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| NATO in IRAQ |
13 January 2019: This new reality has been referenced as soon-to-occur on Eschatology Today in more SITREP's than we have fingers to count them on. For reference material, if one were to go into the blog archive from 2014 to the present and seek out SITREP's D6-14, E3-15, C2-16, C3-16 D11-16 and E1-16, this half dozen plus D7-18 and A2-19 would suffice for the referencing purpose.
The big picture is that the US withdrawal from Syria was never a unilateral decision by President Trump; it did not occur in a vacuum, nor was it ever envisioned to create one in Syria. Since taking office the POTUS has been on NATO's case to increase its funding of the military needs of the alliance, to become more involved in war zone operations. Even the Iraqi government requested a more robust NATO presence in the country. Now it is a reality.
Eschatology Today has discussed how the Syrian war was morphing into a global war (see also: SITREP D7-18 MidEast Wars Magnified). One global media report has coined a new phrase to name this morphing war as the "Syraq War." With U.S. forces in northern Syria withdrawing to Iraq, and the forces at al-Tanf staying put for the foreseeable future, the big link up and base of warfighting operations in the coming months will be from Iraq.
This past December a significant conference occurred in Baghdad at the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. The conference was largely unheralded in major media, just a blurb here and there, yet the net result was the establishment of NATO Mission Iraq (NMI). The parent military command for NATO Mission Iraq is the NATO southern command in Naples, Italy. Formerly known as AFSOUTH, this long-time NATO base is presently known as NATO Allied Joint Force Command. The primary military entities that will fold their operations into the new NATO Mission Iraq will be the U.S.-led CJTF-OIR, the E.U.-led Mission in Iraq, the U.N. Assistance Mission Iraq, the Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq and several other diplomatic missions.
The NATO Mission Iraq presents problems for the Russian Federation, and Turkey, but most especially for the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iran will no longer be able to use Iraq as a high speed highway to transit its military supplies into Syria. Hence the near daily air-bridge flights of 747 cargo aircraft between Tehran's and Damascus' international airports. And given a little time for that air lifted material to accumulate in Damascus, Israel then strikes and destroys the hastily constructed warehouses that are filled with it. Checkmate.
This new reality was largely brought about by Israel. PM Netanyahu presented it to Donald Trump, and after a couple of phone calls in December our President demonstrated his acceptance and enthusiastic support for this new paradigm by making the surprise announcement that 2,000 U.S. troops would be exiting from Syria. But it's not really a withdrawal from Syria as it is actually a redeployment to Iraq. In fact, there are numerous OSINT reports of a U.S. military build up occurring in Iraq. More bad news for Iran.
The NATO Mission Iraq is also, in effect, the joining of Iraq into a military partnership with NATO. This is a muscle-up of the longstanding NATO-Iraq relationship which began after Operation Iraqi Freedom concluded which was so grossly ineffective during the rise of the Islamic State in western Iraq following the unilateral and ill-advised Obama withdrawal of U.S. boots on Iraqi soil. The NMI is not only a problem for Iran, but it guarantees there will be no Islamic State resurgence in the country.
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Also going to note in this SITREP the leaked information of yesterday. This past December President Trump's National Security Adviser, John Bolton, requested the Pentagon to advise him of contingency plans for a U.S. military strike on Iran. This strike would have been in retaliation for the recent "acts of war" committed on behalf of Iran by their Iraqi Shi'a proxy militias in mortar attacks against the U.S. consulte in Basra and and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
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As of this morning, Tuesday, 15 January 2019, Lt.Gen. Aviv Kochavi is the IDF Chief of Staff (CoS). Eschatolgy Today has a high regard for anyone who began their military career by making combat jumps (700ft/213m) out of perfectly good airplanes. The military operations against Iran and Hezbollah in Syria now rests upon his very capable shoulders. Will he be the IDF CoS who will see through the fulfillment of Isaiah 17? Time will tell.
Hezbollah's chief, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has been conspicuously MIA for some time now. Since 21 December his second in command, Naim Qassem, has been making the important speeches Nasrallah would normally make after events such as the IDF destruction of multiple Hezbollah tunnels or IAF strikes on Hezbollah positions. The rumor is that Nasrallah suffered a coronary stroke in late November or early December; he's not be seen or heard from since then. A speech braodcast yesterday is from the Hezbollah archives of 2015 when he was also hospitalized during his fight with cancer.
Iran's launch of of a Shahab-6/Simorgh, Iran's long desired nuclear-capable ICBM, failed this morning, the third stage (the "bow") did not ignite properly. No word on where the payload (i.e. simulated nuclear warhead), named "Message," returned to earth. Iran has acknowledged the failure of this launch. An attempt to launch a second Shahab-6/Simorgh with payload is scheduled shortly. If it fails, will we begin to see the fulfillment of Jeremiah 49:35? “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the foremost of their might." The Shahab-6/Simorgh is the foremost of the Iranian nuclear weapons delivery systems.
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As of this morning, Tuesday, 15 January 2019, Lt.Gen. Aviv Kochavi is the IDF Chief of Staff (CoS). Eschatolgy Today has a high regard for anyone who began their military career by making combat jumps (700ft/213m) out of perfectly good airplanes. The military operations against Iran and Hezbollah in Syria now rests upon his very capable shoulders. Will he be the IDF CoS who will see through the fulfillment of Isaiah 17? Time will tell.
