WORLD AT WAR: 8.19.16 - Rushed evacuation of US nukes from Incirlik -

Rushed evacuation of US nukes from Incirlik - http://www.debka.com/article/25613/Rushed-evacuation-of-US-nukes-from-Incirlik

 

In an earthshaking Middle East development, the United States has begun secretly evacuating the tactical nuclear weapons it had stockpiled at the southern Turkish air base of Incirlik and is transporting them to US bases in Romania.

 

The Obama administration has thus taken another step towards folding its tents in the Middle East.

 

In contrast, Moscow is rapidly expanding its air force footprint in the region with a new base in Iran following its facility in Syria. Advanced bombers and fighters are stepping up operations in both countries, while Russian warships carrying Kalibr cruise missiles gather in the Mediterranean and Caspian Seas.

 

debkafile's military and intelligence sources report that Washington decided to remove the nuclear arsenal to safety after talks between American and Turkish talks on release 1,500 US airmen serving at the base from the siege clamped down a month ago broke down. The airmen were running the US air campaign against ISIS in in Syria just 112km away.

 

The talks ground to a halt over Turkish insistence on assuming control of the nuclear arsenal and America's rejection of this demand.

 

The 50-70 B61 tactical gravity nuclear bombs were stored in underground bunkers close to the US bombers' air strips. Although this was not fully admitted by Washington, the US air and ground crews were held intermittently in lockdown since the President Tayyip Erdogan suppressed a military coup against him a month ago.

 

The deteriorations of relations between Ankara and Washington contrasted strongly with the Turkish-

 

Russian rapprochement, which Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin sealed in St. Petersburg on Aug.8. Since then, there have been calls for the Russian Air Force to be allowed to displace the US warplanes at Incirlik. This process has now begun.

 

 

Russian and Iranian Footprint Expands Across Middle East - http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=577

 

In the wake of US pullbacks and hesitation abroad, both Russia and Iran have made significant moves to expand their military spheres of influence and protect power beyond their borders. Strategic moves into both Syria and Iraq have been seen before, but the recent moves raise concern both for their sheer size and permanent nature.

 

Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, there were widespread and well-documented reports of Iranian military units fighting on behalf of the insurgents and waging a dirty war against both the coalition government in Iraq and American troops in particular. 

 

Now that the Shiite government of Iraq is pushing back against the Sunni terrorist group of ISIS, Iran has been gracious enough to lend military aid in the effort to retake Mosul, Iraq's second largest city. 

 

What is shocking is not that two Shiite nations would aid each other against a brutal, terrorist Sunni enemy, nor even that the two nations fought a bloody war with each other from 1980 to 1988 that claimed over a million lives. 

 

Instead, it is the scale of the aid that Iran has chosen to lend to its neighbor, which experts estimate to be between 80,000 and 100,000 troops among militia and mainline Iranian Army units.

 

The expansion of ISIS can clearly be seen as a threat not only to Iraq but Iran as well, as the terrorist group has shown its desire to expand across the region aggressively. 

 

In this context, Iranian military assistance makes strategic sense, but the size of the force raises questions as to their ultimate agenda. In a classic power vacuum, the US has been replaced by one its regional foes as it dials down its military commitment to Iraq.

 

Thomas Joscelyn, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in a recent interview, "The effect of the Obama administration's policy has been to replace American boots on the ground with the Iranian's. As Iran advances, one anti-American actor is being replaced with another." 

 

These Iran-backed militias participating in the siege of Mosul have assumed responsibility for more than 6,000 attacks on US forces in Iraq. Iran has also committed its ground forces to supporting the brutal Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad alongside Russia.

 

Russia has been waging an air campaign in Syria for the past year but only recently has it raised the stakes by flying warplanes out of Iranian air bases, a first for both countries. For the first time since 1979, a foreign military is taking off from Iranian air bases. 

 

Sorties flown from the Iranian air base Noji by Russian Tu22M3 bombers and Su-34 strike planes were directed at ISIS and Nusra Front terrorist groups within Syria. The base is being fortified with sophisticated Russian anti-aircraft missile defense systems that would harden it and the surrounding area to attack from Israel or the United States.

 

Russia also announced this week that Syria would grant it a permanent air base near the Mediterranean, giving it the ability to challenge US naval supremacy there. 

 

After the extended air campaign Russia has waged against the Syrian rebels on al-Assad's behalf, few could fault the dictator for granting such a concession that not only shows his gratitude but offers protection against Israeli warplanes that must now contend with the much stronger Russian air defenses when engaging Syria. 

 

The base in Khmeimim, Syria will house the air strike power equivalent of a US carrier battle group and cement an alliance between the two nations against Western influence. The base is reported to host a battalion-size ground force and formidable air defenses and is being upgraded to accommodate the heavy Tu22M3 long range bombers.

 

On the one hand, the West could choose to celebrate the military will of both Russia and Iran to fight a common enemy such as ISIS and commit such levels of military resources to its destruction. Though not working with the United States or the Western military coalition, the short term goals of containing ISIS certainly align. 

 

But on the other hand, these moves show both a a strengthening of regional anti-Western alliances and a newfound ability to project force that is set to challenge the US and its allies, especially Israel. 

 

Some now see a Russian, Iraqi, Iranian, Syrian (and potentially Turkish) axis of power that is set to rise from the ashes of a declining European and Western hegemony in the Middle East.

 

  Return of the Cold War - by Hal Lindsey - http://www.hallindsey.com/ww-8-17-2016/

 

On Monday, Bill Gertz of the Washington Free Beacon reported some disturbing news.   "Russia is building large numbers of underground nuclear command bunkers in the latest sign Moscow is moving ahead with a major strategic forces modernization program."

 

According to the Daily Mail, Putin is building dozens of these bunkers, each one capable of withstanding atomic blasts.  One of the headlines read, "Bunkers spark fears that Russia is preparing for a nuclear war."

 

Russia is building nuclear command bunkers, has been increasing missile production, and is modernizing their entire nuclear program.  Worst of all, according to NATO's new Supreme Allied Commander, U.S. Army General Curtis Scaparrotti, they now see the use of nuclear weapons as acceptable.  He said "Russian doctrine states that tactical nuclear weapons may be used in a conventional response scenario.  This is alarming and it underscores why our country's nuclear forces and NATO's continues to be a vital component of our deterrence."

 

Mark Schneider of the National Institute for Public Policy, summed up the bad news.  "Russia is getting ready for a big war which they assume will go nuclear, with them launching the first attacks."

 

Secretary of State Ash Carter said recently, "Despite the progress that we've made together since the end of the Cold War, Russia has in recent years appeared intent to erode the principled, international order that has served us, our friends and allies, the international community and Russia itself so well for so long."

 

Carter put it diplomatically, but the meaning is clear.  Russian actions are eroding the post-Cold War peace.

