Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Global SITREP A5-15: Israel Strikes Hezbollah and Iranian Qods Force Troops in Syria


CRITICAL UPDATE 27 January 2015: Yesterday the Iranian Parliament gave its rubber-stamp approval to the regimes expressed intention to expand war operations (i.e. open a new war front) against Israel in Judea and Samaria (i.e. the West Bank, the Jewish homeland). This is intent to kinetically expand the war against Israel into Judea and Samaria is in addition to what IRGC Deputy Commander, Brigadier General Hossein Salami, declared before 208 Iranian MPs would be a military operation executing "a particular work specifically in retaliation and revenge for the incident that happened in in the Golan Heights, near Quneitra." One can readily surmise from this statement that Iran intends to launch a decapitation strike against the senior ranks of the Israel Defense Forces.

General Salami also declared that the U.S. strategy in Iraq has failed, including the drive to have the existing Shi'a-led Iraqi government give the Sunni population a proportional role and direct representation; that the U.S.-led coalition of 60 countries (Operation Inherent Resolve) against the Islamic State has failed, and that the successful Houthi (Shi'a) revolt against the U.S.-backed government in Yemen are all victories for the Islamic Republic of Iran. For its part the Iranian Parliament's intent was made clear by Mohammad Hassan Asafari who announced legislation authorizing the enrichment of uranium to 60% should the U.S. Congress pass legislation increasing sanctions against Iran.

The final announcement made yesterday was that an ongoing Shi'a revolution will topple the government (Constitutional Monarchy) of the U.S.-backed Kingdom of Bahrain under Sunni Muslim King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa. Bahrain has long been the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet Headquarters and operations in the Gulf.

Assessment: One would have to willingly dismiss these world-world realities, as U.S. President Barack Obama apparently has, to not understand that the Islamic Republic of Iran is operating in a state of war (jihad) against the United States of America; the State of Israel; the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the now overthrown Republic of Yemen and several other U.S. allies in the region. In the absence of a credible and deterrent American policy for the entire Middle East region (see map above) at the start of 2015, the newly crowned King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel cannot afford to wait much longer to resolutely take military action against the Iranian war machine being brought against them on several fronts.



Iranian mourners carry a portrait of Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, a commander of the Islamic republic's Revolutionary Guards killed in an Israeli air strike on the weekend on Syria, during his funeral procession in Tehran on January 21, 2015. (Photo credit: AFP/ATTA KENARE)

25 January 2015: In light of the action which eternally dispatched a dozen IRGC and Hezbollah commanders, General Ali Allahdadi and Jihad Mughniyeh in particular, the glaring absence of any statement or appearance of IRGC Qods Force (IRGC-QF) Commander General Qasem Soleimani must be accounted as a confirmation of reports earlier this month of a reported nearly successful assassination attempt of the commander by Islamic State forces in Iraq. The entire upper echelon of the IRGC officer corps are now on record making public pronouncements on the death of General Allahdadi - except for Qasem Soleimani. 

There is one report in Iranian media which indicates he led the Ziarat-e Ashura prayer at Allahdadi's funeral service in Tehran. However, that report may well be Iranian disinformation because a similar report on the funeral in The Times of Israel makes no specific mention of this key function in the service or even of Soleimani's physical presence. An AFP photographer Atta Kenare was present at the service, but not one image of Soleimani is among the many taken by him, such as the above image and several others published in the ToI article.

As an aside, the ever increasing number of senior Iranian officers becoming KIA statistics in Iraq and Syria is becoming quite pronounced, especially now with the addition to this list of 12 more by the Israeli Hellfire. The most that Iran has done in response thus far is to burn Israeli flags on the streets of Tehran.

Image: An Israel Defense Forces. IAF AH-64D 'Seraph' poised on a
hilltop during June 2011 exercises in Greece with the Hellenic Air Force.

22 January 2015: Even though Israel's leadership did not have the real-time intel to know who was in those cars on Sunday... God did! Whatever may come in the aftermath of this critical event God knows, He has known it from before the foundation of the earth. I believe this event was an appointed warning of even greater judgments imminently coming upon those whose hatred and evil intent towards Israel, and the God of Israel whom they currently do not know, knows no bounds.

