Prophetic Winds Shifting In Middle East - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com
Israel is God's prophetic timepiece. What affects Israel has prophetic influence. The apocalyptic clock ticked forward significantly when the previous US "president" used his position to advance the agenda of Islam throughout the Middle East with Arab Spring. His infamous Iran nuclear deal, not only propelled Iran to advance its nuclear weapons program, but also provided badly needed funding to "up" its sponsorship of terrorism. In particular, the ex-"president" gave Iran billions of dollars in untraceable cash, which was promptly used to fund its violent interests in Syria. In an October 1, 2015 speech to the UN, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the fall out from the Iran nuclear deal.
Netanyahu said, "Just look at what Iran has done in the last six months alone, since the framework agreement was announced in Lausanne. Iran boosted its supply of devastating weapons to Syria. Iran sent more soldiers of its Revolutionary Guard into Syria. Iran sent thousands of Afghani and Pakistani Shi'ite fighters to Syria. Iran did all this to prop up Assad's brutal regime...Iran supplied Hezbollah with precision-guided surface-to-surface missiles and attack drones so it can accurately hit any target in Israel. Iran aided Hamas and Islamic Jihad in building armed drones in Gaza." The war in Syria became more devastating because of the Iran nuclear deal. But now the prophetic winds are shifting.
President Donald Trump Wednesday told the UN Security Council, "This horrible, one-sided deal allowed Iran to continue its path towards a bomb and gave the regime a cash lifeline when they needed it the most....They needed cash. We gave it to them...The regime used new funds from the deal to support terrorism, build nuclear-capable missiles, and foment chaos. Following America's withdrawal, the United States began re-imposing nuclear-related sanctions on Iran. All U.S. nuclear-related sanctions will be in full force by early November... After that, the United States will pursue additional sanctions, tougher than ever before, to counter the entire range of Iran's malign conduct. Any individual or entity who fails to comply with these sanctions will face severe consequences."
Ezekiel 38:2 says, "...set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against them." Magog, Meshech, Tubal are all located in what is now modern Turkey. Verse 5 says, "Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them..." Persia is modern day Iran. Turkey (Sunni) and Iran (Shiite) are Islamic rivals positioning for control of the Middle East. For Gog (the antichrist) to lead this broad coalition that includes Persia against Israel, Persia must submit to Gog. Turkey's economy is being squeezed hard with currency devaluation. Iran's economy, due to US sanctions, will also deteriorate. Their common challenges may bring them closer. These nations may hold hate toward one another, but it is a greater hate for Israel that unites them even for just a specific time. Watch and discern as the prophetic winds shift.
Another Step Forward To The Magog Scenario As Russia Raises Tensions With Israel - By Yaakov Lappin -http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2590
The announcement by Russia on Monday to transfer its advanced S-300 air-defense system to the Syrian government within two weeks is a disturbing yet surmountable challenge to Israel.
In a move that can only be interpreted as an intended punishment against Israel, Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow would transfer the system, as well as electronic warfare systems, to Syria's air-defense units, arming them with advanced weapons to use against the Israeli Air Force (IAF).
The move comes as a response to the downing of a Russian intelligence-gathering aircraft last week, which was shot out of the sky by Syrian air-defense units that fired recklessly while trying to hit Israeli jets. The IAF had struck an Iranian shipment of manufacturing kits for precision missiles, which Iran was planning to smuggle to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
A number of initial conclusions can be drawn from Russia's announcement.
The first is that the IAF's job in Syria--to prevent Iran from flooding the region with weapons and military units--is about to get even more complicated. But that does not mean that this is a "mission impossible."
Syria's airspace is already the most crowded in the world with air-defense systems. President Bashar Assad's regime is currently armed with a range of Russian-made surface-to-air missile batteries (though it lost around half of them to Israeli strikes in recent months). Assad has been eyeing a purchase of the more advanced S-300 systems for years.
Arming Assad with the S-300 will increase the already formidable threat to Israeli jets that are out there, enforcing Israel's red line against Iran's military expansion. It could embolden the Syrian regime to fire even more aggressively at Israel's air force.
No stranger to the system
The good news, however, is that Israel is no stranger to the S-300 system. It already exists in Syria since Moscow deployed it--and its more advanced version, the S-400--to protect Russia's own bases and port.
Despite the advanced radars of these systems, it appears as if the IAF has learned how to operate without being detected. In addition, the growing Israeli squadron of stealth F-35 fighter jets, which are designed for just these kinds of missions, should be able to penetrate heavily guarded airspace and lead future missions against Iran's activities.
Israel's use of long-range standoff weapons, which allow jets to strike targets without needing to necessarily enter Syria's airspace, is also an important ability.
What all of this means is that the IAF has likely been developing solutions to the S-300.
