Global SITREP C17-14: Exposing a False god on the Altar of Gaza

12 July 2014 Operation Protective Edge - Day Five (OPE-5): Before we begin this next SITREP, It has been impressed upon yours truly that just as Elijah forcefully exposed the ancient false good Ba'al to his adherents (1 Kings 18), so too a process of finality has begun to expose Baal's modern counterpart Allah as the false god that he is.  With respect to Israel's modern Islamist enemies encircling all around her, the prophets of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the God of Israel's fathers who told Moses to say "I AM THAT I AM has sent me" (Exodus 3), the one true God is now about the business of exposing yet another false god. 

These enemies of the God of Israel (Psalm 83:2) are very fond of saying "if Allah wills" and who cry out how great he is every time they send a rocket to bring fire upon the children of Israel. How is it that this false god truly wills upon them good tidings when even Egypt has shut them out and closed its door to them? What beneficent act has this Allah bestowed upon the jihadists of Gaza when they have been so thoroughly boxed in against the Mediterranean Sea on one side, and by razor wire on all other sides, and beyond which, and above which, lies the existential threat posed to them all by army of Israel? From this altar that is Gaza, the false god of total submission will now save those who wage jihad against the children of Israel; who dare rage against the God who has gathered them once again into Eretz Israel from the four corners of the Earth?

Psalm 83:13-18; Isaiah 11:11-16, Ezekiel 28:24-26 and the whole of Ezekiel 35 are just three of the prophetically instructive passages for us to be mindful of as these days progress in to the weeks and months ahead; they foretell the plight and fate of those who wage war against the God of Israel and His people! How much clearer can our Lord say it than, "they will dwell securely, when I execute judgments on all those around them who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God,"  and "Because you have had an ancient hatred, and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, when their iniquity came to an end, therefore, as I live, I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you; since you have not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue you." It doesn't get any clearer than this. On the altar that is Gaza will these prophetic words now begin to be made manifest before our own witnessing eyes. "Then you shall know that I am the Lord." Amen.

Pour water on Gaza. Let it Rain!

12 July 2014 OPE Day Five - Recapping Today's Events: After a brief lull, which is only relative to the pace of hostilities of previous days, OPE-5 brought the heaviest rocket fire and IAF air strike yet.  For the first time the IAF engaged in carpet bombing, with even heavier combat operations poised to commence in just hours. A final warning to evacuate urban areas was issued by the IDF to Gaza civilians. With Israeli Special Forces already surgically operating inside Gaza and then withdrawing (make no mistake, these are SpecOps - not a ground invasion) the handwriting is on the wall that the IDFs heavy armored and mechanized invasion force will not be far behind. This is a massive armored force to be sure. Additionally, with more three rockets coming into Israel from Lebanon, the entire dynamic of this war could change rather dramatically without out much additional forewarning. First indication of unease within the Arab League surfaces with the Kuwait delegation (the current Arab League chair is held by Kuwait) calling for an urgent meeting to be convened. This is another dynamic which could change very dramatically.

13 July OPE Day Six - IDF Warning Order: Indeed, the IDFs warning order for northern Gaza residents to hastily move to southern areas had a suspense of 12 Noon, local time, for completion. That suspense is now a full  +2 hours passed into history.  Based upon the IDF ultimatum (image below) to Gaza's population, I would speculate that in reality all of northern Gaza has been partitioned off on the IDF military planners maps on a line roughly from the Karni Crossing to the Mediterranean Sea and from there to northern Gaza border just south of Netiv Haasara and the Erez Crossing (the area boxed in red in the image above). If I am not mistaken, the sheer volume of rocket fire from this area has led to a determination by Israel's political leaders to seize it whole, quarantine it with IDF armor and then systematically raze it and sterilize it by brute force. This region of the Gaza Strip may more likely resemble the surface of the moon when this operation has become mission complete.

 

Final Update OPE Day 6: After the sun had set this evening in Israel mortar fire from inside Syria impacted near a Druse village called Mas'ade on the Golan Heights. The IDF returned fire with artillery directed at a total of nine Syrian army positions scoring several direct hits. That would tend to indicate that the first Syrian military casualties are likely to have occurred during Operation Protective Edge as Day 6 came to a close. There is no question the Syrian army deliberately attacked the Israeli side of the Golan and Israel responded with overwhelming force - as expected. 

14 July 2014 OPE Day 7 Roundup: The war continued apace today; it arrived and departed without an execute order for the ground forces to move on northern Gaza. The Gaza rocket fire and IAF counter-sorties continued without much change from the previous six days; it's as if this type of warfare has become routine fare... the air war goes on. This is so true that most media took to tallying up the number of rockets versus the number of IAF strikes that have occurred over the past seven days. In Judea and Samaria the situation remains as violent as ever; one Arab was shot and killed by IDF troops after he attacked their security patrol, and dozens of others were arrested. IDF units continue to train up for urban warfare. Another Syrian attack against the Golan occurred late today, but this time it was not mortar fire but a pair of missiles that were fired and impacted in the Golan.