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DAMASCUS, May 12-- It seems that gone are the days when Israel would infiltrate the Syrian airspace for hit-and-run strikes, as the Syrian side has upped its game in such confrontation, starting with shooting back on Israeli warplanes and most recently responding to an attack with another attack on Israel, the first of its kind since the Arab-Israeli war in 1973. Worrying about the Syrian government's alliance with Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah, Israel has repeatedly struck Syrian positions throughout the Syrian crisis, on the pretext that the targets contain weapon shipments sent from Iran that would end up in the hands of Hezbollah. Meanwhile, the Syrian government accuses Israel of aiding the rebels in southern Syria close to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, backed by video footage emerging about how Israel is offering medical treatment to the rebels. At some point, observers believed that Israel was aiding rebels to create a buffer zone on the Syrian side of the border akin to what it did in Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war. With the progress of the Syrian army and its allies on the ground, which has apparently sparked Israel's fears, the Jewish country increased its attacks, repeatedly warning that the Iranian military presence in Syria won't be tolerated. The Israeli strikes, however, have also become intolerable by Syria, which cannot just keep taking in such attacks that target its sovereignty without punching back. | 
