"...nobody takes the Syrians seriously anymore, given the repeated violations of their sovereignty..."

Haaretz, here

"...Before the attack the U.S. issued a warning. At a press conference last week a senior American commander in western Iraq warned that the situation is worsening on the Syrian border, while at the same time Saudi Arabia and Jordan did as the Americans asked and closed their borders with Iraq. This modus operandi is reminiscent of Israeli "targeted killings": an effective combination of intelligence and operation, with the use of aerial strikes accompanied by a commando force to confirm the operation's success..."