 

Carter then became more blunt.  "Russia continues to violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, and actively seeks to intimidate its Baltic neighbors.  At sea, in the air and space and cyberspace, Russian actors have engaged in challenging international norms.  And most disturbing, Moscow's nuclear saber-rattling raises troubling questions about Russia's leader's commitments to strategic stability, their respect for norms against the use of nuclear weapons, and whether they respect the profound caution that nuclear-age leaders showed with regard to the brandishing of nuclear weapons."

 

This isn't an unnamed source at the Defense Department.  Ash Carter is the Secretary of Defense, and he publicly questions "Russia's leader's... respect for norms against the use of nuclear weapons."

 

Admiral John Richardson, Chief of Naval Operations, told the New York Times, "We're back to the great powers competition."

 

Putin's desire to build a new Russia in the image of the old Soviet Union is a disaster for the world - especially the Russian people.  Not long ago, the Duma passed what it called "anti-terrorism" legislation.  Everyone else called them "Big Brother Laws."  This legislation increased surveillance and government intrusion.  American communications companies have been leaving Russia in the last few weeks because of these intrusive laws.

 

They also limit Christian expression.  They require all evangelistic efforts to take place only within the confines of a church.  And even there, Christians must first apply for a government permit.  The laws make it illegal to email a friend an invitation to church, or talk to someone about Christ, even in the privacy of their own homes.

 

For students of Bible prophecy, these events are not surprising, but they're still very sad.  Putin's war is not with Europe or the United States, it's with God and the laws of God.  The Bible tells us that one day Russia and Iran will lead a federation of nations in a massive assault on Israel, and they will lose.  God Himself will fight against them.

 

On Tuesday we learned that Russian bombers flying sorties over Syria are launching from air bases in Iran. It's the first time Iran has allowed a foreign power to conduct military operations from its soil since the revolution. Prophecy students have been fascinating by the increasingly cozy relationship between Russia and Iran that has developed in the last few months.

 

The future assault on Israel puts Russia in the role of end-times villain.  But we should be careful to remember that the Russian people are not all complicit.  In fact, they are Putin's primary victims.  Because of the Big Brother laws, Russian Christians have asked their brothers and sisters around the world to remember them in prayer.  There's no better time than right now.

 

Meanwhile, the United States must understand that the cold war is on again.  There are little indications of this - things like low altitude flybys and increased submarine patrols off the U.S. coast.  And there are big indicators - like Russia's new buildup of missiles, their modernized nuclear infrastructure, and what Ash Carter calls "nuclear saber rattling."

 

Putin is playing a high stakes game of Russian Roulette.  And, like it or not, we're all playing, too.

 

 

  Russian jets in Iran change Mideast game - http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iran-News/Analysis-Russian-jets-in-Iran-change-Mideast-game-464380

 

The spectacle of Russian planes taking off from bases inside Iran on Tuesday to attack targets in Syria shows, indeed, that the deal was a game changer.

 

Two weeks ago US President Barack Obama infuriated Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman by saying at a Pentagon press conference that Israeli officials are now supportive of the Iran nuclear deal.

 

The Israeli military and security establishment, Obama said, "acknowledges this has been a game changer." And, he pointed out, Israel was the country most opposed to the deal.

 

The spectacle of Russian planes taking off from bases inside Iran on Tuesday to attack targets in Syria shows, indeed, that the deal was a game changer - but not in the way Obama had in mind.

 

As former National Security Council head Yaakov Amidror said on Israel Radio Wednesday, beyond the technical matter of it being easier and more effective for Russia to attack Syria from Iran, there is also huge diplomatic symbolism in their choosing to do so.

 

This was not, as Amidror noted, a nice little deconfliction mechanism like the one Israel and Russia set up in September so that their pilots don't accidentally shoot each other down over Syrian airspace. The deployment of Russian jets to bases in Iran is, as far as cooperation goes between states, the "full monty."

 

And it is a degree of cooperation made possible in large part by the Iranian nuclear deal.

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's fierce opposition to last year's Iranian deal was not only based on the deal's nuclear merits and not only motivated by fear that it would eventually give Iran a path to a nuclear bomb.

 

His opposition also had to do with the fear that the deal would bring Iran - which had been completely isolated internationally - back into the world's good graces and embolden it.

 

He feared that the deal would strengthen Tehran both financially and diplomatically so that it could further pursue its destabilizing designs in the region.

 

In fact, one of Netanyahu's main criticism of the negotiations was that Iran's destructive behavior in the region and in the world was not even on the table at the talks.

 

And, indeed, when the world was sanctioning Iran, the Russians kept the regime at arm's length. Moscow only decided to deliver the S-300 air defense missiles to Iran, a deal that had been postponed for years, after the deal was signed. From Moscow's perspective this made perfect sense. Sanctions had been lifted, and if Iran was once again legitimate, why not go ahead and provide it with defensive arms? Using Iranian bases to fly sorties against Syria can be seen as an extension of that same logic. If Iran is no longer a pariah state, if it is legitimate to have normal relations with it, then why not take those relations as far as they can go and use Iran's air bases to pursue what Moscow feels are its own interests? It is hard to believe Russia would have made that calculation had the nuclear deal not been signed, and had Iran remained outside the pale of international legitimacy.

 

Russian-Iranian military cooperation to the extent witnessed this week will have enormous significance for the Middle East. It sends a clear message to the entire region not only whose side the Russians are on, but how far they are willing to go to pursue their objectives.

 

As Obama said, the nuclear deal is a game changer. But this type of change is definitely not in the interests of the US, America's traditional Sunni-Arab allies in the region, nor Israel.

Is Russia About to Invade Ukraine? - By Michael Snyder - http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/is-russia-about-to-invade-ukraine

 

War is coming, but unfortunately most Americans are completely oblivious to what is about to happen. In recent weeks, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers have been massing at eight staging areas along Russia's border with Ukraine, and some Pentagon officials believe that this could represent preparations for a full-scale invasion. But ultimately Russia has much bigger concerns than just Ukraine. At this point, the Russian people view the United States more negatively than they did even during the height of the Cold War, and their leading thinkers openly talk about the inevitability of a future conflict between the two superpowers. The Russians have been feverishly upgrading and modernizing their strategic nuclear forces in anticipation of that conflict, but unfortunately the U.S. military has not made similar strides under the Obama administration. As a result, the balance of power has shifted dramatically in favor of the Russians.

 

Things have been relatively calm in Ukraine for a while, but that may be about to change in a major way. According to Business Insider, Russian forces are "encircling Ukraine from the north, east, and south"...

 

Something big may be about to go down in Ukraine.

