Trump Launches Attack on Syria, Seeking God's Wisdom to Stop the 'Horror' - http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2017/april/trump-launches-attack-on-syria-seeking-gods-wisdom-to-stop-the-horror
The United States blasted a Syrian air base with 59 cruise missiles Thursday night in retaliation for this week's horrific chemical weapons attack that killed at least 87 civilians, including 31 children.
It was the first direct American assault on the Syrian government and Trump's most dramatic military order since becoming president.
"Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women, and children," Trump said in a statement following the attack. "No child of God should ever suffer such horror."
The president wants the surprise attack to send a strong message to the Syrian government that the United States will not allow it to use banned chemical weapons.
"There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons," he said. "Numerous previous attempts at changing Assad's behavior have all found and failed very dramatically. As a result, the refugee crisis continues to deepen and the region continues to destabilize, threatening the United States and its allies."
President Trump then called on the world to pray for Syria and to ask God for wisdom in dealing with a nation broken by civil war.
"Tonight I call on all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syrian and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types. We asked for God's wisdom as we face the challenge of our very troubled world. We pray for the lives of the wounded and for the souls of those who passed."
The strikes hit the government-controlled Shayrat air base in central Syria, where U.S. officials say the Syrian military planes that dropped the chemicals had taken off. The missiles targeted the base's airstrips, hangars, control tower, and ammunition areas, officials said.
Syrian state TV reported a U.S. missile attack on a number of military targets and called the attack an "aggression." Many wonder if war could be looming in the future.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the airstrikes will send a strong message beyond Syria.
"President Trump sent a strong and clear message today that the use and spread of chemical weapons will not be tolerated," Netanyahu said. "Israel fully supports President Trump's decision and hopes that this message of resolve in the face of the Assad regime's horrific actions will resonate not only in Damascus, but in Tehran, Pyongyang and elsewhere."
The attack sparked mixed responses on Capitol Hill.
Senator Rand Paul criticized Trump for acting without getting congressional approval.
"While we all condemn the atrocities in Syria, the United States was not attacked. The President needs congressional authorization for military action as required by the Constitution, and I call on him to come to Congress for a proper debate," he said.
Meanwhile, Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham applauded the strikes.
"We salute the skill and professionalism of the U.S. Armed Forces who carried out tonight's strikes in Syria. Acting on the orders of their commander-in-chief, they have sent an important message the United States will no longer stand idly by as Assad, aided and abetted by Putin's Russia, slaughters innocent Syrians with chemical weapons and barrel bombs," the senators said.
Some Democrats even applauded the president's move, while others said he needs to consult with Congress on future military actions.
Pentagon officials say Russia was informed before the attack, to avoid any military conflict with them and prevent Russian casualties on the ground in Syria.
But Russia and Iran strongly condemned the attack with threatening language.
The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin believes the U.S. strike is an "aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law."
The head of an Iranian parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy was quoted as saying "Russia and Iran won't be quiet against such acts which violate interests of the region."
He said serious consequences would follow the U.S. action.
Iran Is the Wild Card Following U.S. Air Strikes In Syria - by Aaron Klein - http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2017/04/07/klein-iran-wild-card-following-u-s-air-strikes-syria/
Following the U.S. launch of Tomahawk missiles targeting a strategic Syrian airfield on Thursday night, Iran must be monitored carefully for the possibility that it may use its proxies for retaliation, especially against Israel's northern border.
Following eight years of inaction on Syria under the Obama administration, President Donald Trump demonstrated last night that he is willing to hold Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to account, this time by striking the Shayrat Airfield near the Syrian city of Homs that was believed to have been utilized to carry out a chemical weapons attack that killed scores of civilians.
The U.S. airstrikes signaled to Assad and his Russian and Iranian backers that Trump will act in Syria and the administration strongly supports the removal of the Syrian president - an important strategic ally of Moscow and Tehran. The U.S. military move demonstrates to Israel and the Sunni Arab bloc cast aside by Obama's nuclear deal with the mullahs that American leadership has officially returned to the region.
Assad himself is unlikely to retaliate since the last thing he wants amidst a years-long insurgency attempting to topple his regime is to go to war with Trump or expand the battlefield to U.S. ally Israel.
Trump's bold authority in Syria directly threatens Russian interests since it was Moscow that largely filled the security vacuum in that country when Obama repeatedly failed to take any meaningful action against Assad. However, Russia's direct response will most likely be confined to vocal protestation, such as Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling the U.S. strikes "aggression against a sovereign nation" carried out on a "made-up pretext."
President Vladimir Putin cannot risk a military confrontation with Trump and Russia is already signaling willingness to abandon Assad to come to a larger regional accommodation.
Still, there is the possibility that Russia may quietly support action by others, especially agents of a very nervous Iranian regime that has been preparing proxies for years who can heat up Israel's northern border and beyond. Both Moscow and Tehran have reason for wanting Trump to pay a price for acting in their Syrian playground. The question is whether they will dare to respond, even tacitly.
