Former Middle East envoy Dennis Ross sees a hidden threat in the region: the growing support for Hezbollah from Iran and Syria.

It’s no surprise that the Israeli killing of wanted Hamas militant Salah Shehada and members of his family has drawn the world’s attention. It is graphic and it reminds everyone of a seemingly endless struggle. But having just returned from the Middle East, I am struck by a burgeoning danger that is receiving scant attention. With a constant stream of supply from both the Iranians and Syrians, Hezbollah is building a formidable arsenal of highly mobile rockets.

Longer-range Katyushas are the mainstay of the arsenal, but the Syrians are supplementing these weapons with the Syrian 270mm rocket.

What makes these rockets so potentially destabilizing is their range. The rockets Hezbollah used to possess could only threaten the immediate border area of northern Israel. While bad enough from an Israeli perspective, the new rockets have ranges stretching over 70 kilometers. Israel’s industrial area below Haifa will now be within the sights of Hezbollah rocketeers. Does anyone think Israel will tolerate such attacks? Can there be any doubt, should one be fired, that Israel would go after not only Hezbollah but Syria as well?

Even as Iran’s people demonstrate in the streets to protest their low pay and terrible working conditions, the mad mullahs seem to have no trouble finding money to contribute to the cause of death and suffering; as Ross points out, their true goal may simply be to weaken the US initiative to topple Saddam Hussein.

Iran is also pushing Hamas very hard to continue the suicide bombings in Israel. As I heard from Israelis and Palestinians, recent efforts by the Palestinian Authority officials in Gaza to convince Hamas to stop terror attacks against Israelis appeared to be making headway until the Hamas leadership in Gaza got explicit instructions from the Hamas leadership outside—with considerable Iranian pressure—to persist with the bombings. The same was true for the Islamic Jihad, whose leader Ramadan Shallah resides in Damascus and was equally insistent that the bombing must continue.

Iran and Syria clearly want the conflict to continue between Israelis and Palestinians. Perhaps they believe Israel will lose its resolve and gradually be weakened to the point of collapse. They seem prepared to fight to the last Palestinian to produce such an eventuality. Perhaps they fear American determination to go after Saddam Hussein, believing if he goes, they will be next. Their reasoning might be that the more the situation between Israelis and Palestinians embroils the region, the less the U.S. will be capable of going after Saddam.

Iran is clearly working to destabilize the Middle East; remember the $10 million arms shipment aboard the Karine-A? (I hope you do.)

So how are our enlightened cousins in the European Union dealing with this situation? The same way they always do: with craven appeasement.