Rumors of War: "The Time Has Come"

Today Israel takes it up a notch:

"Time has come" to act on Iran, Israel says

The "time has come" to deal with Iran, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Sunday, refusing to rule out military action to curb the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions.

Barak, speaking on CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS program, indicated that Israel's patience was wearing thin -- and provided an ominous response when asked about the growing speculation of an Israeli military strike.

"I don't think that that is a subject for public discussion," he said. "But I can tell you that the IAEA report has a sobering impact on many in the world, leaders as well as the publics, and people understand that the time has come."

"People understand now that Iran is determined to reach nuclear weapons," said Barak. There is "no other possible or conceivable explanation for what they have been actually doing. And that should be stopped."

The IAEA report -- based on "broadly, credible" intelligence, its own information and some input from Iran itself -- said that Iran had examined how to fit out a Shahab 3 missile, with a range capable of reaching Israel, with a nuclear warhead.

Meanwhile, Iran makes preparations:

Iran conducts 4-day air defense drill

The Iranian army was set to launch an air defense drill Friday evening simulating an attack on the country's nuclear facilities, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

According to the regime's mouthpiece, the four-day drill will be held in eastern Iran and stress "the characteristics of the Islamic Republic's defense doctrine in the framework of the heightened air defense alert level."

The report said the drill will include the use of "missile systems, advanced anti-aircraft artillery and various radar systems, as well as "tactical maneuvers aimed at increasing the level of preparedness amid possible threats to the Islamic homeland's airspace, particularly with regards to the country's...nuclear centers."

Meanwhile, the situations in both Syria and Egypt are worsening:

New phase in uprising? Syrian rebels launch first attack in capital

At least two rocket-propelled grenades hit a building belonging to the ruling Baath party in Damascus on Sunday, residents said, in the first insurgent attack reported inside the Syrian capital since an eight-month uprising began against President Bashar Assad.

The Syrian Free Army, comprised of army defectors and based in neighboring Turkey, claimed responsibility for the attack, just as Assad vowed in an interview to crush the insurgency and pursue a crackdown on protests demanding his removal that has killed 3,500 people, by a U.N. count.

Damascus-based journalist Thabet Salem, who lives about 1100 yards away from the Baath party building and heard the explosions, said if the reports are confirmed, it would signal a new phase in the Syrian uprising.

"It would be an escalation that gives a new dimension to the whole situation," he said.

Syria's uprising against Assad has grown more violent and militarized in recent weeks, as frustrated protesters see the limits of peaceful action.

Army dissidents who sided with the protests have also grown more bold, fighting back against regime forces and even assaulting military bases.

The so called Free Syrian Army group of dissident soldiers this week staged their boldest operation yet, attacking a military intelligence building in a Damascus suburb.

Police burn protest tents to clear Cairo's Tahrir

Egyptian soldiers and police set fire to protest tents in Cairo's Tahrir Square and fired tear gas and rubber bullets in a major assault Sunday to drive out thousands demanding that the military rulers quickly transfer power to a civilian government. At least 11 protesters were killed and hundreds were injured.

It was the second day of clashes marking a sharp escalation of tensions on Egypt's streets a week before the first elections since the ouster of longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in February.

Street battles continued throughout the day and long into the night, spreading to side streets and sending a wave of injuries to makeshift clinics on the streets.

The military, which took over from Mubarak, has repeatedly pledged to hand power to an elected civilian government, but has yet to set a specific date. The protests over the past two days have demanded a specific date be set.

And if the above isn't enough, it looks like Israel may be planning an incursion into Gaza:

Jordan's Abdullah in Ramallah for talks on Syria, Hamas, Israel-Palestinian issue

Factored into this squeeze on Assad were the warnings Israel's chief of staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz twice addressed to the Hamas rulers of Gaza in the last ten days: He has said the IDF will no longer put up with missile attacks by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip disrupting life in southern Israel.

Sunday, he spoke of the coming military operation against Gaza and said it would be would be instigated by Israel and be "orderly and painful."

These warnings carried a message to Abbas that the IDF was poised for a military operation against Hamas which would scuttle any understanding he forged with the Palestinian fundamentalists and he would be smart to back down in good time.

The simple fact that somehow, the lid has been kept on this simmering pot for so long, without it boiling over is almost a miracle itself. The question is - how much longer can the Middle East go without a tipping point being reached?