Thursday, April 6, 2017

Global SITREP B6-17: The Syrian Situation Revisited Part II

Location of Shayrat Air Base in west-central Syria

FINAL UPDATE 8 April 2017: This will be the final update for SITREP B6:17 so that it doesn't become too large. Subsequent related events in Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean or elsewhere in the Middle East will be covered in The Syrian Situation Part III SITREP.

As most are now aware the USS Porter and USS Ross launched 30 Tomahawks each. One of those cruise missiles malfunctioned and fell harmlessly into the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. As military operations go, this was a very limited, extremely precise, meticulously planned and professionally executed strike mission. This strike mission could have been a much larger operation, but in the deliberations over what the US should do the concept of proportionality was the key determining element on the scale of operation the US would execute. It was the correct option that was chosen.

The message this strike mission sent to the most hostile governments in Syria, Iran and North Korea was as precise as the strike itself. Those government's understanding of the message is another matter entirely and out of any human control. Ditto for the Russian government. Xi Jinping wears three hats: he is the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party; the President of the People's Republic of China, and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission. That this strike was prepped and ultimately occurred while Xi Jinping was dining with President Trump in the middle of their very first and extremely important summit meeting is positively astounding. The effect must have been nothing short of seismic. 

In fact, the entire world was sent the unmistakable message that the United States of America is back, and back in increasing power on the global stage; gone like the wind was the pontificating but do-nothing America of Barack Obama. And the whole world was put on notice and has taken notice - friends and foes alike. Clean-up in aisle planet earth, which is overdue as a result of the eight Obama Administration years, is happening in real-time.

I have always believed that the fulfillment of Bible prophecy is largely the Lord's omniscient forewarning about the results of the free will decisions that human governments and their leaders will make in the future. That is what I believe is occurring now and will occur in the immediate future because Bible prophecy, as with the entire Word of God, is inerrant and fulfilled as explicitly as it has been written. So it will be with Jeremiah 49:23-27 and Isaiah 17. 

7 April 2017: Less than 24 hours later and the now highlighted analysis provided below has become real-world fact: the United States of America, a nation far too many Bible scholars and teachers of last days eschatology have opined to play no-role in last days prophetic fulfillment, has just done exactly that. A few hours ago U.S. executed a key event in the ongoing fulfillment of Bible prophecy found in the books of Jeremiah and Isaiah. Action such as the United States has just undertaken in Syria are commonly known in today's parlance as a "game changer." FACT: as witnessed by innumerable individuals around the world, the United States has been a central player in the literal fulfillment of Bible prophecy since Israel's re-birth in 1948.

On the order of U.S. Commander-In-Chief Donald J. Trump the United States Navy's guided missile destroyers Porter and Ross (DDG 78 and DDG 71, respectively) launched a total of about 30 Tomahawk cruise missiles each at Bashar al-Assad's Shayrat (Ash Sha'irat) Air Base where the chemical attack of three days ago on Khan Sheikhoun was determined through all-source intelligence analysis to have originated. (Additional and graphic details HERE.) The U.S. Tomahawks began impacting the base at 3:45 AM this morning Syrian time, or approximately 6 hours prior to this posting.


October 2016 DigitalGlobe satellite image of Ash Sha-irat Air Base southeast of Homs, Syria 
A damage assessment image of Shayrat air base in Syria, following U.S. Tomahawk Land Attack Missile strikes on April 7, 2017 from the USS Ross and USS Porter, Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers. DigitalGlobe/U.S. Department of Defense/AP
The forty aircraft shelters known to be at Ash Sha-irat probably each received at least one Tomahawk. So did the anti-air positions and fuel depot. Ash Sha-irat Air base is now also known to be a Syrian chemical weapons storage site. All anyone can do is hope the remaining 20 Tomahawks destroyed the chemical weapons bunkers at Ash Sha-irat Air Base, but it also should go without saying that Bashar al-Assad did not have all of his chemical weapons eggs in this one basket. Syria has now been found guilty of crimes against humanity, and its allies (Russia, Iran/Hezbollah and North Korea) are complicit in these crimes which now span from December 2012 to April 2017. The Obama Administration is now also complicit with the Russian Federation in fomenting a bald-faced lie regarding Syrian Weapons of mass Destruction. To borrow a phrase, Obama lied and Syrian children and babies died.

