[quote]Russia officially announced that they would arm the Syrian regime with missiles earlier today. In return, Israel declared that they would take "action" in the event that Russia does in fact arm Syria with missiles.[/quote] Yes, the S-300 missile system is considered to be one of the best in the world, capable of shooting down targets from 125 miles away. Giving these systems to the Syrians, and risking it falling into the hands of Hamas and Hezbollah, will result in the current distribution of power being threatened. This in turn undermines Israeli national security, which banks on the status quo being maintained. Of course, it also threatens the national securities of every nation in the region and even countries around the world. To list a few: America (we don't want A.Q. syndicates to gain even more firepower), Iraq (yeah, those anti-government insurgents and terrorists can now establish no fly zones!), Mali (no more air support from France!), Egypt (now the insurgents in the Sinai can further solidify their positions), etc. [quote]In other words, Israel is threatening to shoot Russia's missile shipment into the ocean (which they claim is already on its way to Syria).[/quote] There never specifically said they'd target Russian ships, actually. The position of Israel has always been that if they believe weapons capable of shifting the balance of power are falling into the hands of terrorist organizations, they will pre-emptively strike in order to prevent such transactions from occurring. Most likely, they'll target the missiles when they are en route to their destination via convoy. You know, like they did last time. [quote]I know enough about international politics to not overreact to this kind of stuff, but in a sense this situation is different.[/quote] With all due respect, you just said that these *possible* Israeli strikes could spark World War Three. I don't think you know much about international relations. [quote]And of course this would force the U.S. to enter such a conflict including all of it's NATO allies.[/quote] Israel isn't apart of NATO, so no NATO ally would be obligated to assist in war.