Thank G-d for the Golan Heights

The Golan

Israel Watches Syria, Hopefully, But Warily -Ethan Bronner

Israelis see the downfall of Assad in Syria as welcome since it would deal a major blow to Iran.

But without a central authority, Syria could descend into chaos and enable terrorist bases on Israel's northeast border. Israel worries that the Golan Heights could become to the north what the Egyptian Sinai has become to the south: a staging ground for anti-Israel action.

This led an aide to Prime Minister Netanyahu to say that it was lucky Israel had never returned the Golan Heights to Syria since it has served as a buffer to the violence in the past year.
(New York Times)
*

America's Alibis for Not Helping Syria -Fouad Ajami

The silence of President Obama on the matter of Syria reveals the general retreat of American power in the Middle East. Yet topple the Syrian dictatorship and the access of Iran to the Mediterranean is severed, leaving the brigands of Hamas and Hizbullah scrambling.

Plainly, the Syrian tyranny's writ has expired.

It is an inescapable fate that the U.S. is the provider of order in that region. We can lend a hand to the embattled Syrians or risk turning Syria into a devil's playground of religious extremism. The Syrian army is demoralized and riven with factionalism and sectarian enmities. It could be brought down by defectors given training and weapons; safe havens could give disaffected soldiers an incentive, and the space, to defect.

In a battered Syria, a desperate people await America's help and puzzle over its leader's passivity.
The writer is a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
(Wall Street Journal)
*

UPDATE:

For those, like reader LHwrites, who are more cautious about supporting the Syrian opposition, I share the following piece. 
Bruce

Syria: Arguing for U.S. Inaction -Daniel Pipes, PhD

Good news: the abominable Assad dynasty is coming to its end. Better "the devil we don't know" than more of a totalitarian regime that oppresses its people, threatens its neighbors, and provides crucial assistance to the mullahs in Tehran.

That said, I favor a U.S. policy of inaction, of letting events transpire as they might in Syria. While the regime and its opposition battle:

•The less the regime can make trouble for its neighbors.
•The more potential for Iranians to take inspiration and rebel against their rulers.
•The more Sunni Arabs anger at Tehran. As Syria analyst Gary Gambill puts it, "What's wrong with the status quo of an Iran chained to a Syrian corpse?"
•The more they anger at Moscow and Peking.

Further, the overthrow of the Assad regime will not automatically end the country's civil war. More likely, that will reverse the dynamic, with Alawi and other rebels next fighting a Sunni Islamist regime.

Agree or disagree with my specifics; but Americans should look at Syria strategically, putting a priority on their own security in a dangerous world.
[National Review Online]
*