Syria will not initiate a full-scale war against Israel because it would lose a full-scale war.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: As Syria prepares for war

"peacekeeping" force--a totally unsuitable arrangement for intervention in a full-scale war--was floundering.

CNN: Giving Peace a Chance

Despite the clashes, the leading ethnic Albanian politician in Macedonia expressed optimism about negotiations to end the crisis and head off a full-scale war in the Balkan country.

CNN: Macedonia peace moves gather pace

Recognition that it was a full-scale war, France's worst conflict since the second world war, came only with a vote by the National Assembly in 1999, some 37 years after Algeria's independence.

ECONOMIST: A conflict that still reverberates today

It would probably end either with a humiliating extraction of the international inspectorate under fire or a full-scale war aimed at rescuing them under conditions that are sure to be less than optimal.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

From there, the story really blows out into a full-scale galactic war.

FORBES: BioWare Continues To Push Role-Playing Games And Unreal Engine 3 With Mass Effect 3T

Then, as you reported, Israel is saying that it is involved in a full-scale guerrilla war -- a counter-guerrilla war with the Palestinians.

CNN: story.kessel.jpg

The skirmish promptly threatened to become a full-scale trade war.

ECONOMIST: South Korea and China duel over pickled cabbage

And although the UN continued attempts to find a peaceful solution full-scale war was becoming inevitable.

BBC: News | Fight for the Falklands

They are emblematic of a broader strategic distrust, which if left to fester, may not provoke full-scale war, but could well lead to localised armed clashes.

BBC: Japan boosts defence spending 'in response to China'