By Derek Stoffel
The Iranian drone that flew into Israeli airspace from Syria earlier this month was never really a threat for Israel’s powerful air force, but its short flight has revived long-held worries in Israel that the country’s archenemy is operating on its doorstep.
Tensions have subsided after the dramatic events that unfolded just before dawn on the morning of Feb. 10, an encounter that ended with the Israelis shooting down the drone and losing an F-16 fighter plane in the resulting skirmish.
The incident has heightened fears that Iran’s deep entrenchment in Syria, where the civil war is about to enter its eighth year, could spark a new and dangerous regional war.
At the moment, Israeli military commanders have their binoculars trained not only on the frontier with Syria along the Golan Heights, but they’re also keeping close watch on the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, operating just over Israel’s northern border.
“Israel will have to face two fronts at the same time: one in Syria, one in Lebanon,” said Yaakov Amidror, a former Israeli national security advisor, who is now with the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies.
The concern is that the next conflict could see Israel locked in what some in the region are now calling the “First Northern War” — a military engagement of the kind Israel hasn’t seen since the Yom Kippur War of 1973 involving Arab states, led by Syria and Egypt.