And that brings us to Iran. Trump's embrace of America's traditional Sunni Arab partners at the expense of Tehran and his strong positions against the disastrous international nuclear agreement have been deeply concerning to the expansionist, terrorist-supporting Twelvers in Tehran. And while the removal of Assad from power would be a blow to Russia, depending on the ultimate outcome such a move could be disastrous for Iran's position in Syria. Iranian Revolutionary Guard units have been fighting the anti-Assad insurgents alongside the Syrian military and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia. Syria represents a key pawn in Iran's geopolitical chessboard that stretches across the vital region.
In recent weeks, there have been strong indications that Iran has been seeking to arm its Hezbollah proxy with even more advanced weapons that can target the Jewish state. Last month, Israel took the unusual step of striking a Hezbollah weapons convoy near the city of Palmyra that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said was transporting advanced weapons to the Iran-backed militia.
Israeli leaders and Hezbollah terrorists have in recent weeks ratcheted up war rhetoric, with Israeli officials warning that Hezbollah, which can only act at the direction of Iran, has been preparing for conflict.
Last Sunday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot warned the IDF would not hold back from striking Lebanese state institutions in a future conflict with Hezbollah. "The recent declarations from Beirut make it clear that in a future war, the targets will be clear: Lebanon and the organizations operating under its authority and its approval," Eisenkot stated.
Hezbollah is not Iran's only option. Breitbart Jerusalem has been reporting on the formation of a "Golan Liberation Brigade," which was announced last month by the secretary-general of the Iraqi Harakat al Nujaba Shiite militia and is reportedly being trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. The so-called militia is another Iranian front that could be used to target Israel's Golan Heights at the behest of Tehran.
The next few days and weeks will be critical in determining Iran and Russia's resolve in the face of an awakened America that has returned from its eight-year slumber.
An Approaching Point of Crisis - By Matt Ward - http://www.raptureready.com/2017/04/02/an-approaching-point-of-crisis-by-matt-ward/
Late on Friday, March 17th, Israeli fighter jets crossed the Syrian border and carried out bombing raids against targets located in or near Palmyra. It represents the most northerly point Israel have ever attacked in Syria since the beginning of the civil war in 2011. It is believed Israel were targeting Hezbollah advanced weapons transfers.
The Syrian response was immediate, launching several anti-aircraft missiles which pursued the IDF jets back into Israeli airspace. Israel were then forced, for the first time, to deploy the new Arrow defense system, which according the Israeli government successfully intercepted the Syrian anti-aircraft missiles just moments before they hit the retreating Israeli jets.
Syria replied officially through its Ambassador to the United Nation's, Bashar Al Jaafari, who reflected a change of mood in the Syrian capital Damascus to such attacks, "the Syrian response was appropriate and changed the rules of the game." [1]
The Syrian government, under Bashar Al Assad, is feeling increasingly empowered and to a very large degree immune from Israel's more drastic military responses, due to Russia's ever growing presence within Syria. Assad is beginning to feel secure again and also quite emboldened, to the point that he clearly no longer fears the consequences of firing upon Israeli jets, or perhaps even upon Israel itself.
Shortly after the successful bombing raid, Israel's Ambassador to Russia, Cary Koren, was summoned to Moscow to hear the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister deliver a stern and severe rebuke, warning Israel in no uncertain terms not to interfere again in future Russian plans for Syria. [2]
Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli Defense Minister responded as only he can, by threatening to wipe out all Syrian anti-aircraft batteries that fire on intruding Israeli bombers in the future. These Israeli fears have led the defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, to threaten to wipe out any Syria anti-aircraft battery that fires on intruding Israeli bombers. These Israeli fears have led the defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, to threaten to wipe out any Syria anti-aircraft battery that fires on intruding Israeli bombers. These Israeli fears have led the defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, to threaten to wipe out any Syria anti-aircraft battery that fires on intruding Israeli bombers.
Israel are heading towards war. Though much of Israel's future security strategy is understandably shrouded in secrecy, there are enough fragments of publicly available information to clearly signpost in which direction Israel is headed.
In mid-June of last year, at the annual Herzliya Security Conference, Major General Herzl Halevi, the chief of the IDF's military intelligence directorate, gave a speech in which he detailed the immediate military and security threats faced by Israel at that time. He was very clear about the belief within the Israeli military establishment that Iran's Lebanese terrorist proxy Hezbollah are Israel's current number one threat. He concluded ominously that, "For Israel, Hezbollah must be incapacitated or destroyed; war becomes inexorable by implication." [3]
Israel views war with Hezbollah as being a certainty at this point, and there is a belief that this unavoidable future conflict will be different from those fought in the recent past. The IDF believe that in the next war, unlike previously, Israel will sustain serious numbers of casualties, "I wouldn't say the next round of violence with the Iran-backed terror group would result in mass casualties among Israel's civilian population, but close."
The Israeli Defense Forces have been preparing for this eventuality and seem to genuinely believe they are ready for what is to come. Halevi continued,
"I'm going to say this with all due caution, but there has never been an army that knows as much about its enemy as we know about Hezbollah...But still, the next war will not be simple, it will not be easy." [4]
Halevi's comments reflect the growing assumption within Israel's political and military leadership that at this late point in the Syrian civil war, after years of death, displacement and suffering, there will not now be any meaningful political settlement found that will be able to reunify and bring peace to Syria. Halevi himself believes that Syria is "saturated by bloodshed," making any realistic or lasting peace impossible.