 

For the Ukrainian soldiers that are stationed on the eastern border with Russia, however, things have already escalated to a conventional conflict - for example in Shyrokyne, on the Azov Sea coast east of the port city of Mariupol, Ukrainian forces have reported being the target of over 200 rounds of mortars and artillery fire in the middle of the night from separatist forces.

 

And the conflict in Ukraine looks like it could be on the verge of boiling over as Russian and Russian-backed forces are encircling Ukraine from the north, east, and south.

 

Needless to say, these developments are deeply alarming U.S. officials. In fact, Bill Gertz of the Washington Free Beacon says that up to 40,000 Russian soldiers stand poised to launch a full-scale invasion at this moment...

 

The Pentagon has identified eight staging areas in Russia where large numbers of military forces appear to be preparing for incursions into Ukraine, according to U.S. defense officials.

 

As many as 40,000 Russian troops, including tanks, armored vehicles, and air force units, are now arrayed along Ukraine's eastern border with Russia.

 

Additionally, large numbers of Russian military forces will conduct exercises in the coming days that Pentagon officials say could be used as cover for an attack on Ukraine.

 

August 24th is Independence Day in Ukraine, and some analysts are pointing to that date as a time when a potential attack could occur.

 

Hopefully that will not be the case, and we should remember that Russian President Vladimir Putin tends to do the unexpected. Just look at what happened in Crimea. He was able to annex the entire region without a shot hardly being fired.

 

When it comes to geopolitics, way too often the Russians are playing chess while the Obama administration is playing checkers.

 

And as I mentioned in the opening paragraph, the Russians are very much preparing for the day when there will be a military showdown between the United States and Russia.

 

For example, the newly developed Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (also known as the Satan 2) has the capability of destroying an entire region the size of Texas. Each missile has 12 independently targetable warheads, and essentially what that means is that one missile goes up and 12 nuclear warheads come down. It is a weapon of exceedingly great power, and we have no way of stopping it...

 

Russia is preparing to test-fire a nuclear weapon which is so powerful it could reportedly destroy a whole country in seconds.

 

The Satan 2 missile is rumored to be the most powerful ever designed and is equipped with stealth technology to help it dodge enemy radar systems .

 

This terrifying doomsday weapon is likely to strike fear into the hearts of Western military chiefs, as current missile defense technology is totally incapable of stopping it.

 

But to me, what is even more frightening is the fleet of strategic nuclear submarines that the Russians are putting together. The following comes from a major British news source...

 

Vladimir Putin is assembling a secret fleet of super submarines which could topple NATO and plunge the world into war.

 

A report by naval experts warns that Russia already has a small but sophisticated army of subs which are capable of launching missile strikes across the globe.

 

These submarines can dive extremely deep and they are incredibly quiet. The advanced stealth capabilities that they possess make them an enormously powerful weapon...

 

Andrew Metrick, who co-wrote the report for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said: "Russia operates a small number of very small, nuclear powered submarines that are capable of diving in excess of several thousand meters.

 

"You can imagine what a clandestine deployable deep submergence vehicle could be used for."

 

Yes, it doesn't take much imagination to see what these ultra-quiet subs could be used for.

 

Someday, a fleet of Russian nuclear submarines could come right up to our coastlines without us ever knowing that they were there. In the middle of the night they could surface, launch their missiles, and strategic targets would start being destroyed within just a couple of minutes.

 

And if the U.S. was even able to muster much of a response, the Russian anti-ballistic missile systems are able to destroy just about anything that we can throw at them.

 

To say that the balance of power has shifted from the days of the Cold War would be a massive understatement.

 

Meanwhile, the Russians have also been creating a "cloak" which can reportedly make units "invisible" to enemy radar...

 

A Russian defense company has created a "cloak," which it says can make electronic objects invisible to enemy radar. The aim of the fiber technology, which is used in the cloak, is to make weapons invisible to prying eyes and detection systems.

 

The St. Petersburg-based company Roselectronics has come up with the invention and says it can make weapons that use thermal, infrared, and electromagnetic radar in targeting invisible.

 

"The main idea of the development is to create coverage that reduces radar visibility of the object both on the visible and microwave spectrums," Georgy Medovnikov from Roselectronics told Ruptly, RT's video agency.

 

Roselectronics believes the lightweight and flexible material can be used to protect armored vehicles, missile systems and warplanes. According to its creators, the material is unique in its ability to absorb radio-electronic signals and interfere with the distribution of electronic traces.

 

Here in the United States, the Obama administration has had much different priorities, and so our strategic nuclear forces are hopelessly outdated. 60 Minutes has shown that our strategic nuclear forces are still using rotary phones and the kind of eight inch floppy disks that you could literally flop around in your hand that they were using back in the 1970s.

 

If you follow my writing regularly, you already know that I have written extensively about a future conflict with Russia.

 

At one time the doctrine of "mutually assured destruction" applied, but at this point things have changed dramatically.

 

Russian military theorists have spent a lot of time studying how to fight and win a nuclear war, and now they have the technological edge to potentially be able to do it.

 

Sadly, these kinds of articles tend to get less attention than many of my other articles because people simply do not understand the threat we are facing, and by the time they do it will likely be way too late.

 

 

After bombers, Russian S-400s for Iranian base - http://www.debka.com/article/25611/After-bombers-Russian-S-400s-for-Iranian-base

 

Russian giant Antonov An-124 air freighters are ready to take off Wednesday, Aug. 17, carrying an array of advanced S-400 and S-300 air defense missiles bound for the new Russian air base just completed at Noji, 50 km from the western Iranian town of Hamedan (Biblical Shushan).

 

This is reported exclusively by DEBKA file from its military and intelligence sources.

 

Moscow is getting set to explain to concerned Americans and Israelis that the sophisticated missile systems will not be put in Iranian hands but serve exclusively for defending he new Russian air base just established in Noji to house heavy bombers for air strikes against Islamist terrorists in Syria.

 

This is the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution that Iran has allowed a foreign military to set up a base on its soil.

 

Widely reported by the Western media Tuesday were the first sorties of Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 tactical bombers from the new Iranian air base for what the Russian Defense Ministry designated "concentrated airstrikes" against Islamic State and Islamist Nusra Front ammunition depots and command-and-control centers in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ez-Zour and Idlib.

 

Less play was made by the media of the failure of Western intelligence to detect the new Russian air base that was under construction to complement their Khmeimim facility in western Syria. Our exclusive sources add that Moscow plans to fly over Spetznaz Forces to defend the new base.

 

Construction work on the Noji air base began in the second week of July. Joint Russian-Iranian engineering teams extended the existing landing strips to accommodate the heavy Tupolev 22M3 bombers and Sukhoi-34 escort fighters. They also set up maintenance workshops and living quarters for the Russian air and ground crews.

 

debkafile also reveals that the military and aviation accord reached between Moscow and Tehran covers the following clauses:

 

• Free rein for Russian jets in all parts of Iranian air space
• License for Russia to operate long-range UAV's from Noji air base.
• Permission to launch Russian cruise missiles through Iranian air space.

