For sure, and there's speculation that this 30,000 will also be in preperation for dealing with Iran (which if true, would pretty much answer your "will this work" question).
Then there's activity like this:
I've seen a bunch of predictions that the US will take action in March, with the Saudis upping production of oil to hurt Iran. Most of these scenarios involve Syria, since it's neighbors, Lebanon, and Iraq are both hanging by a shoestring, and they're sheltering both Hamas, and Hezbollah.