Mr. Netanyahu, leaders of Israel's government: you must recognize the hand of of the LORD your God, the God of all Israel, has moved against your enemies. Asaph's prophetic prayer, "Keep Thou not silence, O God; hold not Thy peace, and be not still, O God," (Psalm 83:1) is being answered before your eyes. "Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness. Otherwise, thou also shalt be cut off." (Romans 11:22) Look to Him, He alone is the salvation of all Israel.

20 January 2015: I do not believe for a microsecond that anyone in the Israeli civilian government, military or intelligence apparatus knew beforehand that IRGC Qods Force General Mohammed Ali Allahdadi, or Iranian Colonel Ali Reza al-Tabatabai, the commander of IRGC-Lebanon Radwan Brigade, or Commander Mohammed Issa of the Hezbollah forces in Iraq and Syria would accompany Jihad Mughniyeh and Abbas Hijazi on their inspection tour of the Golan front. I believe that the entire upper echelon of the Israeli government were stunned to the point of ashen white faces upon learning that their approved preemptive strike had also killed these senior Iranian officers. I believe Iran sent these officers to accompany Jihad Mughniyeh in the belief that Israel would not dare strike due to their presence. As the saying goes, no battle plan, however well conceived, survives first contact with the enemy, and especially when the command element does not have real-time intelligence to fail-safe or abort a strike in-progress.

19 January 2015: Yesterday, just a tad over 100 miles to the south of the underground Iranian WMD site exposed in SITREP A4, the IAF executed an airborne strike against a very high profile set of targets in the vicinity of Mazra'at Amal village near Al-Quneitra, Syria.  One or more of the IAF's upgraded AH-64D 'Seraph,' (AH-64D Apache Longbow) attack helicopters, like the example seen in the image above, may well have been the platform(s) which launched the deadly precision strike. 

This strike resulted in the annihilation of a supposedly covert convoy of three cars transporting a total of 12 Hezbollah and Iranian Qods Force terrorist commanders who were on an inspection tour just prior to the launching of a massive Hezbollah/Qods Force attack on IDF forces on the Golan Heights.  This strike force was led by the now deceased Jihad Mughniyeh, only son of the late Hezbollah master-terrorist Imad Fayez "Hajj" Mughniyeh, and a Hezbollah senior commander taken under a nurturing wing of Iran's Qods Force commander General Qasem Soleimani. Jihad Mughniyeh spent much of his young life growing up in Tehran, Iran, and like his father was a dedicated agent of the Islamic Republic of Iran regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Appropriately, the 12 Iranian/Hezbollah terrorists were dispatched into their eternities by American-made AGM-114 Hellfire missiles.

NOTE: The AH-64D Apache Longbow is the same attack helicopter that in one of its first official actions of 2009 the newly-minted Obama Administration had sought to keep out of Israel's possession but approved for immediate delivery to the short-lived Muslim Brotherhood terrorist government that was ruling Egypt under the leadership of Mohamed Morsi. The Obama Administration's objection to Israel having these helicopters was that Israel might use them against HAMAS and other Palestinian Islamic terrorists.

 AH-64D Seraph: One very bad bird of prey

My initial reaction yesterday to reports this heliborne strike was one of skepticism in considering that attack choppers are not exactly stealthy, they can be heard on the approach and alert an enemy from a considerable distance. Then I realized that Israeli intelligence activities almost certainly provided the necessary foreknowledge of the arrival of the convoy. Israel was able set the conditions under which this engagement on the battlefield would occur. This foreknowledge allowed the IDF to preposition the AH-64D Seraph's for an ambush, as suggested by the image at the top. Once the target convoy vehicles had placed themselves within range of the Hellfire missile (550 yards to a few miles), the Seraph's would simply pop-up from their hillside ambush positions, achieve laser and millimeter-wave guidance lock-on and the 1,000 mph Hellfire's would take care of the business at hand. The terrorists in the supposedly covert convoy never knew what hit them a second or two later.

At this time there is some question in Israel about when and how an Iranian retaliation could occur, with most pundits believing that Iran will not authorize a large-scale response. I consider this to be wishful thinking, and wishful thinking never won any war. The Israeli media pundits ignore the fact that it was a large-scale attack against the IDF that was the objective of the senior leaders just eliminated on the battlefield. Once a competent commander is available to take charge of the enemy forces already in position there would not be much to stop a retaliation. There is little doubt a large-scale Iranian/Hezbollah retaliation would trigger a war, and perhaps the war yet to occur as foretold in Isaiah 17 and Joshua 13.