 

Given the tightening strategic cooperation between Russia and Tehran, one last step remains for Vladimir Putin to take as the final touch to the Russian-Turkish-Iranian alliance - and that is a visit by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to Tehran for concluding a military pact between Turkey and Iran.

 

 

Russian Military Forces Staging Near Ukraine - Bill Gertz - http://freebeacon.com/national-security/russian-military-forces-staging-near-ukraine/

 

The Pentagon has identified eight staging areas in Russia where large numbers of military forces appear to be preparing for incursions into Ukraine, according to U.S. defense officials.

 

As many as 40,000 Russian troops, including tanks, armored vehicles, and air force units, are now arrayed along Ukraine's eastern border with Russia.

 

Additionally, large numbers of Russian military forces will conduct exercises in the coming days that Pentagon officials say could be used as cover for an attack on Ukraine.

 

"Russian units will likely practice reinforcing the [Crimean] peninsula through such activities as amphibious landings and air defense exercises, and this may involve the change out of equipment and long convoys of military vehicles," one defense official said.

 

The military exercises are an ominous sign. Similar large-scale Russian exercises were conducted near Ukraine a month before Moscow carried out the covert military operation to take over the strategic Black Sea peninsula in March 2014.

 

Navy Capt. Danny Hernandez, a spokesman for the U.S. European Command, told the Washington Free Beacon that the upcoming Russian exercises are being closely monitored.

 

"We are extremely concerned about the increased tensions near the administrative boundary between Crimea and the rest of Ukraine," Hernandez said. "We urge both sides to avoid provocative steps or rhetoric that could escalate the situation."

 

Russian forces do not appear to be building up inside the occupied Crimean Peninsula along the border with Ukraine, he said.

 

However, over the past several months large numbers of Russian troops and tanks have been moving into eight bases stretching from Yelnya, near Smolensk and northeast of Ukraine, southward through Rostov-a city located very close to eastern Ukraine.

 

Defense officials said it is not clear whether the massing of forces is saber rattling by Moscow designed to coerce Ukraine into accepting the takeover of Crimea or preparations for further conflict. "Regardless of the reason, the warning time for Russian action has been greatly reduced" by the staging of forces near Ukraine, a second defense official said.

 

Russian military forces were identified by the officials at eight locations near the Ukrainian border: Yelnya, Klintsy, Valuyki, Boguchar, Millerovo, Persianovskiy, and bases called Rostov-1 and Rostov-2.

 

Rep. Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.) a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said Russia is continuing aggression and threats against the rest of Ukraine after invading Crimea.

 

"This is unacceptable and will only serve to further instability in the region," Pompeo said. "Unfortunately, President Obama is once again 'leading from behind' and is doing nearly nothing to buttress the Ukrainian people. Mr. Putin must respect the sovereignty of other nations. This is a non-negotiable lesson most countries learned long ago."

 

Wire service reports and online blogs have revealed satellite photos of the Russian military buildup at the eight locations.

 

Reuters reported in June on the deployment of troops to Klintsy, and the website InformNapalm reported July 30 that armored units of the 28th Motorized Rifle Brigade were moved to a base near Valuyki, and at Rostov.

 

A Russian military training camp reportedly was set up at Persianovskiy, located about 28 miles north of Rostov, according to a report by the online news outlet Bellingcat. Troops and aircraft at Millerovo also have been identified in satellite photos since 2015.

 

Reuters reported in September that a Russian military base was being set up near Boguchar, and the blog Russian Military Analysis reported that a motorized rifle brigade was deployed last year to Yelnya.

 

Mark Schneider, a former Pentagon official, said the troop movements are worrying signs that Moscow may be preparing for war with Ukraine.

 

"There is lot of press in the last week about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine including massing of troops," said Schneider, now with the National Institute for Public Policy.

 

Russia has denied reports that Moscow is considering breaking diplomatic relations with Ukraine. Ukraine's government has ordered troops mobilized and placed on alert.

 

Russia last week accused Ukraine of conducting covert sabotage operations against infrastructure inside Crimea, charges the Kiev government denied. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russian forces in Crimea would be fortified as a result of the attempted sabotage. Putin is expected to visit Crimea later this week, Reuters reported from Moscow.

 

Schneider said another troubling sign of possible Russian military action was the recent firing of Putin's chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov, a former official of the KGB and FSB intelligence services. "Ivanov's firing could be related to Putin's desire not to have a powerful KGB/FSB general running the Kremlin when he is going to do something risky," he said.

 

Phillip Karber, a former U.S. arms control official who has traveled extensively in Ukraine war zones, identified several new military units at the eight locations, including up to two brigades of the newly established Russian First Guards Tank Army at Yelnya and Klintsy in the north, elements of the 20th Army located to the south of those units, and forces from the 49th Army deployed further south near Rostov.

 

"The fact that a full scale Russian invasion is still a plausible scenario after 30 months of conflict is an abject repudiation of an American policy of 'leading from behind' and West European fetish for trying to find 'off-ramps' that Putin hasn't the slightest interest in taking," said Karber, now head of the Potomac Foundation.

 

Karber believes Russian military action against Ukraine could take place and that Moscow's trumped-up claims of a recent Ukrainian "terrorist" attack in Crimea could be used as a pretext.

 

Russia appears to be shoring up forces in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, he said. The upcoming military exercises will likely be conducted from areas that could facilitate an attack, using Russian forces deployed in Moldova's Transnistria region and marine units on ships in the Black Sea, Karber said.

 

"For the next month the terrain is perfect for armor moving cross-country and the skies are clear for air," Karber said. "The 24th of August is Ukraine's Independence Day, which is when the Russians attacked in 2014. A successful campaign, with U.S. and NATO doing nothing but verbiage, re-establishes Russia as a major European Power that has to be dealt with and increases Putin's popularity at home."

 

Karber said a full-scale Russian military offensive likely would aim to seize key military-industrial areas such as the tank plant at Kharkiv, the missile factory at Dnepropetrovsk, the shipyard at Mykolyev, and the port of Odessa.

 

Russian forces also could drive into Ukraine from the northeast to the outskirts of Kiev and place the capital within artillery range in a bid to force a change of government.

 

"Loss of that much population, around 14 million people, and territory would effectively end Ukraine as a viable state," Karber said, adding that the action would involve full-scale war, large numbers of refugees, and heavy casualties. It could also trigger anti-Russian guerrilla warfare.

 

Still, Russia does not appear to have all the forces in place for a major military operation, he said.