The second key assumption of Israel's leadership is that Iran, under the cover of this Syrian civil war and using Hezbollah as a front, have been transporting increasing numbers of Iranian commanders directly into the Syrian border areas, adjacent to Israel. It is now a commonly held view in the IDF that they will soon begin seeing, "entire Iranian Revolutionary Guards battalions from their Golan observation points." [5)
Israel's military and political leadership believe Iran have been hugely emboldened by Barack Obama's failed Iranian Nuclear Accords. Obama has given Iran international legitimacy without providing any way at all to check the real and growing threat they pose to Israel. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Syria today.
Under the direct military cover of Russia, and using the fight against IS as a convenient excuse, Iran have been flooding Syria with both men and weaponry, as well as reinforcing Hezbollah. All this is for one purpose alone, to bring the fight directly to Israel.
Israel recognize that a major confrontation is coming, as does Hezbollah's leader, radical Shiite cleric, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. It is for this reason that Hezbollah have withdrawn and recalled all their Special Forces troops from the Syrian theatre back into Lebanon. Hezbollah, it is believed, will need them to face off against Israel in the approaching war,
"Nasrallah was serious when he said that the region is heading towards a conflict and that there would be casualties in the next few months. This is because he has information that tells him Israel is preparing for war and soon. And because of this, Hezbollah is prepared for an armed standoff." [6]
Israeli military planners have been rapidly drawing up their own plans. Already in the later stages of preparation, plans for the mass evacuation of up to a quarter of a million civilians from communities bordering Lebanon have just been revealed. Colonel Itzik Bar of the IDF's Homefront Command said, "In places where we understand there is a great danger to civilians, for example, where we won't be able to supply defenses or supply deterrence ... we will evacuate..." [7]
As Bar concludes, in the next war with Hezbollah, "...all of Israel is under threat."
Yet this fragile and dangerous situation is further complicated by one issue over which Israel has no influence or control: Russia. Hezbollah and Iran's obvious reliance upon Russian military cover in Syria presents Israel with a huge strategic problem. Up until this point Israel have proved time and again that when they feel there is an existential threat to their existence, or are faced with a situation where hostile enemies, like Hezbollah, are on the brink of receiving sophisticated weaponry, Israel will act every time. This will not change in the immediate future.
Yet Syria is now at a turning point. Syrian President Assad is increasingly stabilizing his hold over a country torn apart by war. His successes in recent months, propped up by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, have prompted Assad to change his tactics and his approach towards Israel. He is getting bolder and has proven over the last few weeks, especially in his response to Israel's most recent incursion into Syrian airspace, that he is now prepared to start firing back. He is actively trying to bring down Israeli jets operating in Syrian airspace.
Israel, for its part, seems to be in no mood to draw back from its consistent policy of attacking arms transfers to Hezbollah, where ever they see them. The potential for future confrontation between Israel and Syria, or worse between Israel and Russia is now a very real and growing one.
The problem Israel faces is one of balance. Do they continue their policy of strikes against Hezbollah, diminishing their capabilities which have until this point proved a tactical success, but which also may provoke a much greater strategic problem for Israel by drawing Syria and Israel into a full blown military confrontation? Worse still, Israel may even be drawn into an open confrontation with Russia.
Ominously, the beginnings of this may be happening right now. At the United Nations on Sunday night, Syrian Ambassador Bashar Jaafari, speaking of Israeli Ambassador Cary Koren's summoning to the Russia Foreign ministry, revealed that a clear message had been sent to Israel, "Putin sent a clear message, and (Israel) were told categorically that this game is over." [8]
Events in Syria will continue to deteriorate from Israel's strategic point of view. Bashar al-Assad, increasingly empowered, emboldened and now antagonistic, will continue to tighten his growing grip on Syria. Israeli border areas will continue to be flooded with Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah with fighters, all of whom are armed to the teeth and intent upon confronting the Jewish state with an arsenal so vast that it exceeds all of Europe's armies current conventional capabilities put together. [9]
Russia will also continue to turn Syria into essentially one huge forward operating base.
It would seem Vladimir Putin is signaling that Israel's time to act with impunity against Hezbollah over the skies of Syria is now over. The rules of the game for Israel are changing and her freedom to act decisively is coming to an end. War clouds are gathering over Israel and as Israeli Major General Herzl Halevi asserts, an approaching war for Israel, at this point, would seems to be an inevitability.
Endnotes
[4] http://www.timesofisrael.com/intelligence-chief-warns-of-growing-gaps-between-israel-neighbors/ )
A Major Escalation - By Daymond Duck - http://www.raptureready.com/2017/04/02/a-major-escalation-by-daymond-duck/
Several people have told me that they have been expecting the battle of Gog and Magog (Ezek. 38-39) for a long time, but it hasn't happened.
They have heard that it is shaping up again and again, but the war has never come.
It is not that they want war. It is that they thought that it would have happened by now and it hasn't.
