Is Hezballah trying to open the Syrian front?

Jerusalem Post:

Neither Syria nor Israel are interested in a direct military clash, although the Syrian military has been put on its highest state of alert, IDF Intelligence Chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin told the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Tuesday.

Calling the current situation "explosive," Yadlin expressed concern that any "mistake" or "misfire" could ignite the situation between Israel and Syria. He explained that Hizbullah operatives were firing at the Golan Heights, where an errant attack could entangle Syria in the fighting.

"Hizbullah is trying to instigate, to force, another front for Israel with Syria," Yadlin said. He added that Syria has freely supplied weapons to Hizbullah until now, and that several of the rockets that have killed civilians in Haifa had originated in Russia and been given to Syria before making their way to Hizbullah.

Yadlin also said that Hizbullah receives more than $100 million in funds from Iran via Syria each year. Hizbullah's dependence on Iranian and Syrian support and weaponry has given those countries a level of oversight over Hizbullah's tactics, added the military intelligence chief. It was highly possible, said Yadlin, that Syrian and Iranian officials were staying Hizbullah's hand from launching several longer-range missiles capable of reaching major Israeli towns in the Dan region.

"They don't want to deplete their forces and use all their weaponry too quickly, they want this fight to be drawn out as long as possible," said Yadlin. "They know that it will be difficult to get more weapons in, they need to make due with what they have."

...

It does not appear that Israel is any hurry either. It seems to be very deliberate in its ground war with Hezballah in Lebanon, grinding away instead of using overwhelming force. Its operation in Bint Jbail is a good example of the pace of operations. It is certainly no Hama (the Syrian city that Assad the elder flattened killing 20,000).