Although the threat is growing to Israel's freedom of operation around Syria, the IAF is capable of working around it. The fact that Iran has already taken hold of the S-300, and used it to defend its nuclear sites, also likely served as a good reason for Israel to figure out ways of overcoming the system.
However, what is less encouraging is the fact that the S-300 system in Syrian hands can be used as an offensive weapon to threaten Israel's civilian air traffic.
Because of its long range, the Syrians can use the S-300 to watch, and theoretically target, any commercial flight coming in to land or taking off at Ben-Gurion International Airport. This enhancement to Syria's ability to threaten Israel is an explosive development, and it is not one that Israel will necessarily choose to live with in the future.
The close relationship that exists between the Assad regime, Iran and Hezbollah also means that Russia has in effect rewarded the Iranian-led radical axis, and moved closer to it by choosing to punish Israel and by ignoring Iran's dangerous actions that led to the downing of the Russian plane.
In its effort to defend the Assad regime, Russia is trying to deter Israel and get Jerusalem to scale back its military campaign against Iran's activities in Syria.
Yet Israel's active-defense campaign is a critical preventative policy. It is the only thing standing in the way of Iran's plan to encircle Israel with precise missile arsenals, pointed at Israel's population centers and strategic sites.
Israel cannot afford to allow Iran to move ahead with these plans. While it must manage the risks judiciously, it does not have the luxury of choosing to let the Iranians take over Syria.
The Russian shift away from Israel is a disturbing trend that the Jewish state will need to deal with by employing a combination of assertiveness and modesty. This is the formula that a regional power like Israel must use when dealing with a global military power like Russia.
The United States, on the other hand, as the world's leading military superpower, can take a far stronger position in support of its Israeli ally, when dealing with Russia's role in the Middle East.
Russia Escalates Tensions With Israel, Gives New Missiles to Syria - By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz -
When you take the field against your enemies, and see horses and chariots-forces larger than yours-have no fear of them, for Hashem your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt, is with you. Deuteronomy 20:1 (The Israel Bible�)
In the wake of one of their planes being shot down by Syrian missiles during an Israeli airstrike, Russia announced that within the next two weeks, they will be supplying Syria with the advanced S-300 missile defense system. The presence of the Russian missiles will seriously curtail Israel's ability to cope with the Iranian military presence along their northern border and raises tensions in the region several notches.
A previous commitment by Russia to provide Syria with the S-300 system in 2013 was cancelled after a request from Israel and several of its Western allies. Earlier this week, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu explained the turnaround in decision.
"Now, the situation has changed," Shoigu said to the media. "And it's not our fault."
The Russian change of mind comes as a result of an incident last week when Syrian aerial defenses reacted to an Israeli missile attack and inadvertently shot down a Russian military airplane, killing all 15 people aboard.
"The command posts of Syrian air defense forces and units will be equipped with automated control systems only supplied to the Russian armed forces," TASS News Agency quoted Shoigu as saying. "This will facilitate centralized control over all forces and resources of the Syrian air defense, monitor the situation in the air and ensure operative issuance of orders. Most importantly, we will guarantee the identification of all Russian aircraft by the Syrian air defense systems."
Initially Russia blamed Israel for the incident claiming Israel did not give them adequate warning of the attack. One day after the incident, Russian President Vladimir Putin assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone that his government considered the downing of the Ilyushin Il-20 to be the result of a "chain of tragic accidental circumstances."
The Russians changed their minds again, deciding finally to blame Israel for the death of their airmen. In a phone call on Monday, Putin reportedly told Netanyahu that the Russian Defense Ministry concluded that Israel was indeed to blame for the incident.
"The information provided by the Israeli military... runs counter to conclusions of the Russian defense ministry," Putin reportedly told Israel's prime minister. "The Russian side proceeds from the fact that the actions by the Israeli air force were the main reason for the tragedy."
"The actions of the Israeli fighter pilots, which resulted in the loss of life of 15 Russian servicemen, either lacked professionalism or were an act of criminal negligence, to say the least," a Russian defense ministry spokesman added
During the phone conversation, Putin went on to assure Netanyahu that the S-300 system in Syria was "primarily intended to thwart any potential threat to the lives of the Russian military service members."
Netanyahu was reported to have responded that "providing advanced weapons systems to irresponsible actors will magnify dangers in the region."
Netanyahu also related to the primary focus of Israeli military operations in Syria.
"[Israel is] determined to stop Iranian military entrenchment in Syria and the attempts by Iran, which calls for the destruction of Israel, to transfer to Hezbollah lethal weaponry [to be used] against Israel," Netanyahu told Putin.
The new S-300 system will not only enhance the Syrian army's ability to respond to attacks but will also seriously inhibit Israel's ability to operate in the region.
"Russia will jam satellite navigation, on-board radars and communication systems of combat aircraft, which attack targets in the Syrian territory, in the regions over the waters of the Mediterranean Sea bordering with Syria," Shoigu said.