23 comments:

  1. Sean,

    Of course, as soon as I saw the Mughniyeh name in reports yesterday it jumped out at me.

    Wasn't aware though that the Islamists are actually naming people Jihad.

    I agree that once again it feels like we are very close to all out war.

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  2. Sean,

    You totally amaze me and I can honestly say, Go IDF all the way to Tehran! If Israel needs a cheerleader, I WILL GO! But alas, age discrimination still exists and maybe I should just be content to love my Great grandchildren. I can always instill in their hearts a great love for Israel and HE who keeps Israel.

    I am getting very excited about this year and I keep asking my ABBA, how much longer Father? How much more does the Apples of YOUR eye have to tolerate these barbaric terrorist? Then I remember, HE shall make Jerusalem a cup of trembling and I know the answer to my own question.

    I knew there was something in the pot trying to cook over in that land but no matter how much I snooped, I came up with Zero. Thanks again!

    GG5/Shalom

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  3. There is much the American public does not know about Hezbollah, the late Imad Fayez Mughniyeh, and their origination as an Iranian terrorist proxy.

    For example, in 1982 when the IDF forced the PLO to flee Lebanon for exile in Tunisia, Yasser Arafat left something behind. That something was his so-called Force 17 body guards. One of those bodyguards was... Imad Fayez Mughniyeh. It was at this point that the senior IRGC officer, Hossein Mosleh, who had just set up the newly formed Hezbollah base of operations in Baalbek, personally recruited Mughniyeh. Mughniyeh began work for Hezbollah in what was known as the Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO). The IJO was a cover name for a terrorist group that Iran would employ on foreign soil around the world. We know this organization today as the Qods Force.

    Very few also are aware of the fact that Imad Fayez Mughniyeh, in his role as an agent of the Iranian regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was deeply involved in many aspects of the 19 Al Qaeda terrorists who perpetrated the events of September 11, 2001. This fact blows out of the water the myth that Sunni and Shi'a Islamists do not cooperate in their terrorist operations, a/k/a acts of war, against the US and Israel. Imad Fayez Mughniyeh was a triple agent for Hezbollah, Iran (Qods Force) and Al Qaeda until he met his fate in Damascus during February 2008.

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  4. Jihad is the islamic nom de guerre for Mustafa Mughniyeh, son of Imad Fayez Mughniyeh.

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  5. This awful Imad Fayez Mughniyeh, father of Jihad Mughniyeh who was killed by IDF last Sunday, was one of the hijackers of the TWA Flight 847 back in June 1985.

    One of the passengers was a US Navy Seabee called Robert Stethem who was tortured and killed by Mughniyeh and his accomplices. His body was then dumped on the tarmac at Beirut Aiport.

    I remember these pictures (just type 'TWA 847' on Google) of Mughniyeh in the cockpit, holding a gun next to the head of pilot John Testrake (Mr Testrake is a christian and I have read his book about this hijacking).

    I remember my mother reading Time Magazine with that picture on the cover.

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  6. My assessment is now the risk war full-scale war erupting between Iran, Hezbollah and Syria is now as great as it has ever been.

    In addition to Jihad Mughniyeh the senior commanders among the fatalities in the strike on Sunday is now known to have included:

    IRGC Qods Force General Mohammed Ali Allahdadi;

    Colonel Ali Reza al-Tabatabai, commander of IRGC Lebanon Radwan Brigade;

    Commander Mohammed Issa of Hezbollah forces in Iraq and Syria;

    Abbas Hijazi, son of Hezbollah founding member Kamal Hijazi.

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  7. Iran has, at some minimal cost, achieved two victories in as many days. They placed Israel in a defensive if not apologetic position regarding Sunday's strike and they have all but taken the country of Yemen with the successful Houthi clan (Shi'a) coup d'etat occurring in Sana'a today.

    Sunni Saudi Arabia now has Shi'a enemy states on two sides, plus a Shi'a fifth column within its own borders. At the same time it has to fend of Islamic State attacks on its Iraqi border.

    2015 is off to a rollicking wild start.

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  8. Sean,
    Just finished reading your 1/20 update and I know that your assessment of advance knowledge regarding the vehicles occupants involved in the covert operation is right on. But I would like to share with you what I believe was the Lord laying something on my heart to share with you.