 

"The more aggressive and ambitious the attack, the further and longer it will isolate Russia from Western Europe, and it would gravely embarrass Putin's favorite American presidential candidate and make his pro-Russian statements look naive and foolish at best, or worse, an apologist for the aggressor," Karber said, referring to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

 

 

Russia uses Iran as base to bomb Syrian militants for first time - Andrew Osborn - http://news360.com/digestarticle/9DKop3mbJki4LcEJpn-OyQ#

 

Russia used Iran as a base from which to launch air strikes against Syrian militants for the first time on Tuesday, widening its air campaign in Syria and deepening its involvement in the Middle East.

 

In a move underscoring Moscow's increasingly close ties with Tehran, long-range Russian Tupolev-22M3 bombers and Sukhoi-34 fighter bombers used Iran's Hamadan air base to strike a range of targets in Syria.

 

It was the first time Russia has used the territory of another nation, apart from Syria itself, to launch such strikes since the Kremlin launched a bombing campaign to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in September last year.

 

It was also thought to be the first time that Iran has allowed a foreign power to use its territory for military operations since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

 

The Iranian deployment will boost Russia's image as a central player in the Middle East and allow the Russian air force to cut flight times and increase bombing payloads.

 

The head of Iran's National Security Council was quoted by state news agency IRNA as saying Tehran and Moscow were now sharing facilities to fight against terrorism, calling their cooperation strategic.

 

Both countries back Assad, and Russia, after a delay, has supplied Iran with its S-300 missile air defense system, evidence of a growing partnership between the pair that has helped turn the tide in Syria's civil war and is testing U.S. influence in the Middle East.

 

Relations between Tehran and Moscow have grown warmer since Iran reached agreement last year with global powers to curb its nuclear program in return for the lifting of U.N., EU and U.S. financial sanctions.

 

President Vladimir Putin visited in November and the two countries regularly discuss military planning for Syria, where Iran has provided ground forces that work with local allies while Russia provides air power.

 

Target: Aleppo

 

The Russian Defense Ministry said its bombers had taken off on Tuesday from the Hamadan air base in north-west Iran. To reach Syria, they would have had to use the air space of another neighboring country, probably Iraq.

 

The ministry said Tuesday's strikes had targeted Islamic State as well as militants previously known as the Nusra Front in the Aleppo, Idlib and Deir al Zour provinces. It said its Iranian-based bombers had been escorted by fighter jets based at Russia's Hmeymim air base in Syria's Latakia Province.

 

"As a result of the strikes five large arms depots were destroyed ... a militant training camp ... three command and control points ... and a significant number of militants," the ministry said in a statement.

 

The destroyed facilities had all been used to support militants in the Aleppo area, it said, where battle for control of the divided city, which had some 2 million people before the war, has intensified in recent weeks.

 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, said heavy air strikes on Tuesday had hit many targets in and around Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria, killing dozens.

 

Strikes in the Tariq al-Bab and al-Sakhour districts of northeast Aleppo had killed around 20 people, while air raids in a corridor rebels opened this month into opposition-held eastern parts of the city had killed another nine, the observatory said.

 

The Russian Defense Ministry says it takes great care to avoid civilian casualties in its air strikes.

 

Zakaria Malahifi, political officer of an Aleppo-based rebel group, Fastaqim, said he could not confirm if the newly deployed Russian bombers were in use, but said air strikes on Aleppo had intensified in recent days.

 

"It is much heavier," he told Reuters. "There is no weapon they have not dropped on Aleppo - cluster bombs, phosphorus bombs, and so on."

 

Aleppo, Syria's largest city before the war, is divided into rebel and government-held zones. The government aims to capture full control of it, which would be its biggest victory of the five-year conflict.

 

Hundreds of thousands of civilians are believed to be trapped in rebel areas, facing potential siege if the government closes off the corridor linking it with the outside.

 

Russian media reported on Tuesday that Russia had also requested and received permission to use Iran and Iraq as a route to fire cruise missiles from its Caspian Sea fleet into Syria, as it has done in the past.

 

Russia has built up its naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean and the Caspian as part of what it says are planned military exercises.

 

Russia's state-backed Rossiya 24 channel earlier on Tuesday broadcast uncaptioned images of at least three Russian Tupolev-22M3 bombers and a Russian military transport plane inside Iran.

 

The channel said the Iranian deployment would allow the Russian air force to cut flight times by 60 percent. The Tupolev-22M3 bombers, which before Tuesday had conducted strikes on Syria from their home bases in southern Russia, were too large to be accommodated at Russia's own air base inside Syria, Russian media reported.

 

 'There is no location in Israel outside of our cross-hairs' - http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Hassan-Nasrallah-There-is-no-location-in-Israel-outside-of-our-cross-hairs-464024

 

The Hezbollah leader also thanked Syria and Iran for their assistance in the war ten-years-ago, and noted that his terror organization "is spearheading the fight" against Israel.

 

Thanks Syria and Iran for help in war against Israel 10 years ago "Israel knows that there is no location in the country that is not in Hezbollah's cross-hairs," Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech Saturday evening.

 

He added that there is "no region of Israel outside the reach of Hezbollah's missiles."

 

At the ceremony, marking the tenth anniversary of the Second Lebanon War, Nasrallah stated that "Israel believes everything the resistance says. Israeli authorities didn't declare any goals in the Gaza Strip for fear they wouldn't achieve them."

 

Nasrallah spoke via video to his supporters in Bint Jbail in southern Lebanon and said that victory in the war was the organization's most important achievement.

 

"Israel's military theory, which rested on a quick military operation in enemy territory, failed. Results of the war damaged public trust in the Israeli army, as well as the confidence of the political leadership," Nasrallah said.

 

"A physical body can be repaired, but the spirit is much more difficult. Israel's spirit and will was damaged and their trust was undermined between the public and the army and between the army and the political echelon.

 

"The war stirred an awakening in the Israeli army and caused a crisis of confidence which still exists. This damaged their ability to win the war. [IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi] Eisenkot said that the biggest threat to the military is the decline in public confidence. This undermined confidence in the leadership of the army which was cowardly and weak.

 

It also undermined the confidence of the Israeli political leadership and created a leadership crisis in Israel.

 

"The last war between the Lebanese resistance [Hezbollah] and the Israeli occupation hurt them [Israel] internally," Nasrallah said. "It almost brought the state to near collapse."

 

"Israel's aims include destroying the resistance," Nasrallah continued, "and to remove Hezbollah from their border and to create a new Middle East, which has failed."

 

The Hezbollah leader also thanked Syria and Iran for their assistance in the war 10 years ago, and noted that his terrorist organization "is spearheading the fight" against Israel.

 

 

Another War Between Israel and Hezbollah Is Inevitable - By Michael Rubin - http://www.newsweek.com/another-war-between-israel-and-hezbollah-inevitable-489451?rx=us

 

On July 12, 2006, a Hezbollah unit crossed into Israel from Lebanon and ambushed two Israeli Humvees, killing three soldiers, injuring two and capturing two. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called Hezbollah's raid "an act of war."

