Syria threatened Thursday to retaliate for an Israeli airstrike and its ally Iran said there will be repercussions for the Jewish state over the attack.

US officials said Israel launched a rare airstrike inside Syria on Wednesday. The target was a convoy believed to be carrying anti-aircraft weapons bound for Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese militant group allied with Syria and Iran.

Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul-Karim Ali said Damascus "has the option and the capacity to surprise in retaliation."

In Iran, the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian as saying the raid on Syria will have significant implications for Israel.

Hezbollah condemned the attack as "barbaric aggression" and Syrian ally Russia said it appeared to be an unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation.

Israel's airstrike comes as the fighting between rebels and President Bashar Assad's military machine shows no signs of slowing down, as both groups go tit-for-tat as they fortify their presence throughout the war-torn country.

In Damascus' Ain Tarma neighborhood Wednesday, a Reuters photographer captured one skirmish up close, describing how two rebel fighters were targeted by snipers while taking cover along a wall.

One rebel was hit in the stomach and another was killed. The dead rebel was being pulled through a hole of a building, the lensman said, when a tank fired at them and sent rubble raining down.

Meanwhile, in Israel, a lawmaker close to hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stopped short of confirming involvement in Wednesday's airstrike. But he hinted that Israel could carry out similar missions in the future.

The Syrian ambassador said he could not predict when Damascus would retaliate. He told Hezbollah's al-Ahd news website that it was up to the relevant authorities to prepare the retaliation and choose the time and place.

READ FULL SOURCE ARTICLE: 01/31/2013

Editor's Note: We fear this "Arab Spring" -- which is really just a re-alignment of power away from Western-friendly despots to Western-hating Islamists -- is the gateway to a very violent and very bloody regional war that will, if not handled delicately, be the fuse that lights WIII...and wouldn't that get he world out of its economic mess...