At approximately 01:30 hours this morning (EDT in Washington, D.C.) the Bashar al-Assad government released a statement calling the U.S. strikes on Ash Sha-irat Air Base "aggression" which had caused "losses."  Responsibility for this attack is also borne by the Russian Federation which had caused a boondoggle in the UN Security Council deliberations of yesterday due to its persistent objections in defending the al-Assad regime and threatened veto over the text of a condemning resolution. That failed diplomatic tactic convinced U.S. National Military Authority to strike immediately. 

For his part Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin released a statement through his spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying Russia regarded the American strike as "aggression against a sovereign nation" based upon a "made-up pretext." The U.S. and Russia are now locked into opposing sides of what amounts to a military confrontation on a Middle Eastern battlefield. 

Final assessment for this update: The Syrian capability to continue to use its banned chemical weapons against its enemies has only been very moderately reduced as a result of the Tomahawk strike on Ash Sha-irat Air Base, which is now a smoking pile of rubble. While the American Tomahawk strikes are currently billed as "one-off" there is little doubt that additional attacks by Al-Assad using WMD on his own people will result in fresh attacks on his military forces - who are defended by Russian military forces. 

Not to jump too far ahead of the present situation, but according to Bible prophecy, the Syrian government will be proven to have learned nothing from the lesson this strike was intended to have taught them. Bye bye Damascus; Bye bye Syria.

More updates to follow...

Map of Syria: Areas of Control, Khan Sheikhoun Sarin Attack 

6 April 2017: Instead of posting an update to Global SITREP A9-17, I've decided to post this as Part II of that SITREP, along with the understanding that this is also an near-real time update to what was being discussed in the preceding Global SITREP B5-17. In fact, it seems at this point a lot of prophetic Scripture is running together as it they were a stampede.

Firstly, the map (clickable) above illustrates the current lines and areas of control of the factions involved in the Syrian civil war as well as the location of the Sarin gas WMD attack by the government of Bashar al-Assad upon the civilians of the rebel-held city of Khan Sheikhoun. 

There are two critical things to note immediately. Some of you who've been reading Eschatology Today in the past several months are probably already aware of what will once again be stated. Based upon Jeremiah 49:23 the high probability has been repeatedly stressed of some major catastrophe occurring in northwest Syria. A weapons of mass destruction (WMD) attack involving the use of the G-series Sarin nerve agent on civilians in Khan Sheikhoun in northwest Syria definitively qualifies in the literal fulfillment of Jeremiah 49:23.

However, this is just the beginning and worse is coming down the pike. This is the second note of note of critical importance. The likelihood of U.S. military action, airstrikes or cruise missile strikes, upon one or more Syrian government airfields is a very high probability. These U.S. attacks could occur this morning or in the next day or so. Sooner rather than later in order to convey the seriousness of how the Trump Administration views the situation.

What is unknown is how Russia will respond to U.S. attacks and their level of severity upon their patron Bashar al-Assad's military infrastructure. The cratering of airfield runways and destruction of rotary-wing aircraft (helicopters) is a minimum of what U.S. air and naval forces in the region are likely to hit. Naval forces may be a key as the second half of Jeremiah 49:23 indicates:

"Hamath and Arpad are shamed,
For they have heard bad news.
They are fainthearted;
There is trouble on the sea;
It cannot be quiet."

Notice the direct tie-in of this verse to what Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 17:12-13. For sure this is another indicator of far, far worse that is yet to come. Another unknown is that when the U.S. strikes Syria will Assad, at Iranian urging then strike out at Israel? Understand this: If Bashar al-Assad (or the IRGC/Hezbollah) were to order a weapons of mass destruction chemical attack upon Israel, then have no illusions that Israel will strike back with nuclear weaponry. And here we could be witness to the literal fulfillment of both Isaiah's and Jeremiah's prophecies in real-time. 