Shoigu emphasized that if these measures "fail to cool hotheads, we will have to respond in line with the current situation."
The IDF made an announcement recently saying it has carried out more than 200 attacks against Iranian targets in Syria over the past 18 months.
Debka, an Israeli military intelligence website, suggested that the use of the system in such a manner might be a high-tech declaration of war.
"The crucial measure he announced is not the arming of Syria for the first time with S-300 systems - which Moscow withheld in the past at Israel's request - but the jamming of navigation," Debka reported. "DEBKA file's military experts point out that this the first time a major world power has declared electronic war against any country. After rejecting Israel's version of the Ilyushin crash with 15 Russian servicemen aboard as untruthful, Moscow has thrown down the electronic gauntlet before the IDF and pitched the dispute onto a much higher elevation."
U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton blamed the entire incident on Iran.
"There shouldn't be any misunderstanding here," Bolton told reporters in New York. "The party responsible for the attacks in Syria and Lebanon and really the party responsible for the shooting down of the Russian plane is Iran."
Bolton also said Russia's decision to provide the S-300's was a "major mistake" that would cause a "significant escalation" of tensions and put out a request that the Russian government reconsider this decision.
Channel 10 News quoted a senior American official who said that the S-300 system could endanger U.S. Air Force jets operating against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria.
"Bringing more anti-aircraft missiles into Syria won't solve the Syrian army's unprofessional and indiscriminate firing of missiles and won't mitigate the danger to aircraft flying in the area," the unnamed official said.
Israel Fears Russia Seeking To Change Rules Of The Game In Syria - By Benjamin Kerstein - http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2581
Veteran Israeli analysts believe President Vladimir Putin is exploiting the downing of a Russian plane in order to change the rules of the game in Syria, and that the US has abandoned Israel on the issue of Iranian entrenchment in the war-torn country.
Last week, Israel presented evidence to the Russian army that the plane in question was in fact downed by Syrian forces, but Russia later rejected the claim and blamed the Jewish state for the loss.
According to analyst Amir Bohbot, Putin is now using the incident to shore up his damaged prestige as a result of recent Israeli actions against Iran in Syria.
"As senior officials think," he wrote at the Hebrew news website Walla, "Putin's tragic event has become a ripe fruit and he will leverage it to impose new rules of the game, such as ... much earlier warning systems, restrictions on traffic routes that will reduce the IDF's freedom of action on the sea and in the air," and to gain concessions from Israel and the US.
As a result, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, "will be required to fight not for Israel's honor but for the freedom of action of the Israeli Air Force and the ability to stand up for its security interests. ... Any result other than maintaining the IDF's freedom of action will be considered a failure."
Iran, said Bohbot, has yet to take advantage of the current tensions between Russia and Israel, "but time is pressing and every day in the Middle East is critical." The Russians, for their part, are playing for time: "They are in no hurry and according to Kremlin experts, they will rip Israel well until they make a final decision on how to act."
Some Israeli sources are warning that Putin may continue to smile at Netanyahu, while at the same time directing his defense ministry to close Syrian air space against all foreign aircraft, not just Israeli warplanes. This would shut down Israel's air campaign for eradicating Iran's military grip on Syria - or bring it in conflict with Russian forces.
This would happen if the US and Israel decided for their part, to put Putin's directive to the test. Therefore, just as Russia's air force is no doubt planning its next steps in Syria, so too are the US and Israel.
Longtime Israeli analyst Ehud Yaari also chimed in, writing for Israel's Channel 2: "From the US perspective, we hear a lot of talk from President Trump and sources around him about their determination to curb Iranian activity and subversion in the region."
This, however, is just talk, and has not resulted in meaningful action, said Yaari. "In practical terms, the US has left Israel alone to deal with Iran's dangerous actions in Syria and to stand and deal alone with the presence of the Russian air force there," he said.
Russia's Actions In Syria Threaten A Broader War - By Shoshana Bryen - http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2597
The delivery of Russian S-300 air defenses to Syria threatens to broaden the war there, as these advanced systems could allow for a conflict with Israel.
By announcing this delivery, to be made in the coming two weeks, the Russian military appears to be on the side of Iran and hostile to Israel, neither of which is part of President Vladimir Putin's approach to the Middle East or, for that matter, the future of Russia.
Russia saved the Syrian regime from collapse by bringing in air power and encouraging the Iranians and their allies in Hezbollah to provide renewed muscle for ground fighting. Russia brought in its top aircraft, including the Su-35, protected its main base Khmeimim with the formidable S-400 Triumf missile defense system, and worked out a deal with Israel.
Iran contributed large numbers of Shiite mercenaries, including jihadi fighters, Pakistanis, and Afghans led by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officers.
