Global SITREP A5-18: SYRIA - Part III

Russian mercenary soldiers of ChVK Wagner

Final Update 21 February 2018: The the eastern Damascus suburb known as Ghouta there is a massacre occurring. The Syrian government denies any civilians are there, only terrorists, so there is no "humanitarian" contect to this battle whatsoever. The artillery, rockets and chlorine/shrapnel bombardments are unrelenting, unforgiving; hundreds and hurdreds of civilians are being massacred each day. Eastern Ghouta is being returned to the stone age, and it's a foreshadowing of what Damascus itself will soon become. It is hard to not imaging some type of military intervention occurring. We'll see. SYRIA - Part IV is next.

13 February 2018: Details on the battle at al-Tabiyeh which occurred on Wednesday of last week continue to seep out. New OSINT is strongly suggesting that 3/5ths of a 500-man enemy force consisting of Russian mercs, Syrian soldiers and Iranian militia was wiped out by the US-led CJTF-OIR. 

Of the 300 reported KIA Opposing Force (OpFor) troops more than 100, and possibly as many as 200, were reportedly Russian mercs deployed into Syria by ChVK Wagner. Some reports suggest the Russian mercs were the largest contingent of the OpFor. 

Officially, Russia does not acknowledge the presence of ChVK Wagner troops being in Syria, but independent estimates hold that there are or have been as many as 3,500 in Syria. Russia even denied last Wednesday that any Russian nationals were in the Dier-Ez-Zor area. It was that Russian denial which led the CJTF-OIR to unleash the full measure of firepower necessary to decimate the attacking OpFor, and decimate it they did. US B-52 bombers and MQ-9 Reaper drones were cut loose on OpFor convoys of vehicles which were out in the open. Nothing much survived.

US Forces in Syria

9 February 2018: US SECDEF Mattis provided a few details to the engagement between CJTF-OIR and pro-regime forces on Wednesday. He confirmed the presence of US Special Forces in the engagement, and that as the first artillery shells from the enemy began falling the de-confliction line of communication between US and and Russian commanders was activated. Mattis confirmed that CJTF-OIR aircraft neutralized all enemy artillery, advancing tanks were destroyed and enemy ground forces were otherwise engaged and "had casualties." 

Russia told the US that none of their uniformed forces were involved, leaving wide open the door that Russian mercenaries (i.e. ChVK Wagner) may have been involved. Several thousand Wagner Group mercenaries have been sent to fight in Syria; their presence is a poorly kept Russian secret until some began returning to Russia in body bags. The pro-Regime assault was an attempt to sieze oil and gas fields held by the US-allied SDF. The ChVK Wagner troops are under a lucrative contract between Russia and Syria to defend oil and gas fields. Unfortunately, some pay with the lives. There's a powerful lesson here for Turkey's Erdogan and his announced designs for Manbij and Kurdish lands east of the Euphrates River. 

The de-facto border now existent in Syria at the Euphrates River has very profound implications in the literal fulfillment of Bible prophecy; it is Israel's northern boundary in the Land Covenant of Deuteronomy 29:1-29 and Deuteronomy 30:1-10. This Covenant has been upon Israel since they first entered into the Promised Land, it remains upon them to this day. How interesting that American soldiers are today holding this line, this northern border of Israel to come.

8 February 2018: Yesterday (7 FEB) a Syrian and Iranian militia attacked a headquarters of the US-led CJTF-OIR Coalition in the town of Khusham, about 6 miles southeast of Dier-Ez-Zor on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River. This enemy force numbered about 300 troops and was backed by artillery, tanks, multiple launch rockets systems and mortars. Coalition forces repulsed the attacking force on the ground and with numerous airstrikes. The enemy dead are said to number about one-third of the number which initially attacked, with the remainder in full retreat back across the Euphrates. The only CJTF-OIR casualty was one wounded SDF soldier.

No question the Su-25 was a Russian jet from Hmeimim Air Base

3 February 2018: A Russian Su-25 (NATO Name: FROGFOOT) was shot down this morning in Saraqib (also Saraqeb), Idlib Governorate, Syria. The rebel group Haya'at Tahrir al-Sham used a MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense System) to shoot the Russian aircraft out of the sky deep in territory they control. The Su-25 is a close ground support jet (roughly similar the U.S. A-10 Warthog), and was flying low and slow when at least one heat-seeking MANPADS scored a direct hit. The Su-25 was without question supporting the ongoing Syrian-Iranian militia offensive against rebel forces in Idlib. The pilot ejected but was apparently killed immediately during a firefight on the ground. Reportedly, at least one Russian naval ship cruising off Syria's coast has responded to the shootdown with a volley of Kalibr cruise missiles into Saraqib. Don't expect much to come of this, but given the region in which it has occurred it is noteworthy.

1 February 2018: Noting once again that the twin pre-70th Week war prophecies concerning Syria, Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49:23-27, are not being taken literally by many of our brethren. Many openly opine that foreign military forces, but principally the Russian bases, will remain in Syria indefinitely. This view is contrary, in the interpretive opinion of Eschatology Today, to Isaiah 17:3 and 13 as well as Jeremiah 49:26. What we are seeing transpire in Syria is the run-up to a literal fulfillment of these prophecies in real-time. 

For the human observer, the passage of time is painstakingly slow until it suddenly becomes historical fact. So it was with Jesus' Olivet Discourse prophecy concerning Israel and Jerusalem. Take Matthew 24:2 for example. Assuming Jesus spoke these words circa 14 Nisan (7 April) 30 AD, the specific event of this prophecy took a full 40 years to become a literal and historical fact. The Roman conquest and subjugation of Israel began in 67 AD and was not complete until the fall of Masada, the last Jewish zealot redoubt, in 73 AD. That's a passage of 7 years in real-time.

Time for a recap. The war in Syria began as a civil war, a late blooming in what global corporate media so ignorantly referred to as "The Arab Spring." This uniquely Syrian war lasted essential from 2011 to 2014. Although Iranian military intervention began almost immediately in 2011, big power direct military intervention did not begin until the fall of 2015 by the US-led Coalition and the Russian government. So, we're just over two years into escalation to full-scale warfare by major world powers. That's were the ultimate and literal fulfillment of the specific verses cited above from Isaiah and Jeremiah are concerned. The escalation to that prophetic finality is in full swing and the specifc point of origin for the foretold catastrophe per Jeremiah is the battlefield in today's headlines.

Meanwhile, back on the battlefield, three times in the past 30 days Bashar al-Assad's forces have attacked the rebel-held East Ghouta section of Damascus with chemical weapons, specifically asphixiating chlorine gas. The most recent attack of this type occurred yesterday. So, don't be surprised if President Trump once again orders a strike against Syrian forces.