 

When Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in May 2000, the Lebanese government refused to take responsibility for its own territory and instead ceded ­de facto control to Hezbollah.  

 

The Israeli government held Lebanon as a whole responsible for the attack because Hezbollah's attack was launched from Lebanese territory and Hezbollah was a Lebanese group. Simply put, Lebanon couldn't have it both ways - embracing Hezbollah when it was politically expedient but distancing itself to avoid accountability.

 

What followed was a 34-day war. It was brief but bloody.

 

Hezbollah had stockpiled between 10,000 and 12,000 short- and medium-range rockets and a smaller number of longer-range missiles. It had placed several in underground bunkers designed and perhaps even built by North Korean engineers in the caves and mountains of southern Lebanon.

 

Hezbollah launched several thousand missiles into Israel, killing several dozen Israelis and striking cities like Haifa, which had not been hit in an Arab-Israeli War since Israel's 1948 War of Independence.

 

As Israel pounded Lebanon, taking out missile batteries and Hezbollah positions, the United Nations and a wide array of international diplomats demanded an immediate cessation of hostilities. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan dispatched a three-member team to the region to urge all parties to exercise restraint.

 

On July 14, 2006, French President Jacques Chirac condemned Israel's retaliation against Hezbollah in Lebanon as "completely disproportionate." Russian President Vladimir Putin called Israel's "use of full-scale force" unacceptable, a somewhat ironic statement given that, a decade later, he ordered the Russian air force to carpet-bomb Syrian towns and villages without any attempt to distinguish between combatants and civilians.

 

Even the State Department got in on the game. "It is extremely important that Israel exercise restraint in its acts of self-defense," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters on the first day of the war. President George W. Bush sought to be assuring and said, "To help calm the situation, we've got diplomats in the region." 

 

For then-Senator Hillary Clinton, diplomacy could not come quickly enough. "We've had five and a half years of a failed experiment in tough talk absent diplomacy and engagement," she told NPR. "I think it's time to go back to what works, and what has historically worked and what can work again."

 

Eventually, diplomats got their wish. The United States joined the international chorus calling on Israel to stand down, no matter that Hezbollah still posed a potent threat. On August 11, 2006, the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1701, which called for a cease-fire and demanded that "there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than the Lebanese state."

 

It was rhetoric that diplomats could celebrate, but the reality was far different. "No army in the world will force us to drop our weapons, force us to surrender our arms, as long as people believe in this resistance," Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said.

 

Just a month after the cease-fire, he claimed to have restocked his arsenal in full and also claimed to possess 25,000 rockets. In the ultimate irony, the Lebanese defense minister blamed Israel for failing to finish off Hezbollah. "The army is not going to the south to strip Hezbollah of its weapons and do the work that Israel did not," he said.

 

Ten years on, it's perhaps wise to sit back and consider the price of a premature cease-fire. Forget, for a moment, that Hezbollah has shed any pretense of being a Lebanese nationalist organization and instead fights in Syria on behalf of the Syrian government and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

 

Today, analysts and experts place Hezbollah's arsenal at between 120,000 and 130,000 rockets and missiles. Whereas in 2006 Hezbollah could strike only northern Israel, today its rockets and missiles can imperil every inch of the Jewish state.

 

U.N. and European diplomatic guarantees turned out to be nonexistent, and U.S. diplomats ignored Hezbollah's rearmament once headlines moved on. The Iran nuclear deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, arguably President Barack Obama's signature achievement for the second term, has only made matters worse, as it has infused Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hezbollah's main suppliers, with cash.

 

When it comes to extremists' threats, the key to peace is seldom through diplomacy, nor do even playing fields resolve conflict. Rather, it's through a decisive, disproportionate and overwhelming victory in which as many potential attackers are eliminated as possible. Too often, cease-fires bring not peace but rather a shield behind which provocateurs can hide from the consequences of their actions.

 

Hezbollah is a formidable force today not only because of Iran's massive infusion of arms and equipment but also because of the fickleness of diplomats a decade ago. Had President George W. Bush held firm to his principles, and had Rice prioritized what was right above the affirmation of her peers, there would be no Sword of Damocles hanging over the region.

 

Alas, because of decisions a decade ago, the question is not whether a new Israel-Hezbollah conflict will occur but how many orders of magnitude greater the damage will be.

 

 

Why This Group, Not ISIS, Remains Israel's Biggest Terror Threat - Julie Stahl - http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2016/august/why-this-group-not-isis-remains-israels-biggest-terror-threat

 

For more than two years, the world has focused its attention on ISIS as a common enemy. Other threats and conflicts have almost taken a back seat given the terror group's growth and barbaric attacks.  

 

But Israel, meanwhile, remains on edge because ISIS joins an already long list of enemies dedicated to its destruction.  

 

That list includes Hezbollah in Lebanon, which went to war with Israel 10 years ago and could attack again at any moment.  For the Jewish state, this enemy to the north remains the most dangerous foe on Israel's borders.

 

Preparing for Anything

 

Recently, Israeli Defense Forces reservists participated in a training exercise along the beach in northern Israel to practice preventing infiltration attempts.

 

Reserve IDF Col. Zvika Halperin is a home front commander responsible for the Western Galilee -- an area with a population of 600,000. He was in charge of the exercise.

 

"We are training for a number of scenarios, scenarios where they're (the enemy) coming from the sea, air and land," Halperin told CBN News.

 

"We're training the authorities for emergency situations, dangerous substance events, events where missiles fall, also from Lebanon, also from Syria, infiltrations of all kinds of forces," Halperin said.

 

Israel's Most Powerful Enemy

 

Middle East expert Jonathan Spyer said the Lebanese-based, Iranian proxy Hezbollah is most powerful terrorist enemy of Israel.

 

"Hezbollah is vastly more powerful than in terms of its core military capabilities - its missiles, its rockets, its ground forces - than are any of the other Islamist militias, which also wish Israel harm," Spyer said. "So Hezbollah remains the, you know, by far the main threat."  

 

Ten years ago Hezbollah crossed the border, attacking and killing 10 Israeli soldiers and holding the bodies of two of them hostage for years. The incident sparked a war lasting 34 days. Spyer, who fought in a tank unit, told CBN News Israel wasn't prepared.

 

"Many units, infantry units, armored units, went into the war having not trained adequately in the previous years because they've been very busy fighting that insurgency in the West Bank and in Gaza," Spyer explained.

 

 

Hezbollah launched more than 4,000 missiles and rockets at northern Israel, at the rate of more than 100 per day. That put a million Israeli civilians within range.

 

Flashback to 2006

 

Near the war's end, CBN founder Pat Robertson traveled to Israel's northern border and spoke with then IDF Ground Forces Commander Gen. Benny Gantz.

