Chance of Arab-Israeli conflict highest since October 1973

Cid_Yama

Much of the tension stems from political arm-wrestling between the Beirut government headed by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the opposition spearheaded by Hezbollah. The conflict takes on greater dimensions and wider geopolitical implications given that the scope of the dispute goes well beyond Beirut and Damascus.

The crisis is amplified with the United States, the European Union and many Arab countries, primarily Saudi Arabia, supporting the Lebanese government; and the Lebanese opposition -- Hezbollah and Gen. Michel Aoun's Patriotic Movement -- in turn getting full backing from Syria and Iran.

Through their backing of Hezbollah, both Syria and Iran can, if they wish, ignite Israel's northern front, a move Damascus is most certainly likely to move toward in the event of the Syrian-Israeli front going hot.

Tension in recent weeks along the Syrian-Israeli border have risen to unprecedented levels, possibly the most serious since U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger negotiated an armistice between the two warring sides in the wake of the October 1973 war.

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