Is Syria about to escalate the conflict?

This is indeed alarming...

Secretary Rice's mission to the Middle East has already failed because Syria has issued an ultimatum that augurs a world war soon enough.

The Syrian ultimatum is meant to provoke Israel and to pull America directly into the fighting. The ultimatum threatens that the attacks by Hezbollah — trained, supplied and commanded by Iranian Revolutionary Guards — will increase in intensity unless America negotiates directly with Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. The ultimatum demands that America force Israel to withdraw from Lebanon, to cease tactical strikes on Hezbollah bases and weaponry in Lebanon, to cease tactical strikes on Hamas in Gaza, and to make territorial concessions that would mean that Israel could no longer defend either Jerusalem or Tel Aviv.

Knowing that America cannot agree to such an unprecedented surrender, Syria and its sponsor, Iran, are preparing for the next stage of the escalation, which is meant to draw the American military directly into the shooting war.

The current weapons of provocation are Katyusha rockets, fired at northern Israel chiefly from the coastal city of Tyre, Lebanon.

The next weapon of provocation is the Iranian-made Zelzal-2 ballistic missile. So far, the Israeli air force believes it has destroyed or accounted for about three dozen of the Zelzals inside Lebanon. However, Iran is hourly resupplying the convoys flowing from Syria to Lebanon; and there are dozens if not hundreds of more-potent tactical missiles at the ready.