The London Telegraph is suggesting that the strike was carried out with Washington's blessing, in part as a test of the new Russian-made Pantsyr air defense missle systems recently purchased from Moscow by Damascus. Since Iran is also equipping itself with the Pantsyr air defense system, the Telegraph speculated that the U.S. was extremely interested in seeing a live-fire demonstration.
• The New York Times speculated that the real reason for the raid was to get intelligence on a number of suspected nuclear facilities Israel believes have been sponsored by North Korea.
• The Kuwaiti daily, al-Jareeda is reporting that Israel's target were unnamed Syrian missle batteries that were brought to Syria from Iran.
• Haaretz reported that U.S. government and military sources said they were "happy to have Israel convey to both Syria and Iran the message that they can get in and out and strike when necessary."

It's time to start connecting the Middle East dots because the current hush in the Middle East is about to become a roar.