    Israeli intelligence probably did not know who would be in the vehicle that was struck but HE WHO KEEPS ISRAEL DID!

    Just as in days of old, the enemy is going to be removed when God nods and when HE does nod, every predetermined sparrow will fall and every motion that is deemed to be an offense to ABBA will be stopped. For over 10 years now, I have been so very much aware of a lessening of dependence by Believers on the power of God's divine provisions and a shifting of one's own self to solve everything.

    Especially Israel's dependence on the USA to be their strength. On my trips to Israel I became very much aware of the lac k of faith of the Jewish people for God's intervention and provisions and a total weakness for the world's approval and provision. Back in 1997 I discovered Ezekiel 37 was more than just a prophecy for the Jewish people. That Army that is spoken of in Ezekiel's writings also includes their trust in God or as they say "YAHWEH". There was an evidence that what we were witnessing in Israel as regards the Jewish people being restored to their Nation was only a portion of the Word. God's word tells us that at first the Jews would return to Israel in unbelief but then HE would move on their hearts a greater desire to leave their havens of safety in all of the nations they had been driven to. They will come back in BELIEF. You know that and after the mess of terrorist attacks taking place in other nations right now, that fear of being in a foreign nation and unsafe is beginning to move them all back to Israel.

    They (the Jewish people) are the Apples of ABBA'S eye and when He is in control a vehicle full of officers that are hell bent on destroying those Apples is fair game.

    I leave you with this reminder: "They that bless Israel will be blessed but those that curse Israel will be cursed". It is a terrible thing when mankind comes under the judgment of God! Especially when they determine to totally disregard God's ample warnings, time after time.

    GG5/Shalom

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  9. Amen GG5, God the Father knew who was in those cars last Sunday, and he also knew that the Israel helicopter would be all but invisible to them because the sun was due south and directly in their eyes. He is in complete control.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sean,

    Even if the Israeli leaders were surprised by who was in those cars, shouldn't this be a good surprise?

    They had to have known that full scale war was coming soon one way or the other.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This comment is to inform that a specific and very recent prayer request to the LORD has been answered. The prayer was for the new American Congress to invite Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, to speak before this body of our elected Senators and Representatives.

    Yesterday I learned that this prayer has been answered!

    John Boehner, Speaker of the House, issued a formal and direct invitation for PM Netanyahu to speak before a joint session of the U.S. Congress on 11 February 2015.

    Normally, an invite for a foreign head of state is coordinated through the Executive Branch in the White House. This specific invite deliberately bypassed the normal coordination for all of the obvious reasons.

    Praise God! Thank you Lord Jesus!

    Marana'tha!

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  12. Sean,

    Netanyahu will be only the second foreign leader to speak to a joint session of Congress 3 times.

    Winston Churchill was the first.

    http://history.house.gov/Institution/Foreign-Leaders/Joint-Sessions/

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sean,
    Seeing this this morning on Jpost.com… Sound familiar? Like it was written a couple thousand years ago?

    Mohammed Deif, the Gaza-based military commander of Hamas who is said to have survived multiple assassination attempts by Israel, sent a letter of condolence to Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah expressing sorrow for the deaths of those killed in the suspected Israeli airstrike on the Golan Heights on Sunday.

    “All of the forces of resistance must band together and unite against the Zionist enemy and its accomplices,” Deif is reported to have written in the letter.

    http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Hamas-Deif-tells-Hezbollahs-Nasrallah-Lets-unite-against-Zionist-enemy-388543

    Ken B

    ReplyDelete
  14. Mark,

    Two things:

    1) Once again we're faced with an existential war,

    and

    2) Churchill was and Netanyahu is rapidly becoming a "bird of the same feather." These are men who understand the enemy and his ideology and express it openly and honestly to all.

    The only drawback is Netanyahu's continuing penchant to refer to the enemy as "radical Islam" or "radical terrorists."

    Just as there was no such thing as radical Nazi's there is no such thing as "radical Islam" or "radical terrorists."

    There is only Islam (submission); there is only one ideological source for this: the Qur'an.

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  15. Thanks to all the commentors for sharing their vast knowledge of the situation at hand and relating it to God's unchanging word!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Sean,

    I feel like the WH refusal to meet Bibi is yet another sign of how close war is.