What strikes most solidly about all this is that instead of referencing an entire chapter of the Lord's prophetic word through His prophets, it is now necessary to cite individual and pairs of verses as coming to fulfillment before our eyes.

Marana'tha

26 comments:


  1. How exciting it is to watch these prophetic verses unfold and how terrifying is this situation at the same time! Thank you for all these updates Sean!

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  2. Seeing reports now that IAF aircraft were or still are active in the Damascus to Dara'a region of southern Syria.

    J
    The Jerusalem Post reporting this morning on an attack, captured on video no less, by several Syrian Army helicopters dropping barrel bombs of chlorine gas on a village called Al-Lataminah which is about 7 miles northwest of Hama.

    Again, this is a literal fulfillment of Jeremiah 49:23 occuring in real-time!

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  3. Brian,

    Thanks for the affirmation.

    Unfortunately, your linked article is total rubbish, absolutely false information. No way I repost that rubbish here.

    G-class nerve agent has been 100% confirmed in the Khan Sheikoun attack by al-Assads military.

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  4. Awe inspiring times we live in Sean!

    I saw the chlorine bomb report this morning but it seems you beat me to it =D

    Thank you for the insight and update!


    Meet you in the clouds!
    Ken B

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  5. Interesting Sean.
    Trump will take some action against Assad. Wonder what the fall out will be
    with Russian aircraft, missile and ships in the area. Could be some fallout
    with Hezbollah also. One thing for sure Trump and team really should have a secret meeting with House and Senate Leadership to possibly head off the Democrat cry fowl.
    I can hear that now.

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  6. Once again, you're right on the mark Sean. President Trump authorized a Tomahawk missile strike tonight against at least one Syrian military base.

    http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/06/politics/donald-trump-syria-military/index.html

    Well done on the analysis, sir. Well done.

    - Brian from Florida

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  7. Hey Sean, take this for what it is worth, I'll quote a friend of mine who's a pastor of a very small church, if its wrong please say so
    "Remember this folks, when watching the news about Syria, just remember that the news media lied about pretty much everything else "

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  8. The Syrian goverment used a flight of three Su-22S-32MK 'Fitter' fighter-bombers of the 685th Fighter Squadron flying out of (Qaeidat al-Shshaeirat al-Jawwia) Ash Sha'irat Air Base to attack Khan Sheikhoun village with unguided chemical munitions. This is no lie.

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  9. To repeat myself for all due emphasis...

    The U.S. and Russia are now locked into opposing sides of what amounts to a military confrontation on a Middle Eastern battlefield."

    The only worse than this will be for U.S. and Russian forces to commence an exchange fire against each other.

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  10. So you're saying this is like a match truck slamming into a gasoline tanker in the loading dock of a fireworks warehouse?? (Not to make light, no pun intended, of the situation).

    Lance

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  11. Pretty much. US-Russian relations are all but on a war footing at this point.

    This is going downhill really fast. The US is trying to determine if Russian force in Syria were involved in the Khan Sheikhoun sarin attack; weather or not they conducted a post-attack assessment or reconnaissance for the subsequent attack on the hospital to destroy forensic evidence of the sarin attack.

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  12. Just added a BDA (Battle Damage Assessment) image taken by DigitalGlobe satellite and released by the US DoD today. It's just a general overview of the entire air base; TIME magazine has several of these released images posted online.

    Of the few countries who object to the US strike, only one illustrates how far Iran has taken control and turned Iraq into a puppet state in the Ayatollah's service. Yes, Iraq has denounced the US strike even though the country's leadership knows full well that the dictator Saddam Hussein also used chemical warfare weaponry against Iraqi civilians. This situation will also change soon enough.

    Looking to see if the hostile rhetoric cools down now that our UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has said that our forces are prepared to strike again, but that we'd rather not have to launch another strike or more significant strikes. It's up to Russia and Iran to decide what happens next, which is anything but reassuring.