Anyway, things may have changed recently. At least, that is what some are saying.
A civil war has been going in Syria since March 2011.
It is unquestionably the deadliest conflict in the 21st century. According to some monitoring groups 465,000 people have been killed.
In September 2015, Russia decided to get militarily involved in Syria's civil war.
Since Syria shares a border with Israel, many prophecy teachers thought this could be the beginning of greater effort that would lead to the battle of Gog and Magog.
When Iran and Turkey got involved it seemed like the Battle of Gog and Magog had to be close because these nations will join Russia in that great latter days war.
Israel's leaders are well aware of Ezekiel's prophecy. They have long believed it would soon happen. They have built weapons, launched satellites and drones, trained emergency workers and troops, and they have kept some of those troops near their border with Syria in preparation for that great event.
Israel's leaders have also been in touch with Russia's leaders to try to avoid an incident that would trigger that war and get a lot of people killed.
Israel's leaders have made it known that they are not interested in trouble with Russia, but Israel won't allow foreign troops to establish bases on their border with Syria, Israel will retaliate if rockets or missiles land in Israel, and Israel will attack shipments of weapons from Syria and Iran to the terrorist group called Hezbollah.
It seemed like that was enough and things were kind of drifting along until the middle of March 2017.
That is when Israel saw a lot of activity at a large Syrian base that was too close for comfort to Israel's border with Syria.
Russia was moving helicopters and troops to the base. Iran was landing plane loads of weapons and supplies at the base. Syria, Iran and Hezbollah were sending troops to the base.
And it seemed like Syria, Iran and Hezbollah were under the impression that Israel would leave their troops, weapons and supplies alone because of the presence of Russia's helicopters and troops.
But Israel's leaders had said they wouldn't tolerate that and they meant it. On March 17, 2017, they sent four Israeli jets to strike the troops, weapons and supplies at the base.
In an unusual move, the next day Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu took to the airwaves to send a message to everyone-but primarily to Russia, Iran, Lebanon and Syria: Israel does not want a war, but Israel means business. There will be no foreign troops and bases near her border with Syria.
Russia called in Israel's Ambassador to tell him that Russia will not tolerate any more Israeli attacks on bases where Russian forces are present.
On March 19, Israel struck again. They killed a Syrian commander, and destroyed a weapons convoy and several Syrian sites.
Some said this was an escalation of the conflict between Israel and her enemies. The Israeli Military Intelligence website called DebkaFile reported that "This raised the stakes for a potential IDF clash with Russian forces in Syria" (Israeli-Russian clash over Hizballah's Golan grab; March 20, 2017).
It definitely shows that Israel is not going to back off.
Is the battle of Gog and Magog close?
Israel doesn't want war, but Israel knows that war is coming and there has been a major escalation of hostilities there.
It definitely looks like the battle of Gog and Magog is close, but it will only happen when God puts a hook in Gog's jaw to drag him and his allies to their defeat.
He can do that anytime He wants or delay it as long as He wants.
Prophecy Plus Ministries, Inc.
Daymond & Rachel Duck
World shrugs as Hezbollah prepares massive civilian deaths - By Noah Beck - http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/World-shrugs-as-Hezbollah-prepares-massive-civilian-deaths-485894
In a future conflict, Hezbollah has the capacity to fire 1,500 rockets into Israel every day, overwhelming Israel's missile defense systems.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah recently warned Israel that his Iran-backed terrorist group could produce mass Israeli casualties by attacking a huge ammonia storage tank in Haifa, and the nuclear reactor in Dimona.
Also last month, Tower Magazine reported that, since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, Iran has provided Hezbollah with a vast supply of "game-changing," state-of-the-art weapons, despite Israel's occasional air-strikes against weapons convoys.
In a future conflict, Hezbollah has the capacity to fire 1,500 rockets into Israel every day, overwhelming Israel's missile defense systems.
Should such a scenario materialize, Israel will be forced to respond with unprecedented firepower to defend its own civilians.
Hezbollah's advanced weapons and the systems needed to launch them reportedly are embedded across a staggering 10,000 locations in the heart of more than 200 civilian towns and villages. The Israeli military has openly warned about this Hezbollah war crime and the grave threats it poses to both sides, but that alarm generated almost no attention from the global media, the United Nations, or other international institutions.
Like Hamas, Hezbollah knows that civilian deaths at the hands of Israel are a strategic asset, because they produce diplomatic pressure to limit Israel's military response. Hezbollah reportedly went so far as offering reduced-price housing to Shi'ite families who allowed the terrorist group to store rocket launchers in their homes.
But if the global media, the UN, human rights organizations and other international institutions predictably pounce on Israel after it causes civilian casualties, why are they doing nothing to prevent them? Hezbollah's very presence in southern Lebanon is a flagrant violation of UN Security Council resolution 1701, which called for the area to be a zone "free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons" other than the Lebanese military and the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
The resolution also required Hezbollah to be disarmed, but the terrorist group today has an arsenal that rivals that of most armies. Hezbollah possesses an estimated 140,000 missiles and rockets, and reportedly now can manufacture advanced weapons in underground factories that are impervious to aerial attack.
