Israel's dramatic decision to mobilise three army divisions - as many as 30,000 troops - is both a signal of preparations for a push northwards in Lebanon and a warning for Syria not to intervene.
Both aspects were played down by the cabinet, which said ground operations would continue for now under the limited scope it already approved, and that Israel had no intention of attacking Syria.
However, Israeli sources said the cabinet was likely to approve a major new ground operation in the coming days.
As for Syria, the Israeli government has sought to avoid a confrontation to focus on the battle against Hezbollah. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was reportedly reluctant to approve the army's request for the mobilisation on the grounds that Damascus might interpret this as an intention to attack Syria and could try a pre-emptive strike.
According to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Mr Olmert was persuaded to approve the mobilisation after intelligence pointed out that the Syrian military had gone onto alert and an attack ordered by Syria's impulsive young president, Bashar al-Assad, could not be excluded.
In a related development, the army yesterday announced that batteries of Patriot anti-missile missiles were being deployed in the Tel Aviv area. These missiles are ineffective against the short-range rockets being fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon, but are said to be effective against the longer range Scud missiles in Syria's possession.
There is increasing unhappiness over Damascus' continuing attempts to smuggle missiles and other weaponry from Iran to Hezbollah rebels. The Israeli Air Force has bombed several trucks said to be carrying such armaments after they crossed the border from Syria into Lebanon on secondary roads.