Israel has conducted airstrike in Syria: U.S. official

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by MH

Please clarify.
What?

Well, with the Syrian government losing control over things like their chemical weapons supplies and research facilities, and the rise of Al'Qaeda in Syria, the situation is slowly becoming more perilous for Israel as the possibility of weapons being smuggled out to Hamas and the like increases. Whilst the Syrian civil war is good news for Israel in that it doesn't have to worry about the Syrian government crossing the Golan Heights, it's also bad news in that the fragmented situation in Syria means that it's now easier for rogue groups to pass weapons on to Hamas. So rather than MOSSAD needing to monitor one group (the Syrian government) they now need to monitor dozens.
So, Israel is going to have to take some steps to reduce the chances of Syrian weapons ending up in Palestine, particularly Syrian chemical weapons, and Israel is well known for pre-emptive action. It might well have been waiting for the US to make a move, but since that's not going to happen then it's going to get to work by itself. I can't see Syria putting up much resistance to Israeli strikes other than verbal condemnation, so it makes sense for Israel to act.
In regards to Benny, I refer to the rather strung together coalition which is governing Israel at the moment after Benjamin Netanyahu failed to achieve enough votes for Likud to govern by majority in the Knesset. I believe there are three or four parties in the coalition, and many people have given the coalition a rather limited lifespan, however the decision to pre-emptively strike targets in Syria in order to reduce the likelihood of them reaching Israeli soil is a decision which will likely be approved by all the parties involved in the coalition and boost Netanyahus standing within it, I can see The Jewish Home approving, Yisrael Beiteinu would probably approve too, Yesh Atid would probably not be too fussed but wouldn't disagree with it, and Likud would probably be approving too. Thus, by undertaking an action which on one hand improves Israeli security, and on the other hand, raises Netanyahus standing within the coalition, it is both a militarily and politically sound move to make, thus I am not surprised that it has happened, and I would not be surprised to see it continue until the Israeli government is certain that any and all threats to Israel that could originate within Syria are eliminated.