"Israel must stress again and again, before it happens, that these villages [storing Hezbollah weapons] have become military posts, and are therefore legitimate targets," said Yoram Schweitzer, senior research fellow at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).
Meir Litvak, director of Tel Aviv University's Alliance Center for Iranian Studies, agrees, adding that global attention would "expose Hezbollah's hypocrisy in its cynical use of civilians as...human shields."
But even a concerted campaign to showcase Hezbollah's war preparation is unlikely to change things, said Eyal Zisser, a senior research fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. Hezbollah exploits the fact that "the international community is too busy and... weak to do something about it," Zisser said. All of "these talks and reports have no meaning. See what is happening in Syria."
Israel has targeted Hezbollah-bound weapons caches in Syria twice during the past month. Syria responded last Friday by firing a missile carrying 200 kilograms of explosives, which Israel successfully intercepted.
If Hezbollah provokes a war, Israel can legitimately attack civilian areas storing Hezbollah arms if the IDF first attempts to warn the targeted civilians to leave those areas, Litvak said. But "it will certainly be very difficult and will look bad on TV."
While Sunni Arab states are generally united against the Shi'ite Iranian-Hezbollah axis, Litvak, Zisser and Schweitzer all agreed that Israel could hope for no more than silent support from them when the missiles fly.
Indeed, the "Sunni Arab street" is likely to be inflamed by the images of civilian death and destruction caused by Israel that international media will inevitably broadcast, further limiting support for Israel from Iran's Sunni state foes.
Rather perversely, the Lebanese government has embraced the very terrorist organization that could cause hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilian deaths by converting residential areas into war zones.
"As long as Israel occupies land and covets the natural resources of Lebanon, and as long as the Lebanese military lacks the power to stand up to Israel, [Hezbollah's] arms are essential, in that they complement the actions of the army and do not contradict them," President Michel Aoun told Egyptian television last month. Hezbollah, he said, "has a complementary role to the Lebanese army."
Aoun's declaration means that Lebanon "takes full responsibility for all of Hezbollah's actions, including against Israel, and for their consequences to Lebanon and its entire population, even though the Lebanese government has little ability to actually control the organization's decisions or policy," said INSS senior research fellow Assaf Orion.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, a veteran of Israel's 2006 war with Hezbollah, believes that Lebanon's official acceptance of Hezbollah and its policy of embedding military assets in residential areas removes any prior constraints on Israeli targeting of civilian areas.
"The Lebanese institutions, its infrastructure, airport, power stations, traffic junctions, Lebanese Army bases - they should all be legitimate targets if a war breaks out," he said. "That's what we should already be saying to them and the world now."
In a future war, Hezbollah is certain bombard Israeli civilian communities with missile barrages.
Israel, in response, will have to target missile launchers and weapons caches surrounded by Lebanese civilians.
But it need not be so. Global attention on Hezbollah's abuses by journalists and diplomats could lead to international pressure that ultimately reduces or even prevents civilian deaths.
Those truly concerned about civilians do not have a difficult case to make. Hezbollah has shown a callous disregard for innocent life in Syria. It helped the Syrian regime violently suppress largely peaceful protests that preceded the Syrian civil war in 2011. Last April, Hezbollah and Syrian army troops reportedly killed civilians attempting to flee the Sunni-populated town of Madaya, near the Lebanese border. In 2008, its fighters seized control of several West Beirut neighborhoods and killed innocent civilians after the Lebanese government moved to shut down Hezbollah's telecommunication network.
Hezbollah terrorism has claimed civilian lives for decades, including a 1994 suicide bombing at Argentina's main Jewish center that killed 85 people. As the IDF notes, "Since 1982, hundreds of innocent civilians have lost their lives and thousands more have been injured thanks to Hezbollah."
If world powers and the international media genuinely care about avoiding civilian casualties, they should be loudly condemning Hezbollah's ongoing efforts - in flagrant violation of a UN resolution - to cause massive civilian death and destruction in Lebanon's next war with Israel.
Is Israel Ready to Face Thousands of Hezbollah Missiles? By Anna Ahronheim - http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Analysis-Is-Israel-ready-to-face-thousands-of-Hezbollah-missiles-486011
The idea for Iron Dome came after the Second Lebanon War in 2006, when large Israeli cities were struck by missiles for the first time from its northern neighbor.
David's sling, the final piece of Israel's protective aerial umbrella, became operational Monday afternoon, filling the last gap in Israel's missile-defense system and sending a clear signal to the country's enemies.
With Iron Dome, Arrow and David Sling batteries deployed throughout the country, Israel should be completely defended against aerial threats. Will the systems measure up if Israel is faced with a real rocket barrage upon its cities? The timing of the system's initial operational capability (IOC) comes as tension has risen along both the northern and Gaza borders, and shortly after the first successful interception by an Arrow battery of a Syrian anti-aircraft missile that had been fired toward Israel.
Speaking at the IOC ceremony at the Hatzor Air Force Base in central Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the "cutting-edge technology" of David's Sling will help protect Israel against her enemies, warning that "whoever seeks to hit us will be hit. Whoever threatens our existence places himself in existential danger."
