A new report indicates that Syria may be the next target in the U.S. war on terror.

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In a report by the London-based Jane's Intelligence Digest, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was quoted as saying that the U.S. is considering "multi-faceted attacks," which could be conducted against Hezbollah positions in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, until a few months controlled by Syria.

According to the report, the U.S. move would "almost certainly involve a confrontation" between American Special Forces and Syrian troops. The report highlights potential military action against Somalia as well as Syria. According to the Jane's report, "Covert U.S. forces have periodically infiltrated Somalia over the past two years to conduct surveillance and even potentially snatch suspects wanted for the November 2002 suicide bomb attacks in Mombassa, Kenya." In near simultaneous attacks, al Qaeda terrorists bombed a hotel and attempted to bring down an Israeli airliner using a shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missile.

In addition, the Jane's report states that during the past year, there has been an increased US military presence along the Syrian border with Iraq "and, on several occasions, [the U.S.] has sent special forces into Syrian territory or penetrated Syrian air space."

The Washington message to Damascus is very clear: keep your hands off Lebanon, leave the Palestinians work on a peace solution with the Israelis, stop the infiltrators to enter Iraq from your border and don’t support terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbullah.  

In the meantime, the Assad regime can try to reform their system faster because there is a potential that even if Syria make everything the US want it might just be too late.

Let’s just hope that whatever happened, that civilians doesn’t get hurt too much and that Syria can see a brighter future than it has been able to see in the last decades.