Hezbollah's chief, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has been conspicuously MIA for some time now. Since 21 December his second in command, Naim Qassem, has been making the important speeches Nasrallah would normally make after events such as the IDF destruction of multiple Hezbollah tunnels or IAF strikes on Hezbollah positions. The rumor is that Nasrallah suffered a coronary stroke in late November or early December; he's not be seen or heard from since then. A speech braodcast yesterday is from the Hezbollah archives of 2015 when he was also hospitalized during his fight with cancer.
Iran's launch of of a Shahab-6/Simorgh, Iran's long desired nuclear-capable ICBM, failed this morning, the third stage (the "bow") did not ignite properly. No word on where the payload (i.e. simulated nuclear warhead), named "Message," returned to earth. Iran has acknowledged the failure of this launch. An attempt to launch a second Shahab-6/Simorgh with payload is scheduled shortly. If it fails, will we begin to see the fulfillment of Jeremiah 49:35? “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the foremost of their might." The Shahab-6/Simorgh is the foremost of the Iranian nuclear weapons delivery systems.
Now, dear readers, can you tell Eschatology Today how prophetically significant the expansion of the NATO military alliance into Iraq is?
ReplyDeleteCan we all relate now to the vision of the statue that Daniel interpreted for Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2), or the vision of the near future regarding the composition of the fourth beast presented in Revelation 13:2?
As noted previously on Eschatology Today, the three beasts described here in Revelation 13 as being part of the fourth beast are in a reversed order when compared to how they were presented in the prophetic Book of Daniel. Instead of Babylon, Persia, Greece, they are now listed as Greece, Persia, Babylon. This is a significant detail.
We're also mindful that this fourth beast of ten horns is fulfilling the prophecy of Daniel 7:7 prior to the arrival of the eleventh little horn, that is, as also previously discussed here, they are engaged in battle immediately prior to the rising of the little horn. This shows us a significant detail in timing.
One final note with respect to Babylon. It was not just a city, but an empire of vast proportions. From the Middle East perspective of Scripture, Babylon constituted virtually the whole of the known civilized world prior to the 6th century BC. As did Medo-Persian empire after it, as did the Macedonian-Greek empire after it, and did Rome and up to this day.
Question, for review sake, where does the vacuum caused by the destruction of the nations during Gog/magog fit in to all this...or does it? Are they taken over by NATO?
DeleteHartdawg,
DeleteAnswer, for review sake.
Who does Scripture identify as having total control over the world for at least the final 42 months of the Megas Thlipsis?
Antichrist.
In the first 42 the nations willingly give him control, in the second 42 he is empowered satanically to take it.
Thank you. That was a question that a friend of mine (new to the faith and unfamiliar with scripture) asked me. Sometimes review is a good thing.
DeleteWhat is the description given of the base, the feet and toes, of the figure interpreted to Nebuchadnezzar by the prophet Daniel which represents the fourth and final beast empire of these last days.
ReplyDeleteDaniel 2:40-43. Iron and potters (ceramic) clay. They also represent two empires standing on two legs, with one foot on Europe and the other in western Asia, just as Greece and Rome stood in Europe and western Asia. Now as NATO does from Turkey to Iraq to Afghanistan.
This is no coincidence.
Daniel 11:21 provides the most critical detail that exists regarding the rise of the 11th little horn among the 10 others.
ReplyDeleteMoin,
ReplyDeleteSee: "Origin of the Antichrist" on this blog.
Sean,
ReplyDeleteJer. 49:35 & 36 A great big YES! As I began to read your update of 1/15/18 today, I could hardly contain myself over the wording you used and this old slow granny hit the floor in excitement. But the news of the absence of the original commanding officer of the Iran forces was the first key that charged my battery.
That BOW included ELAM which also designated a certain area of Persia. The former King's summer residence but not the main attraction is, if memory serves me correctly but not sure, the established sites of Nuclear Materials productions. Please correct me if I am mistaken because I so want to keep it correct. The four winds are the next step according to 36 but Vs 37 is a show stopper. I am not a prophet, as you well know, but we watch for the secession of scripture fulfilling and gauge the process by God's Holy Word.
I am trying to get my ArtScroll Tanach series on Jeremiah back from a friend because that particular study is outstanding.
Thank you for reviving us again to God's Greatest Show On Earth ever to come to fruition.
GG5/SHALOM,SHALOM
Each of these instances is like a small leak in a levee holding back flood waters. Little Dutch boys only has so many fingers with which to plug the leaks. Eventually the levee is gonna break.
ReplyDeleteThese things take time to come to complete fulfillment.
I was considering Daniel 9:26 - that it is just one sentence but took decades to find complete fulfillment.
Daniel 9:26a to 9:26b has a real-world gap of time totaling 37 years, and the actual siege of Jerusalem by the Roman legions took another 7 months to complete. Close to 38 years in total.
We're in the terminal phase at this point having exceeded 70 years since Israel's fulfilled rebirth.
The levee's gonna break!
Your right Sean, It does unfold slowly in our eyes. If we could ask how many who read your website became born again christians in the past 38 years, I'm thinking a lot of them would be grateful God showed patients, holding off His wrath so they could be part of the harpazo.
ReplyDeleteWhen it all comes together...sudden destruction and the world will not escape it, only the saints.
Really enjoy your blog
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of NATO, after years of political blocking the Greeks have reached an accord with modern Macedonia concerning their name. The country will from now on be known as North Macedonia.
ReplyDeleteAs a direct result, Greece is the first European country to approve North Macedonia for NATO and EU membership.
This is potentially very important, and worth watching.