[attach id=252331 size="medium"]An Israeli soldier walks away from an Iron Dome rocket interceptor battery deployed near the northern Israeli city of Haifa. Photo: Reuters[/attach]

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has few good options for military retaliation after Israel’s air strikes over the weekend but the attacks could redouble support from his regional allies Iran and Hizbollah.

Assad, already battling rebel fighters who have seized large parts of his country and killed many thousands of his troops, can ill afford to confront the region’s dominant military power in a devastating and likely one-sided war.

And his allies in Iran and Hizbollah are also wary of starting a new battle which would divert from their determined efforts to keep their strategic ally in power in Damascus.

“Significant military action is unlikely,” said Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Centre. “Syria, Hizbollah and Iran are not interested in opening another front when clearly their main battle is for the Syrian regime to survive.”

Israel’s twin air strikes within 48 hours shook Damascus, sent pillars of flame into the night sky and killed dozens of soldiers.

The war planes struck Assad’s elite troops in the valley of the Barada River that flows through Damascus and on Qasioun Mountain overlooking the capital, said residents and opposition sources. Targets included air defences, Republican Guards and a compound linked to chemical weapons.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 42 soldiers were killed and 100 more were missing. Other opposition sources put the death toll at hundreds of troops. A Western security source said the attacks targeted Iranian missiles intended for Hizbollah which could strike Tel Aviv.

Both Damascus and Tehran have hinted at a tough response. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman warned of a “crushing response”.

Syria did not retaliate in 2007 when Israeli jets struck a suspected nuclear facility, nor in January this year when they bombed a suspected missile convoy.

But the scale of the latest operation will pile pressure on Assad to respond, “not only to save face but also to maintain credibility at home and in the region,” said Fawaz Gerges, director of the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics.