UPDATED 6 April 2019: Within 48 hours the Trump Administration will have the U.S. declare the iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). The designation was accompanied by a warning to all US interests and military forces around the world to be prepared for retaliatory strikes or outright attacks by the IRGC or any of its proxies (i.e. Iraqi, Lebanese or Yemeni Shi'a militias).
The IRGC was founded by Iran's first Shi'a Twelver Ayatollah (literal meaning: "Sign of God") in 1979. The IRGC's purposes are to be the Ayatollah's personal army, to defend the Ayatollah and his regime from foreign or domestic enemies, and to export the Shi'a Twelver revolution globally in order to create the apocalyptic chaos necessary to thereby hasten the arrival of their mythical al-Mahdi.
The IRGC, and its most notorious offshoot, the Qods (Jerusalem) Force (IRGC-QF), are actively involved in terrorist military and covert assassinations activity within Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, several nations in South America, (most notably Venezuela) as well as within the European Union. They do, in fact, operate in covertly on a global scale.
The timing and rationale behind the IRGC FTO designation is not a stand-alone event, even though it is decades over due. It is part of the US-Israel commitment to contain, confront and roll back the Shi'a Twelver agenda as kinetically executed by the IRGC around the world. This means in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Afghaistan and, yes, Venezuela.
Eschatologically, this US-Israeli alliance against the IRGC can be seen as part and parcel of the Jeremiah 49:34-39 prophecy. The US-Israeli alliance also has strategic partnerships with the EU nations as well as the Arab GCC nations. These are all nations directly referenced in the text of Ezekiel 38:13.
It is also a fact that the rocket fired on March 25th by the terrorists in Gaza which indiscriminately struck a private civilian residence in Mishmeret, Israel, injuring 7 (including an infant), precipitated the current military crisis with Gaza. That rocket launch was an order by Iran to its terrorist proxy in Gaza. That rocket resulted in PM Netanyahu cutting short his meeting with POTUS Trump, but not before they agreed to coordinate to robustly act in-concert against Iran.
We now also know that the US sanctions regime re-imposed upon Iran after the unilateral US withdrawal from the 2015 JCPOA is having a devastating effect as a form of the economic war upon the Ayatolaah's regime. One of the most affected is Hezbollah, and this assists (blesses) Israel greatly.
The effect has been manifested in Iran being forced to drastically cut its financial support to Hezbollah. Consider:
1.) Hezbollah's soldiers have not been paid regularly in the past three months, and what they have recieved is half of their normal salary. Same goes for Hezbollah's reserve soldiers.
2.)These Hezbollah soldiers have had their upscale apartments in Beirut's al-Dahieh al-Janubiya neighborhood taken away from them and their families because Iran can no longer afford to pay the rent.
3.) Hezbollah's social engineering network, the backbone of its popular support in Lebanon, has been shut down due to the lack of Iranian funding.
The next time someone tries to tell you that America is not blessing Israel as it should, tell them to read this and think again.
5 April 2019: In this update we do not have to look ahead to see what's coming. Instead we look at what a senior IDF source assesses to be the threats Israel is facing right now. We also must understand that since senior IDF leadership assesses this, then it's a fair assessment to make that some part of their senior civilian leadership assesses it as well.
The assessment is that Hezbollah and HAMAS are acting in concert to drag Israel deep into Lebanon and Gaza where an underground network of tunnels has created a spider web maze of direct links between homes, mosques, educational facilities and hospitals. IAF air power alone cannot defeat these terrorist armies or completely destroy the tunnel networks, so the insertion of significant ground forces in such a campaign would be essential.
As the IDF would pass through these areas of Lebanon and Gaza then the enemy infantry in the tunnels below deployed to execute many ambushes with heavily-armed elite forces plus anti-tank rockets in order to kill IDF armor from their rear, as well as killing and capturing individual IDF soldiers. Therefore, the assessment continues, the IDF ground entry into this combat is something that would occur only under the most extreme circumstances.
This precisely confirms my 6:59 AM comment on March 31 beneath SITREP B3-19:
"Clearly, it will require a far more serious threat to Israel's national security than a largely unarmed mass of 40,000 Gazans and hundreds of small IEDs before Isaiah 11:14 is fulfilled. Not even a barrage of unguided rockets roughly aimed at civilian housing has been a triggering event. Yes, something of greater consequence will occur for this part of the Psalm 83 fulfillment to take place. Yet, it will happen at the appointed time."
The senior IDF assessment then continued to identify Iran, meaning Iran as forward deployed in the IRGC-QF, as the power directing the activities of Hezbollah in Lebanon and HAMAS in Gaza in drawing Israel into this combat scenario. And so accordingly, Israel is quite busy laying the groundwork for "the big war" and the day when the IDF actually will enter into Lebanon and Gaza. In military terms, Israel is busy right now preparing the battlefield and setting conditions favorable to the IDF emerging from it victorious. This may happen soon, or down the road a bit, but it will happen. Iran will be dealt with leaving Hezbollah and HAMAS, divided by some distance, to each fend for themselves against Israel's formidible military power. We know how this will conclude.