The Israeli-Russian deal instituted a "deconfliction" system so that Israel could maintain certain red lines in Syria without encountering Russian fighter aircraft or missiles launched from Khmeimim. The deal was recently upgraded to keep Syrian, Iranian, and Hezbollah forces away from the border with Israel.
One Israeli red line is the acquisition by Hezbollah of sophisticated missiles. Iranians transport missiles to Hezbollah through Syria because the military part of the Damascus airport is heavily defended unlike the one in Beirut (the alternative option), and because the airbase is better protected against commando operations.
Israel has focused on staging areas and warehouses, many of them clearly under the control of the Syrian military. To keep Israel away, some of the warehouse roofs have been painted with UN symbols or with DHL logos. This backfired, however, as it makes it easier for Israel to find its targets.
Israel is looking for missiles manufactured primarily by Iran, but also those from China, North Korea, or re-transferred to Syria but made in Russia. Some are based on Russian designs and others on Chinese rockets, such as the WS-1 Weishi (Guardian). While most are unguided, they represent a threat to Israeli communities, especially in the north, including large cities such as Haifa, which has already suffered missile attacks from Hezbollah.
Other Israeli operations appear to have targeted Iranian troops -- including IRGC officers. Last July, Israel allegedly destroyed a Revolutionary Guard center near Aleppo. In January 2015, Israel hit a convoy, killing six Hezbollah soldiers, and Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, a Brigadier General in the Quds Force of the IRGC.
The Quds Force is an elite commando force of the Revolutionary Guards that reports directly to Ayatollah Khamenei. Its commander is Major General Qasem Soleimani. The same strike killed Jihad Mughniyah, an important Hezbollah leader.
One possible option for Israel is to surround Iran's military forces including proxies and force Hezbollah to fight with them. In this way, both forces could potentially be defeated, even liquidated. Israel has been carrying out extensive military training and planning, as well as military drills that even include a war scenario where Russia is directly involved.
The Americans have now been added to the mix.
Last August, National Security Adviser John Bolton said that Putin would like to see the Iranians leave Syria, but lacks the influence to get rid of them (whether that is true or not, it is a signal from Putin). Putin has sent other signals about his concern with the Iranians, because Iran could very well threaten Russia's interest in Syria or force Russia into a war it does not want or need.
Just this week, Bolton laid down an American red line, announcing that the US would remain in Syria as long as there were Iranian troops and their proxies there.
This is the bigger war that is potentially brewing in Syria -- mostly concerning Israel and Iran. The Russian response to losing its Il-20M aircraft to Syrian fire appears to bring that war closer instead of postponing it, and could jeopardize Russia's ability to remain in Syria.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to telephone the Russian president about the incident. Shortly afterwards, Putin made it clear that the shooting down was "a chain of tragic accidental circumstances," and not Israel's fault. He also directed his military to keep the deconfliction mechanism in place. An Israeli delegation in Moscow provided a detailed account of its mission in Syria on the night the plane was shot down.
Even so, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced Russia was moving its S-300 air defense system to Syria. Shoigu noted that Russia had suspended the delivery of the S-300 system in 2013 "at the request of Israel." He said Syrian gunners were already trained and the S-300 would arrive in Damascus within a fortnight. The minister made clear this was retaliation.
Most important, Shoigu added that Russia would henceforth "jam satellite navigation, onboard radars, and communication systems of combat aircraft that attack targets in the Syrian territory, in the regions over the waters of the Mediterranean Sea bordering with Syria."
Israel probably has tactics to deal with the S-300. The Pentagon has confirmed that Iran tested and deployed the S-300, which was delivered in 2016 and took two years to become operational. Israel and the US believe these missiles have boosted Iranian air defenses at least a full generation.
A similar system in Syria may take time to become operational, despite the training back in 2013 of Syrian operators -- unless, of course, the Syrians bring in Iranians to do it for them. This would be a game changer and could be enough to trigger a broader war.
This would put the Russians in a much more dangerous position. Instead of Syrian missiles being only an incidental target when they engage Israeli aircraft, the S-300 could potentially become a target of the Israeli Air Force.
That would be bad news for Putin, who wants to stabilize Syria, retain his bases there, and avoid more war. Putin's strategic objective would seem to be to work a deal, principally with the United States but with Israel's agreement, that would recognize Russia's long-term interest in Syria as a "guardian" of whatever future Syrian government is agreed to. Iran is a big sticking point, and the S-300 could make matters much worse.
It is unclear if the Russian military might be willing to risk a confrontation with Israel. While upset about the destruction of the Il-20M, they have long wanted to be considered a top power like the US. Putin shares these concerns, but he also has to worry about the impact of precipitous military decisions on the whole Russian state.
To have any hope of delivering an end to the war in Syria that preserves Russian bases and influence, Putin has to keep the Iranians away from the S-300 in Syria, or delay its delivery into the unforeseeable future.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.