 

"It sounds strange that [it's] the year 2006 and people still think they can destroy Israel as a people and as a nation," Gantz told Robertson then.

 

"They can't do it," Robertson replied.

 

"They are the overreach of [former Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, who simply talks about destroying the Jewish people, complaining to the Germans why they didn't finish [the job] in the Second World War," Gantz said.

 

"Will you finish it so that they [Hezbollah] cease to be a significant force in Lebanon? Are you going to have to stop partway?" Robertson asked.

 

"We'll have to consider it operationally speaking. And there are two issues. One is the political level. They have to decide what they want to do - coordinated with the international committee and stuff," Gantz said.  

 

"Operationally speaking we know how to stay on the ground, how to move. I hope we won't get into a situation that we are stuck in one point," he continued.

 

Hezbollah Stronger than Ever

 

Since then, the situation has worsened. A re-fortified Hezbollah appears stronger than ever and still wants to finish Israel off.

 

"We're talking about over 100,000 missiles that they have in southern Lebanon, ready to be launched to Israel," said security expert retired IDF Col. Kobe Marom. "We estimate that any conflict in the future 1,500 missiles a day will be launched here. That's a real threat."  

 

Marom says Israel knows the missile locations but in any future conflict, they will face challenges in attacking Hezbollah.

 

"They built their bunkers, tunnels and missile sites under the civilian population - under hospitals, under U.N. positions, under schools because they know when the pictures of the civilian death come to the people in New York City, Paris and London, the game is over," Marom told CBN News.

 

"That's why they use the life of their people in their struggle against Israel.  That's the reality today in Lebanon," he said.

 

Marom says Hezbollah has obtained better technology and longer-range missiles that can reach all of Israel. Plus their numbers have grown from 7,000 terrorists to more than 40,000.

 

Spyer said that's not all.

 

"They're also gaining a great deal of experience in areas of combat they didn't know about before, fighting in unfamiliar areas, fighting in urban settings, not stuff they'd done before," he said.

 

Saved by the Syrian War?

 

Spyer told CBN News that although Hezbollah is stronger, it's distracted by the war in Syria.

 

"They are now bogged down in a very different war, not a war that they ever wanted, that's the war to protect Bashar Assad's regime - Assad's regime in Syria," he said.

 

Iran and Hezbollah support Assad because his country helps Iranian weapons make it to Lebanon.

 

"The bottom line is for as long as the Syrian war continues, it is extremely unlikely that Hezbollah will be able to afford itself the luxury, so to speak, of hitting on Israel and opening up a second front against an enemy, you know, vastly more powerful than the Syrian rebels," Spyer said.

 

Spyer says fortunately Israel is also better prepared.

 

"I think the army underwent a change of focus following the 2006 war, understanding that Hezbollah is an enemy of a different nature, that Hezbollah is the main ground threat to Israel today and that that requires an army, you know, effective and able to respond to them," he said.

 

And as long as Israel is not fighting in any regional conflicts, Spyer says the main goal will be to keep its borders safe and prepare to take on any invaders.

 

 

Russia's Rising Empire - Tom Rogan - http://www.nationalreview.com/article/438793/putin-obama-russian-empire-expands-america-passive

 

While Obama plays 'peacemaker' with Iran, Putin is pursuing imperial aims.

 

Last Tuesday, President Obama admitted the difficult state of U.S.-Russian relations.

 

"But, it's not going to stop us from still trying to pursue solutions so that we can, for example, implement the Minsk Agreement and get Russia and those separatists to lay down arms and stop bullying Ukraine," the president added. That difficulty, he said, is "not going to stop us from trying to make sure that we can bring a political transition inside of Syria that can end the hardship there."

 

He was obviously deluded in his optimism. One week later, the world proves why. In Ukraine, Russian forces and their proxies are preparing a new offensive, probably focused against the coastal city of Mariupol. In Syria, Russia's slaughter of civilians rumbles on. Its intent remains the same: blackmailing Obama into accepting Russia's pro-Assad "peace" plan. And in another Balkan adventure, Russia is planning new military exercises with Serbia. It is doing so under an explicit ethno-nationalist narrative.

 

Witnessing all this, we would be wrong to assume - as the White House does - that President Putin pursues disruption for its own sake. Instead, the Russian leader is taking deliberate steps in his longstanding imperial grand strategy to reshape international order. He's succeeding.

 

For a start, contemplate Putin's growing success in bringing U.S. allies under his dominion. President Erdogan of Turkey offers the best example here. Erdogan recently accepted Russian hegemony in Syria after losing faith in American efforts to remove Assad. But now, as Erdogan's authoritarianism grows, he wants partners who will accept his excesses. Enter Vladimir Putin, making a show in Saint Petersburg this week of his hospitality to Erdogan. Putin offers the Turkish leader a new beginning, all while bringing his leash over a key NATO member - a NATO member, by the way, that controls whether ISIS cells can enter Europe. That's relevant because Putin is betting that ISIS attacks in Europe will force the West to accept Assad in return for Russian support in destroying ISIS.

 

Next, consider Saudi Arabia's new embrace of Russia. Saudi Arabia sees the Iran nuclear deal as a profound betrayal and also looks askance at the Obama administration's weakness in Syria. The Saudis have lost faith in U.S. leadership. To former KGB operative Putin, this is blood in the water. Obama imagines that the Iran deal will earn him a laudatory "peacemaker" exhibit in his presidential library, but Putin has far greater ambitions: He will use Saudi fear over the nuclear deal to turn the House of Saud into a submissive client regime. Recent pro-Moscow statements by the traditionally pro-U.S. Saudi foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, illustrate Putin's success. The Saudis know that Putin cannot be trusted, but they believe the U.S. can be trusted even less.

 

These developments are a strategic calamity for the United States. Instead of sidelining Wahhabi extremists and diversifying its economy, the House of Saud will now double down on fear of modernity. That means more social stagnation and more Islamic extremism. Putin wants it that way. As Iran grows more powerful and as oil prices decline - thus reducing the subsidies available to placate its young population - the kingdom will retreat into sectarian terrorism.

 

Even then, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Russia's cooperation with China is growing on all fronts. Motivated by imperial objectives, both the bear and the dragon are working to overturn the U.S.-led international order. And be under no illusions, they are succeeding: Just look at the influence China has won over the U.K. government by offering Britain multi-billion-dollar investments via trade agreements and the Asia Investment and Infrastructure Bank.

 

It's imperative that the United States reassert leadership - and soon. America's next president must strengthen NATO while requiring our allies to get serious about defense spending. He or she must ignore Chinese and Pakistani complaints and prioritize stronger U.S.-India relations to counterbalance China and Russia. Most of all, the 45th president must reestablish American credibility. The world must understand that when an American president says we will do something, or that we believe in something, we mean it and it will be so. Absent that principle, as the last eight years prove, the world becomes less safe, less just, and less free.

