Syria reportedly put its forces on high alert last night, on the pretext that Israel was going to attack Syria. At the time, my first thought was that Assad was going to manufacture an incident, claim he was attacked, and then move into the Bekaa. It's also possible that he thought the Israeli operation in Bekaa was more extensive than it was, and was planning to respond.
Or...
Perhaps he was put up to it by Iran, as an act of brinksmanship. Syria must know that it's no match for Israel. Its surface-to-air batteries could be taken out quickly, and in any event, wouldn't help over Lebanon. The last time the Syrian Air Force took on the Israelis, they lost 82-0. Really. 82-0. Their tanks are old, have to stop to fire, have limited range, poor armor, and lousy instrumentation. This isn't 1973, and it's not his father's armored cavalry.
The Syrian military would be truly humiliated, and Assad's regime would probably not survive the failure. Surely Syria wouldn't just sacrifice itself?
Probably not, but Iran might be willing to sacrifice them. And they might be willing to pretend to sacrifice Syria, if it played on European fears of a wider war. The UN Security Council meets tomorrow, and I'm sure at least some of the members will bring this up.