According to Yiftach Shapir, head of the Middle East Military Balance Project at the Institute for National Security Studies, while David's Sling is a "wonderful addition to Israel's defense arsenal," it will be hard to defend against a rocket barrage of thousands of missiles.
"It will be able to defend against threats that the Iron Dome is not able to," Shapir told The Jerusalem Post, "but nothing is ever 100%. Every kind of defense system is vulnerable."
Designed to intercept medium- to-long-range rockets, as well as cruise missiles fired at ranges between 40 to 300km, David's Sling complements the Iron Dome system, designed to shoot down short-range rockets, and the Arrow system, which intercepts ballistic missiles outside the Earth's atmosphere.
Together the systems will provide Israel the ability to counter threats posed by both short and mid-range missiles used by terrorist groups in Gaza and Hezbollah, as well as the threat posed by more sophisticated long-range Iranian ballistic missiles.
The idea for Iron Dome came after the Second Lebanon War in 2006, when large Israeli cities were struck by missiles for the first time from its northern neighbor. It has since been used during two military operations against Hamas.
Iron Dome has proven itself since it went into service in April 2011, with a successful interception rate of 85% of projectiles fired toward Israeli civilian centers since its first deployment.
During the 2014 war with Hamas in Gaza, the system successfully intercepted nearly 800 rockets fired at Israeli cities.
A recent series of successful experiments for Iron Dome focused on the ability of its Tamir anti-missile rocket to intercept a number of targets fired simultaneously at different ranges.
But while Iron Dome has proven itself against Hamas rockets from Gaza, experts have long warned that Israel faces the threat of thousands of Hezbollah rockets pounding the home front in the next war on the northern border.
The Lebanese Shia terrorist group is believed to have more than 100,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel, including sophisticated long-range rockets.
This is a threat that despite all of the army's advanced air-defense system, it remains ill-prepared to face.
Even if the air force manages to destroy a large amount of missiles, there will likely remain enough of them to risk the interceptor systems being inundated if either group decides to launch large-scale barrages with rockets from varying ranges simultaneously.
According to a senior officer in the Air Defense Command, while Israel "now has the ability to protect more territory, it is impossible to protect everything at all times."
With one David's Sling interceptor missile costing $1 million, $100,000 for one Iron Dome interceptor missile and $3 million for one Arrow interceptor missile, the economic cost of destroying the hundreds of thousands of rockets aimed at Israel is astronomical.
According to Shapir, Israeli government strategists will have to decide what is to be defended by David's Sling and other missile defense systems.
"When the Iron Dome was first deployed, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot said openly that it should be used to defend strategic assets, so that Israel can continue fighting. But within months, the government decided that defending civilian populations is more important and that was Hamas's targets," Shapir said.
With Hezbollah likely to target Israeli strategic installations as well as military bases, that is what we will have to defend, he added. "But if they decide to target both military installations as well civilian centers, the Israeli leadership will have to decide what they choose to defend. It will be a very tough decision no matter what way you look at it."
Israel fears 'Iranian crescent' in Middle East - https://www.yahoo.com/news/israel-fears-iranian-crescent-middle-east-162010062.html
Israel fears an "Iranian crescent" may be forming in the Middle East because of Tehran's influence in Syria and its connections with regional Shiite groups, an intelligence official said Monday.
The comments from Chagai Tzuriel, director general of Israel's intelligence ministry, illustrate his country's growing concerns over its arch-foe Iran's involvement in the conflict in neighboring Syria.
Iran's support for Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, which also backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, also concerns Israel, as does Tehran's influence in Iraq and its support for groups such as the Huthi rebels in Yemen.
"I think that... Israel believes that if Iran bases itself for the long run in Syria it will be a constant source of friction and tension with the Sunni majority in Syria, with the Sunni countries outside Syria, with Sunni minorities outside the region, with Israel," Tzuriel told foreign reporters.
"And I think that may be only the tip of the iceberg," he added. "We're talking here about the creation of an Iranian crescent."
Part of it, he said, involved worries that Iran could complete a "land bridge" through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to the Mediterranean.
Israel has sought to avoid being dragged into the six-year Syrian conflict, but has acknowledged carrying out strikes to stop advanced weapons deliveries to Hezbollah, with whom it fought a devastating war in 2006.
Last month, in the most serious incident between the two countries since the Syria war began, Israeli warplanes struck several targets there, drawing retaliatory missile fire.
Israel used its Arrow interceptor to destroy what was believed to have been a Russian-made SA 5 missile, and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened to destroy Syria's air defense systems "without the slightest hesitation" if it happened again.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has held a series of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent months on how to avoid accidental clashes in Syria.
A "hotline" has been set up between the two countries, but Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz has said Moscow is not notified in advance of an Israeli strike.
Russia backs Assad in Syria, but Israeli officials say they are confident they can continue to coordinate with Moscow despite their differing interests.