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  13. Sean, this is just my thinking and I could be way off and naive, but I have a very hard time thinking that there will be a full scale war between the U.S. and Russia prior to Gog/magog and it seems that a war with Iran is a war with Russia... again, I could be way off.

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  14. hartdawg,

    Bro, why are you thinking like this? There's nothing in anything reported here which suggests a "full-scale war" with Russia. If you think there is then that would be a mis-read of what is going on, of what is possible.

    Where I wrote "a military confrontation," and "a war footing" above means exactly that... a confrontation, a brief, violent military clash of forces, and all the things our side would have done to be prepared for that potential to occur.

    Our strikes on Syria's Ash Sha-irat Air Base without any doubt included full spectrum preparations for a possible clash with Russian forces in the country. We made every effort to avoid such a clash, and the Russian's have said that such a clash nearly did occur, but as yet it has not occurred, and no doubt efforts are being made to prevent one. But that does not mean that a clash will not occur between the US and Russia, and it does not even come close to addressing "full-scale war."

    The SITREP focus has been one the fulfillment which is occurring and the Lord's prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah have written will be the result. I mean, really, full-scale war with Russia would mean no existing Magog in existence to fulfill Ezekiel 38/39. Pray on, consider and read only about what the prophets have said. God is in full control; His will is being done, and the future has been announced in advance - meaning full-scale war between the US and Russia at this point is out of the question and not part of the prophetic big picture... later on, in the 70th Week, sure, but not now. So rest easy and calm your thoughts brother.

    Check the final update for this SITREP, it contains what I hope is the most complete analysis current OSINT can provide.

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  15. Sean, my comment was in response to some fear-mongering reports and conversations that I been hearing. On another group page i posted a comment basically saying that everyone needs to backup, calm down and not jump tbe gun. People are saying things like "trump is trying to start a war just like bush did....". Hence my comment here, that and I misread a few things. (I was on a very brief break at work when I read it)

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  16. hartdawg,

    OK, that's something entirely different indeed. In my response I was going by your first sentence: " this is just my thinking and I could be way off and naive, but I have a very hard time thinking... etc."

    You're not alone, however, in reacting negatively to what you're seeing on other sites. I have received a few emails in the past week concerning issues with other Bible prophecy websites content, what would my take be, and so on and so forth. The emails compelled to to go look and see for myself. Not something I normally do, but the email's were compelling enough.

    Suffice it to say that what I saw was mind-numbing to say the least.

    For example, one of the most egregious I found was a "featured end time" article by a guest author on one of the best known Bible prophecy websites there is. This article concerned what is going on and what will go on in the Middle East in the coming months/years. The mind-numbing part of this was that the article contained not one letter, not one jot or iota any reference to Scripture. Zip, zero, nada. It was as if Psalm 83, Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49:23-27 did not even exist. A majority of references in the article were taken from secular news which are clearly very left-of-center news outlets (fake news) or secular Israeli sources still firm in their disbelief. These sources were presented as absolute take-it-to-the-bank fact. My brain still hurts from reading that rubbish.

    The good news here is that within the past 36 hours much of what is in the article has been proven false, and the rest will clearly be proven garbage in the days/weeks/months to come.

    So, then I went to this prophecy website's forum. I found a discussion thread specific to the Tuesday, 4 April sarin gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun, and decided to read it. This thread begins with a link to a New York Times article published on 5 April. Late in the evening someone finally mentions Isaiah 17, could it be on the horizon? This posted comment is ignored by the rank and file members of the forum. Next news link is to a CNN report. Then someone links to a FoxNews report. Silence, crickets chirping in the background.

    Morning of 7 April in this thread I can finally see clearly that the thread is moderated by decidedly left-of-center individuals. One mod insults a poster who had made a very astute and very truthful post on the days events. Then someone references that Trump does not see "through the lens of prophecy." My immediate thought - "take the log out of your own eye brother!!! No one on this forum is seeing through the lens of prophecy... no one here has even bothered to quote Jeremiah 49:23-27." I see that the major consensus here is that POTUS Donald Trump (utterly devoid of his administration and NSC advisers) played into the hands of the globalists by attacking Ash Sha'irat Air Base. Tin foil hatters in here for sure also.

