The move pointed to a possible escalation with Israeli security forces.
The only scenario I can imagine, and even this is a stretch, would be crisis escalation with South Korea.
It also poses questions about the aims of Turkey's escalation, with more force directed at the PKK than against Isis.
"The Syrian government is not seeking any escalation with any of its neighbors, including Turkey," he stressed.
For now, an edgy stalemate may suit all sides better than an escalation with potentially catastrophic consequences.
"This was an escalation with the intent to reactivate the peace process," said Tahseen Bashir, a military analyst in Cairo and a former Egyptian diplomat.
Chinese analysts agreed that Japan had appeared to fold, but said Tokyo had no choice if it wanted to avoid a continued escalation with China.
A report by a London-based thinktank accused Russia of risking military escalation with Cold War-style "brinkmanship" in a report last year.
It does not really take much imagination to worry about the possible dangers of a nuclear Pakistan or to be concerned about further escalation with an equally nuclear India.
Putin likely believes — perhaps correctly — that, for reasons of both character and political reality, Obama is unlikely to risk a potentially dangerous escalation with Russia during his final months of office.
Indeed, it is because the likelihood of nuclear escalation with China is low that most defense experts are likely to focus instead on what the white paper has to say about China's rapidly expanding conventional military capabilities.