Trump: Assad regime 'crossed many lines' with chemical attack - http://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-assad-regime-crossed-many-lines-with-chemical-attack/
US president calls Syria incident 'an affront to humanity'; UN envoy says US may be 'compelled to take our own action'
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday denounced the Syrian regime's latest alleged chemical weapons attack as an "affront to humanity" and warned it would not be tolerated.
Speaking alongside Jordan's King Abdullah II at a White House news conference, Trump did not lay out in any detail as to how the United States would respond to the killings.
While continuing to fault predecessor Barack Obama for much of the current situation in Syria, he acknowledged that dealing with the crisis is now his own responsibility and vowed to "carry it very proudly."
Only days earlier multiple members of Trump's administration had said Assad's ouster was no longer a US priority, drawing outrage from Assad critics in the US and abroad. But Trump said Tuesday's attack "had a big impact on me - big impact."
"My attitude towards Syria and Assad has changed very much," he said.
Trump said of this week's attack that "it crossed a lot of lines for me. "When you kill innocent children, innocent babies - babies, little babies - with a chemical gas that is so lethal, people were shocked to hear what gas it was, that crosses many, many lines." US officials said the gas was likely chlorine, with traces of a nerve agent like sarin.
Since the attack Tuesday in rebel-held territory in northern Syria, Trump has been under increasing pressure to explain whether the attack would bring a US response. After all, Trump's first reaction was merely to blame Obama's "weakness" in earlier years for enabling Assad.
Obama had put Assad on notice in 2013 that using chemical weapons would cross a "red line" necessitating a US response, but then failed to follow through, pulling back from planned airstrikes after Congress wouldn't vote to approve them. Trump and other critics have cited that as a key moment the US lost much global credibility.
"I now have responsibility," Trump said. "That responsibility could be made a lot easier if it was handled years ago."
Yet he was adamant that he would not telegraph any potential US military retaliation, saying anew that that was a mistake the Obama administration had repeatedly made.
"These heinous actions by the Assad regime cannot be tolerated," he said. "The United States stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this horrific attack."
Asked whether the attack, which Washington has squarely blamed on Assad, could trigger a change of policy on the Syrian conflict, Trump replied: "We'll see."
"I'm not saying I'm doing anything one way or another, but I'm certainly not going to be telling you," he told reporters.
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley was more explicit, threatening direct action.
"When the United Nations consistently fails in its duty to act collectively, there are times in the life of states that we are compelled to take our own action," she told a Security Council emergency meeting.
At least 72 people, among them 20 children, were killed in the strike on Khan Sheikhun, and dozens more were left gasping for air, convulsing, and foaming at the mouth, doctors said.
It is thought to be the worst chemical weapons attack in Syria since 2013, when sarin gas was used.
"If we are not prepared to act, then this council will keep meeting, month after month to express outrage at the continuing use of chemical weapons and it will not end," Haley said. "We will see more conflict in Syria. We will see more pictures that we can never unsee."
She also lashed out at Russia for failing to rein in its ally Syria.
"How many more children have to die before Russia cares?" she said.
"If Russia has the influence in Syria that it claims to have, we need to see them use it," she said. "We need to see them put an end to these horrific acts."
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Russia needed to "think carefully about their continued support for the Assad regime."
"There's no doubt in our mind that the Syrian regime under the leadership of Bashar al Assad is responsible for this horrific attack," Tillerson said.
Early US assessments show the attack most likely involved chlorine and traces of the nerve agent sarin, according to two US officials, who weren't authorized to speak publicly about intelligence assessments and demanded anonymity. Use of sarin would be especially troubling because it would suggest Syria may have cheated on its previous deal to give up chemical weapons.
After a 2013 attack, the US and Russia brokered a deal in which Syria declared its chemical weapons arsenal and agreed to destroy it. Chlorine, which has legitimate uses as well, isn't banned except when used in a weapon. But nerve agents like sarin are banned in all circumstances.
As Trump and other world leaders scrambled for a response, the US was working to lock down details proving Assad's culpability. Russia's military, insisting Assad wasn't responsible, has said the chemicals were dispersed when a Syrian military strike hit a facility where the rebels were manufacturing weapons for use in Iraq.
An American review of radar and other assessments showed Syrian aircraft flying in the area at the time of the attack, a US official said. Russian and US coalition aircraft were not there, the official said.
Britain, France and the United States presented a draft resolution demanding a full investigation of the attack, but Russia said the text was "categorically unacceptable."
The draft resolution backs a probe by the Organization of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and demands that Syria cooperate to provide information on its military operations on the day of the assault.
Russia's Deputy Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov told the council that the proposed resolution was hastily prepared and unnecessary, but voiced support for an inquiry.
"The main task now is to have an objective inquiry into what happened," he said.
Negotiations were continuing on the draft text after Russia's foreign ministry said in Moscow that "the text as presented is categorically unacceptable."
Will Trump Turn Damascus Into A 'Ruinous Heap'? - By Michael Snyder - http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=1139
Rumors of war are percolating in Washington D.C., and if the Trump administration is not extremely careful it may find itself fighting several disastrous wars simultaneously.
Just one day after threatening North Korea with war, Donald Trump has committed to taking military action against the Assad regime in Syria.
