Rising Tensions

Remember yesterday when I said that kidnapping a soldier seemed like the kind of act one committed when one was trying to start a war?

Israeli warplanes buzz Syrian president

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli warplanes flew over the home of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday, as Israeli forces conducted operations in Gaza to save a kidnapped soldier.

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Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres has complained that Syria allowed the exiled political leadership of Hamas (ed: Exiled from where, exactly?)-- operating out of Damascus -- to order Shalit's kidnapping.

Three Palestinian militant groups said they were behind the 19-year-old corporal's kidnapping on Sunday: Hamas' military wing Izzedine al Qassam, the Army of Islam and the Popular Resistance Committees. The last group also claims to hold another hostage: 18-year-old Israeli settler Eliyahu Yitzhak Asheri.

Neither side seems to be as interested in peace right now as one would hope.