Israeli government sources were quoted Monday as saying that senior American officials, in recent conversations with their Israeli counterparts, have expressed interest in Israel's assessments of Syrian president Bashar Assad's possible successors, asking who Israel thought could replace him and still maintain Syria's stability.
According to Haaretz, American officials said that their impression from these conversations was that Israel would prefer to have a weakened Assad, vulnerable to international pressure, remain in power, and is unenthusiastic about the possibility of a regime change in Syria.
The Israelis' impression was that America's main concern is the flow of fighters into Iraq via Syria, rather than the threat posed by Hizbullah in Lebanon.
