A Nasty Neighborhood

Today- we wandered around northern Israel. We started at the beautiful western shore of the sea of Galilee, and ended up on the extreme northern border, looking down from the Golan
onto Syria. Here, at Mt. Bernal, the most ferocious tank battle in history took place when 1200+ Syrian tanks and 50,000 troops staged a surprise attack on Israel in the Golan Heights.
Israel, on Yom Kippur, had a skeleton force, 100 or so tanks. In the south a coordinated Egyptian attack clobbered Israel's southern flank, but that's another story.
In the north, Israel was in jeopardy, and yet, Israel's thin line held off the Syrians for a precious 24 hours, just enough time for Israel's reserves to muster and respond. And yet, Syrian tank commanders paused at the Jordan with a straight shot to the Mediterranean Sea, amputating Israel, they thought it was a trap. It wasn't. Israel lay before them, but God protected them.
This sign marks one of many land mines still on the heights. When you hear about the controversy of Israel 'giving back' the Golan, just imaging giving Pikes Peak to the Russians, and then try to live in Colorado Springs.  You wouldn't, for long.