 

 

Iran Is Ready to Attack Israel - Dr. Majid Rafizadeh - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/majid-rafizadeh/iran-is-ready-to-attack-i_b_11382198.html

 

The tension between Israel and Iran appears to be heightening. Hossein Salami, deputy commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), recently said: "Hezbollah has 100,000 missiles that are ready to hit Israel to liberate the occupied Palestinian territories if the Zionist regime repeats its past mistakes."

 

He added: "Today, the grounds for the annihilation and collapse of the Zionist regime are [present] more than ever." Salami warned that if Israel made the "wrong move," it would come under attack.

 

A few weeks ago, a senior adviser to the IRGC's elite Quds Force, Ahmad Karimpour, said Iran could destroy Israel "in less than eight minutes" if Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei gave the order.

 

Rhetoric and Iran's Military Capabilities

 

There are several reasons why Iran's repeated anti-Israel statements may be pure rhetoric. They are most likely meant as a type of psychological warfare, because Iran cannot afford direct conflict with Israel.

 

Although Iran is larger geographically and in terms of population, its military capacity is inferior. Even regarding missile capabilities, which Iranian generals boast about, Israel's are greater in range and number.

 

What fundamentally changes the balance of power is Israel's nuclear capacity. It is widely believed to have some 200 nuclear warheads that can be used with intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as nuclear-armed submarines.

 

As such, Iran's policy toward Israel is to not strike first, as doing so would be suicidal for the ruling political establishment, whose main objective is to maintain power. It would be more effective to fight Israel via its Lebanese Shiite proxy Hezbollah.

 

Tehran's repeated boasting about IRGC capabilities is aimed at invoking nationalist sentiment among the public, because Iranian leaders know that the overwhelming majority of Iranians are dissatisfied with the hardliners and the political establishment.

 

Kazem, 29, PhD student majored in public health, pointed out "I would like to see a regime change in Iran, but I want Iran, ruled by any government even the current clergies, to be stronger than any country in the region including Israel. Iran should be the most powerful nation in the region militarily, technologically and economically as it was under Shah era or thousands of years of the Persian empire".

 

In addition, IRGC attempts to maintain and increase the budget allocated to it by showing that it is an indispensable and a must-have force to protect Iranians.

 

This method has been successful, as polls have repeatedly shown that many Iranians who oppose the political establishment still favor their country becoming a nuclear power or being more powerful than any other country in the region.

 

Finally, Khamenei and senior cadre of IRGC are appealing to the nationalistic sentiments of Iranians to win their votes by showing that IRGC is a must-have force to protect Iranians and project Iran's prowess. They are also recalibrating the domestic balance of power, making it clear that they are the final decision-makers. They are appealing to their hardline social base by showing it that they continue to prioritize the values of the 1979 revolution (such as opposing Israel and the US) over other issues, including national interests. And, they are sending a message that the nuclear agreement does not mean Iran would make fundamental changes in its socio-political and socio-economic policies.

 

 

 

Hezbollah - By Daymond Duck - http://raptureready.com/featured/duck/dd239.html

 

Hezbollah means "army of Allah." It refers to a group of Shiite Muslim terrorists with close ties to Syria and Iran.

 

This group has cells in many nations, but its main operation is in Lebanon.

 

It dominates the Lebanese government with Syria's help and permission. It even controls Lebanon's border with Israel.

 

This "army of Allah" has trafficked in drugs, hijacked a plane (TWA flight 847), blown up American troops (241 marines in Beirut, Lebanon), assassinated multitudes and fought with Russia, Syria and Iran in Syria's civil war.

 

It has an extreme Satanic hatred for Israel and some of those who believe in a Psa. 83 "war" think it will suffer an overwhelming defeat all over Lebanon (Gebal in the northern parts of Lebanon; Tyre in the southern parts of Lebanon; Psa. 83:7).

 

In 2006, Hezbollah placed thousands of rockets and missiles near houses, apartments, schools, hospitals, UN buildings and more. They chose these places and aimed their rockets and missiles at Israel because they knew that innocent civilians would be killed when Israel fired back.

 

Hezbollah troops didn't wear uniforms so they couldn't be distinguished from ordinary citizens. They dug tunnels and bunkers under houses to hide existence. They hung clothes on clotheslines and put animals in the yard to make their fortresses look like civilian houses.

 

They used these tactics because almost nothing stirs the pretend anger of world leaders more than an Israeli bomb killing an Islamic child and they wanted to use the death of civilians against Israel.

 

In 2006, Israel was getting the upper hand in its war with Hezbollah and, as was expected, world leaders wanted to stop the war. The UN Security Council met and passed a resolution (Resolution 1701) to end the war and to stop the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah.

 

One would think that if the UN Security Council met and passed a resolution to stop the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah they would stop those transfers. But Iran and Syria have continued to arm and finance Hezbollah without one peep from the UN Security Council.

 

In 2015, the U.S., a member of the UN Security Council that adopted Resolution 1701, agreed to a nuclear deal with Iran that freed up 100-150 billion dollars in Iranian cash knowing that part of that money would be spent to help finance and arm Hezbollah. Sec. of State John Kerry even admitted that some of that money would probably go to Hezbollah.

 

It has also been reported that Israel believes that Russia, another member of the UN Security Council that adopted Resolution 1701, is sending more weapons to Syria than Mr. Assad needs to fight his civil war. Israel believes the extra Russian weapons (including anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles) are being transferred to Hezbollah.

 

Perhaps this is why the UN Security Council has done nothing to enforce Resolution 1701. At least two of the five permanent members are violating it.

 

Hezbollah is boasting that it has 120,000 rockets and missiles that it can fire at Israel. It is boasting that its rockets and missiles can hit Israel's ammonia plants at Haifa and kill as many as 800,000 people.

 

Israel knows full well that Hezbollah has these rockets and missiles scattered all over Lebanon, they are cleverly disguised in civilian areas and they can do a lot of damage to Israel.

 

Israel can't afford to destroy 120,000 rockets and missiles one at a time. And Israel can't afford to let Hezbollah fire hundreds of rockets and missiles into Israel each day.

 

So Israel has warned Hezbollah and Lebanon not to fire on Israel or the IDF will launch an overwhelming response all over Lebanon. It will be a deadly, ferocious and terrible response for Hezbollah and the civilians of Lebanon.

 

This could be the kind of attack that would take out Gebal in the north and Tyre in the south . And considering the close ties between Hezbollah and Syria it could spill over into Damascus (Isa. 17:1-2) and  lead to great destruction in northern Israel (Isa. 17:3-4).

 

Keep watching because this war may be shaping up now.

 

Prophecy Plus Ministries

Daymond & Rachel Duck