Syria holds war games http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syria-holds-war-games Syria's state-run media say the country's military has held war games during which the army test-fired missiles and the air force and ground troops conducted operations "similar to a real battle."The maneuvers come as Syria is under Arab and international pressure to end a crackdown on an eight-month uprising that the UN says has killed more than 4,000 people.State TV said Monday the exercise was meant to test "the capabilities and readiness of missile systems to respond to any possible aggression."It says the war games were held on Sunday.In October, Syrian President Bashar Assad warned the Middle East "will burn" if the West intervenes in Syria.Syria is known to have surface-to-surface missiles such as Scuds capable of hitting deep inside its archenemy Israel.A crucial ally to Iran, Lebanon's Hezbollah, and Palestinian Hamas, Syria has long contested Israeli regional influence, and considers itself a bastion of Arab nationalism.The potential toppling of the Assad regime will have serious implications for regional power dynamics.

[ALSO SEE...FLASHBACK-MAY 2008'  US ARMY WAR COLLEGE PAPER BY  ELY KARMON

'' DOES SYRIA REALLY WANT PEACE'' ? THE PROTREUS MONOGRAPH SERIES  http://thenakedfacts.blogspot.com/2011/11/flashback-may-2008-army-war-college.html   (DR KARMON HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN SEVERAL NATO WORKSHOPS ON TERRORISM,SERVES AS AN ADVISOR TO ISRAELI MINISTRY OF DEFENSE,WAS A FELLOW AT  WINEP  )Syria—not Iran—has been the most important support for Hizballah’s terrorist and guerrilla activity

against Israel from the north. Without Syria’s overall strategic umbrella,specific military and political coordination, and pressure on Beirut to give the organization free rein in southern Lebanon, Hizballah could not have achieved its current status... Damascus correctly assumes thatany strengthening of U.S. influence in the region will run counter toSyrian interests, so it is no accident that the regime has become the mostsystematically anti-American in the Arab world.291