Israel is deeply concerned that Syrian chemical weapons could end up falling into the hands of the Lebanese group Hizbullah should Bashar al-Assad’s regime collapse, according to current and former Israeli officials.
The scenario is one of several that Israel’s security establishment has gamed out in internal deliberations recently, in trying to assess the wider impact of Syria’s spiraling protest movement. Under another scenario, Assad might resort to desperate measures should his grip on power slip, such as firing chemically tipped rockets at Israel.
Although it’s not unusual for Israeli security officials to prepare for a range of possibilities on its tense borders, the deliberations in this case reflect the deep anxiety Israel feels over uprisings across the Arab world that have already overturned three regimes.
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