All of these points point to a possibility of spillover. Israel has managed the Syrian conflict for the last decade and a half since it began in 2011. Sometimes there were clashes along the border. For instance, Druze men lynched two Syrians who were being brought to the hospital in 2015.

Washington and Jerusalem have kept a watchful eye on Damascus ever since the overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad regime by Sunni Muslim rebels in December. Of greatest concern has been the level of solidarity the new Syrian government maintains with ISIS — the terrorist organization that Syrian interim president