Trump is blaming the chemical attack in Syria's Idlib province on Tuesday on the Syrian government, and he is pledging that the United States will not just sit by and do nothing in response.
Trump has called the attack a "terrible affront to humanity", and he is placing all of the blame on the shoulders of the Assad regime.
But now that Trump has committed the U.S. to take military action in Syria, what is that actually going to look like?
According to the Daily Mail, at this point Trump is not giving any hints as to when or where he will strike Syria...
He did not want to say in front of the cameras how he plans to respond to the crisis.
'I don't like to say where I'm going and what I'm doing,' Trump reminded. 'I watched past administrations say, "We will attack at such-and- such a day, at such-and-such an hour.'
But it isn't difficult to imagine what Trump may decide to do. Past presidents have always favored using airstrikes to make a point, and that is what many of the "analysts" on television are recommending.
Unfortunately, there would be great risk in targeting Syrian forces, because contingents from Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and elsewhere are mixed in among the Syrian military.
So could you imagine what it would do to our relations with Russia if airstrikes against the Syrian military resulted in Russian deaths?...
President Trump has several options in Syria, none without great risk.
One is military action against Syria's air force - grounding the helicopters and fixed wing aircraft that are believed to have dropped the deadly agent - and the runways from which they operate.
Yes, such strikes risk Russian casualties. But Moscow has consistently blocked U.N. action on Syria but proven unable to contain Mr. Assad's bad behavior. And President Vladimir Putin would be forewarned.
Grounding Syria's air force, moreover, would help distance Mr. Trump from Mr. Putin, a politically useful benefit at this time.
And even if Trump did conduct airstrikes, there would be a limit as to what they could accomplish. President Assad would still be in power in Syria, and the Syrian government would still be winning the civil war.
Trump could potentially send in special forces with the intention of assassinating Assad, but that would not necessarily topple the entire regime.
The truth is that the only way to change the outcome of the war and to guarantee regime change would be to send in U.S. ground forces on a large scale.
And just introducing them into the country would not nearly be enough. In order to end the war, Trump would have to commit to taking and holding Damascus.
In Isaiah 17, we are told that someday Damascus will be "taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap."
Much of the city is already a heap of rubble, but if the U.S. were to start conducting a concentrated bombing campaign against the city it is easy to imagine how the entire city could soon come to resemble a "ruinous heap".
Of course the toppling of the Assad regime has been the goal all along. Back in 2011, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hatched a plan along with Saudi Arabia and Turkey to use the "Arab Spring" as an excuse to try to remove Assad from power.
Since 74 percent of the population of Syria is Sunni Muslim, Saudi Arabia and Turkey were very excited about the prospect of dealing Iran a major blow by transforming Syria into a full-fledged Sunni nation.
So Saudi Arabia, Turkey and other Arab countries spent billions of dollars supporting and arming the "rebels", and at first everything was going great.
But then Russia, Iran and Hezbollah all intervened, and now the tide of the war has completely turned.
The only way that the original plan can succeed now is for the United States to enter the war, but with Trump as president nobody thought that was going to happen.
But now this latest chemical attack has changed everything, and Trump appears poised to take military action in Syria.
And I have a feeling that this new attack is another false flag, because it wouldn't make any sense for the Assad regime to use chemical weapons at this point.
Thanks to the assistance of Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, the Assad regime is winning the civil war, and the only thing that could possibly turn the tide now would be military intervention by the United States.
So if Assad did actually use chemical weapons against a bunch of defenseless citizens on Tuesday, it would have been the stupidest strategic move that he possibly could have made.
In any controversy such as this, you always want to ask one key question: Who benefits?
Of course the answer to that question in this case is exceedingly clear. The radical Islamic rebels that are being backed by Saudi Arabia and Turkey will greatly benefit if they are able to draw the western powers into the war on their side.
But what would the U.S. have to gain by getting involved in such a war?
I don't know if most Americans understand how dangerous such a move could be.
The Russians are not going to just sit there while U.S. bombs are dropping and their personnel are being killed. And of course the same thing could be said about Iran and Hezbollah.
Do we really want to risk a potential military confrontation with Russia, Iran and Hezbollah just to make a point in Syria?
To me, that would be exceedingly foolish.
And even more disastrous would be a decision to fully commit the U.S. military to toppling the Assad regime.
That would require going all the way to Damascus, and it is very, very doubtful that the Russians, the Iranians and Hezbollah would just willingly stand aside and allow that to happen.
For quite a while I have been warning that the situation in Syria could potentially spark World War 3 if everyone was not very, very careful.
If U.S. warplanes try to strike Syrian military positions, the Russians could easily decide to start firing back.
And considering the anti-Russian hysteria that we are already witnessing in Washington D.C., how will our leaders respond when CNN starts showing U.S. aircraft being blown out of the sky by Russian missiles?
As I discussed in Part I, there is very little for the U.S. to gain by going to war in Syria.
Unless it can be shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Assad regime is actually using chemical weapons, the Trump administration should not even be thinking about military action, because getting the U.S. military involved in the Syrian civil war would be absolutely disastrous.
So let us pray for peace, and let us hope that cooler heads will prevail.
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