    Tensions between this WH and the Israelis feels like it is at the highest point it's ever been now!

    ReplyDelete
  17. PM Netanyahu's visit and speech to Congress has been delayed [at Netanyahu's request] to March 3 so it will coincide with the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.

    In my opinion a Obama meet with Netanyahu would be meaningless, no purpose to it. How many times does any human being want to be lied to face-to-face by someone who holds the enemy's agenda as a paramount concern? By someone running cover for Iran in its drive for indigenous nuclear capability.

    I am pleased Obama will not meet Netanyahu; he got more important things to take care of while he's here.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Chess was invented by the Persians/Iranians. They know how to plan and layout their pieces. They'll probably wait until the first part of April. The ICC action on the "state" of Palestine goes into effect on April 1. If they are still launching missiles from Gaza into Israel after that date, that is an act of war by Palestine against Israel. Israel would be legally justified to retaliate, at which point all the nations surrounding Israel can jump in to "defend Palestine." Hello, War of Psalm 83.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Jim,

    The Persians did not invent the modern game of chess, although that myth is a popular idea many still ascribe to, and many Farsi-speaking Persians will demand to be recognized as fact. I know this from personal experience with Iranian college students back in the mid-1970s when I learned to play the game with them in the Farsi language.

    The basic game originated in India around 300 AD as chaturanga, a Sanskrit word meaning "four divisions of military."

    The Persians played a similar game called chatrang, the earliest evidence of which dates to circa 600 AD, or about 35 years prior to the Islamic invasion and conquest of Persia.

    It wasn't until around 1500 AD that the modern game of Chess was developed in Europe, primarily in Italy and Spain, and the rest is history.

    With respect to the ICC and "Palestine," that situation is summarized by this .pdf document. They key provision of this document are items 4 and 5.

    The question to be answered here is: Since when does an Islamic state submit itself to the jurisprudence of Roman Law over that of Qur'anic Jurisprudence (Shari'a Law)??

    I'm not sure that kind of al-Taqiyya even exists within Islam in an era where the Islamic State, HAMAS and the Islamic Republic of Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah are playing by their own rules and jurisprudence.

    It seems clear to me that such an Islamic state deferring to Roman Law would be declared an apostate state by fundamentalist Islam.

    Besides this, a lot of specifics and on-the-ground facts can change without notice making all of this discussion a moot point.

    Psalm 83 has been in the process of fulfillment since 14 May 1948; we're waiting on that which will set the final military engagement into motion.





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  20. Sean,

    I feel like it's probable that Israel will wait on Iran until after Netanyahu speaks to Congress.

    But do you think there is incentive for Israel to also wait until a vote is taken on the Iran sanctions bill that is being fiercely debated right now?

    Obviously it's too late for sanctions to work but it feels like the sanctions debate is turning into a vote of "no confidence" on the entire WH Iran policy for the last 6+ years.

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  21. Sanctions have failed and there is no purpose for a new sanctions vote.
    That's all political nonsense IMHO.

    Git'r'done.

    Period.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Sean,

    What are you thoughts on the new PM of Greece, Alexis Tsipras? I've read your thoughts on the AC being Greek and completely agree. I'm not "pinning the tail," but find this guy very interesting!

    David

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  23. David,

    On 26 JAN I posted my comment on Alexis Tsipras... it's the last comment in the string of comments within The Origin of the Antichrist blog post.

    Here's that comment again...

    "With the Greek election elevating the young (40 years old) radical leftist (Communist Party of Greece) Alexis Tsipras to become Prime Minister of Greece as the leader of the SYRIZA party, it is time for me to take note of this development and keep an eye on this guy from this point forward.

    The most interesting factoid on him is the most chilling: In December 2013 he was the first candidate proposed for the position of President of the Commission of the European Union.

    Wow.

    Not saying anything ...just sayin... Wow.
    "

    I also sent this same comment around via Email to inform other well-known eschatologists, prophecy teachers and watchmen. To my rather mild surprise I have yet to receive any comment from any of them in return, even though I did make it very clear that "Not saying anything... just sayin'."

    I do earnestly believe that being on alert and watching for things like this to occur is one of the reasons why we're still here, which, of course, is an aside to the more important eschatological fact that our Father in Heaven has not yet determined that "the fullness of the Gentiles has come in."

    ReplyDelete

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