Will Syria Be Preemptively Struck Before Iran?

Syria War
After re-reading this piece of info maybe Syria, not Iran is the next immediate target? Out right denials have been recently made that Iran is to be attacked , but rumors of bombers ready to roll from British bases are floating.





09:16 GMT, Apr 03, 2006

Russian advisers in Syria won't engage in combat - official MOSCOW. April 3 (Interfax) - Russian military advisers in Syriawon't need to engage in combat in the event of an attack, Chief of the Russian General Staff Gen. Yury Baluyevsky said in Moscow on Monday."As for the role of Russian military advisers in case of aggression against Syria, I do not think it necessary for them to engage incombat," he said. "There is a certain amount of pressure on the Syrian administration," Baluyevsky said. "There is nothing bad about the invitation of foreign military advisers, consultants or instructors," he said. "They train local personnel to handle and service Soviet-and Russian-made weapon systems."
http://www.interfax.com/3/144205/news.aspx


Sy Hersh reported recently on planning for Iran, however with all the vehement denials, maybe this planning is for Syria first or maybe both? It is hard not to speculate. Wars and rumors of wars...this excerpt talks about the planning.

"This is because the assault would be conducted almost entirely by aircraft and stand-off missiles rather than ground troops, and any extra U.S. units needed to supplement the extensive forces already in the region could be unobtrusively moved there. The huge advantage of surprise is needed in order to cripple Iranian air defenses as any advance warning to Iran would enable the Iranians to disperse these people and indeed key equipment in advance," writes Paul Rodgers in his article, "The countdown to war."To avoid aircrew casualties or prisoners would mean a key component of U.S. action would be a strong dependence on the B-2 long-range stealth-bomber, according to Rodgers. "This plane can carry sixteen individually-targeted, highly accurate bombs; thus, a single aircraft can attack sixteen separate targets in just one operation," he wrote. The basing of the B-2 far from the region would be useful in preserving secrecy. But the plane's dependence on specialized servicing equipment to maintain its "stealth" radar-avoidance ability puts the only four bases worldwide where these are available at an absolute premium, he added. These four bases are in the United States, Guam, Diego Garcia (Indian Ocean) and RAF Fairford (Gloucestershire, England). The stealth support facilities already available in the first three locations were joined by Fairford, a major United States Air Force standby base, in December 2004. This serves as a forward operating facility, especially for heavy bombers such as the B-1B, the B-2 and the B-52. In the approach to the Iraq war, the Air Force's 457th air expeditionary wing was based at Fairford; 14 B-52s flew in from Minot, North Dakota and deployed there for seven weeks while conducting more than 100 bombing sorties over Iraq, according to Rodgers"

http://www.globalecho.org/view_article.php?aid=7130&visitID=02f7042b9d1b50d3d3ddd9cea1ef761d