    Bottom Line: Nowhere in any of this prophecy forum's Syrian Gas Attack discussion thread is there even the slightest hint that the will of God being manifest in the events occurring in Syria this week!!! None.

    Wanna know what prophecy website I'm talking about?

    Rapture Ready.

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    Replies
    1. Oh, and concerning my first sentence "this is my thinking...." my main point is i just simply cannot envision a war with Russia at this time, I just don't see it happening.
      You said something in a reply to Nora that I think is very fitting here. What you said was "FOCUS"

      Delete
  17. Sean, I think your last response to Hartdawg is a very smart post. Most honest, good natured christians who are looking for the Lord's appearing are reading alot of stuff out there and it does take diligence to rightly divide it all, heck, things are happenning so fast I'm having a hard time keeping my barean glasses on. 😀
    Now, onto what you stated concerning the USA and what MOST prophecy teachers say about us not being in prophecy.
    It brings joy to my heart and an answer to prayer to read what only here I have read concerning the USA.
    Marana'tha!

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  18. Jmoll,
    Amen! Too many prophecy teachers either regurgitate what they heard from their teachers, or they shoehorn their own interpretations into the text. The reason why i kept visiting this site is because all we get here is what the scriptures teach, no hype or sensationalism. I'm sure that you'll agree that sensationalism does more harm than good. I believe in being ready and watching at all times, but that includes resisting the false alarms and recognizing when the real alarms need to be sounded. I hope i articulated what i was saying well enough, i never been really good at that.

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    Replies
    1. I agree, there is nothing to gain from sensationalism but a crown to wear for watching for His appearing.
      Also, I think we all gain from the questions asked.

      Delete
  19. I've just completed a survey of what a great many Christian websites are reporting regarding Syria and the LORD God's prophetic word.

    Most reference Isaiah 17:1 and that's where the exegesis in these articles begins and ends. In other words the websites I surveyed are mere surface skimmers when it comes to God-breathed prophecy.

    It is no exaggeration or boast to say that what has been provided on Eschatology Today stands head, shoulders, torso and even hips above the sites surveyed.

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  20. (Sean,

    I believe Messiah Jesus has just lead me to this particular fresh tweet from P.M Bibi in Israel, as a piece for the final parts of the prophetic jigsaw picture we see unfolding with you: https://twitter.com/netanyahu/status/851018078976716801. Bibi specifically reiterates the importance of the 2013 agreement to have destroyed all of Syrians chemical weapons, which clearly satan and the Islamic and Russian enemies of Israel and the Christian west have delayed and decieved about forfilling the agreement.....

    Ive just realised, which should have been clearer to us, but probably has been to you, that for Israel, with her great military technology defence - offence systems, its not really the conventional high tech weapons on Syrian soil she is concerned about, but the possibility of a chemical weapons WMD attack from Syria against Israel......Especially if the Assad regime faces a soon future loss of its power, and decides to take a rash strike against Israel from Syria's satanic anti-semetic hatred .
    How this nudge to me from the Lord fits more precisely into the prophetic scriptures Im not sure yet....but Ive had quite a few of them recently, and its the quicking now of the Holy Spirit's outflow of the book of Joel - "....your old men will dream dreams..." that i believe is behind these nudges...... May I ask we all pray for you and each other to discern and reveal more and more of the jigsaw picture in these last days ahead, so we are focused AND READY WATCHMEN........

    Shalom and blessings,

    Rob

    Near the ends of the earth).

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  21. Jeremiah 49:25 asks the question, "Why is the city of praise not deserted, the city of My joy?".
    If the people of Damascus could only see what is about to happen they would all flee.
    I can't help but conclude reading God's Word and this Sitrep that this warning will go unheeded.

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  22. (PS: Sean. Yes, it seems now brightly glaring, as your current SITREP clearly points to that it will be Isaiah 17 that is unfolding firstly....., and that Damascus is subject to a devastating attack which causes her final and total destruction to the point of "desolation".... Rob.).

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