As students of Bible prophecy we have to recognize this IDF assessment as dovetailing very nicely with the pre-70th Week prophetic scenarios we see in Scripture, even if the IDF does not see this direct linkage at present, they will definitely see it in hindsight in the not too distant future. We see in the prophetic Scripture of Psalm 83 Gaza and HAMAS plotting together in direct from the text of Psalm 83. Only the Hashemites of Jordan need be added to the mix, and that, according to Psalm 83, Isaiah 11:12-14 and Ezekiel 28:24-26 is precisely what will take place. And Iran is taken care of to a great extent, and prior to Ezekiel 38/39, per Jeremiah 49:34-39. Syria, per Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49:23-27. Eschatology Today will leave the issue of what occurred at the Russian Ministry of Defense a day ago to address the almost certain questions that will appear in the comments section below this SITREP.
3 April 2019: While we wait for Gaza's fate to be determined, there are a couple of items that should be addressed from the perspective of prophetic implications.
The first item regards the stunning turn of events in Ukraine where a popular comedian and TV actor (who has a role playing the president of Ukraine) could soon actually become elected to that office. Perhaps you've read about this or seen a news report on it in the past week. It certainly and immediately got my mind racing with the potential for possible prophetic implications.
The actor, Volodymyr Zelensky, captured twice as many votes (30%) as the current Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko (16%) in the first round of the election. These two will face-off in the next round of voting on 21 April. The result is surprising as both Zelensky and Poroshenko have fairly similar views. Both are pro-NATO and pro-EU. Conventional wisdom would say that Poroshenko, as the incumbent, would be favored over Zelensky who has zero experience in this kind of arena. Yet, by 2:1 margin the Ukrainian people went for the comedian/actor. That result was despite the fact that Russia interferred in it with a massive disinformation campaign. My take is that Zelensky took 30% of the vote because Poroshenko has not been effective in countering an aggressive Vladimir Putin and his designs on the whole of Ukraine.
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| Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelensky |
And there's the rub. If Zelensky wins the presidency of Ukraine it's a near certainty that Russia's Putin will pounce after him like a lioness getting after a gazelle. And what it is that Ezekiel tells us? God puts hooks in the jaws of the northern leader (Gog of Magog): "I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws and lead you out..." Gog of Magog will be busy with his army in one direction, when God hooks him up and turns him about face, with his military forces and allies, and leads them all into a great slaughter of the mountains of Israel. I'm not saying Ezekiel 38:4 will be fulfilled precisely in this manner, but if the election result places Zelensky in the Ukrainian presidency it may be too much of an opportunity for Russia to let pass. Oh, and not to forget, but did I mention than Zelensky is Jewish from parents who are both Jewish?
Among the signs our Lord has given as indicators of the end times are natural disasters. Floods are a big one and they are occurring all over the globe as a direct result of severe weather. We pray and open our wallets to assist those affected here in the US and abroad. One place where significant, even unprecedented flooding is taking place is in Iran. Of particular note is the flooding taking place in ancient Elam. Ancient Elam is today divided among a few modern provinces, three of which are known as Ilam, Lorestan and Khuzestan. These floods are even more of a disaster for the people because they're already hard pressed due to an economic form of war we refer to as sanctions that are intended to turn the Iranian government away from its nuclear weapons program. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has been more direct in acknowledging the economic sanctions imposed upon Iran has severely hampered their ability to deal with the flooding, calling the sanctions "economic terrorism" in a recent social media post.
The provinces of Ilam and Lorestan have been ravaged by the floods and all of that water is moving south towards the gulf through Khuzestan. Khuzestan has a great many dams throughout it territory, but those dams are at 95% full and the water coming will easily overwhelm their capacity to hold it back. Disaster looms in a region where the population is mostly ethnic Arabs who aren't very happy with the clerical regime in Tehran to begin with. And these floods are not just occurring in Iran's southwest, the entire country is experiencing flooding, particularly since the middle of March. Roads are blocked, which brings land transport to a complete halt, which bring deliveries of essentials to a halt. Most locations are reachable only by rotary winged craft, helicopters, and Iran's antiquated fleet of choppers is simply not up to the task.
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| Flooded Iran |
So the people are very quick to blame the clerical regime which has spent, and continues to spend, billions upon billions on the wars in Iraq, Syria and far away Yemen. Iran already has a festering insurrection of its people as we have discussed previously. This is just another important aspect of what the prophet Jeremiah has forecast to occur in Iran. Eschatology Today's position on Iran has for ten years been that Iran will be greatly reduced by the time Ezekiel 38/39 is appointed to occur. We are seeing that reducing happening in real-time today, and there's much more to come.
Speaking of Ezekiel 38/39, and to some extent this will be a repeat of what has been written about on Eschatology Today before, the view here is that Saudi Arabia and the bulk of GCC (Sheba and Dedan) are clearly referenced as the allies of the West, and therefore allies of Israel in the pre-70th Week fulfillment of this prophecy. This strongly indicates that the emerging Israel-Saudi ties will not be broken in the series of conflicts we refer to as the Psalm 83 scenario. The Saudi's will have no qualms with the overthrow of the Jordanian monarchy as Asaph prophesies in Psalm 83. In this we need be aware that the al-Saud monarchy and the Hashemite monarchy of Jordan have long been bitter rivals, well over a millennia in fact.
As a segue into the probable next SITREP to follow, expect new IAF strikes on Iranian targets in both Syria and Lebanon following PM Netanyahu's meeting with Putin on Thursday, 4 April. Some Israeli media have reported the meeting was cancelled. To the contrary, it has not been cancelled.
