Global SITREP A8-24: The War in the North Part III

US Army M2/M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicles in Syria

UPDATED 22 April 2024/14 Nisan 5784: We begin SITREP A8-24 and Part III of this series on Erev Pesach ('Eve of Passover') by noting once again that nothing was resolved in the recent strike/counter-strike between Israel and the Twelver regime currently in power in Iran. 

On the surface the demand upon Israel's War Cabinet led by PM Bibi Netanyahu government to defer from escalation of the war primarily lies with the Biden Administration and certain European countries. To these demands Netanyahu's coalition war cabinet reluctantly agreed to abide, despite calls from the powerful Religious Zionist faction in the Knesset to strike the Twelver Regime's military assets far more decisively than what took place. And in Gaza, Israel's supposed allies (I use the term loosely) have so manipulated that aspect of the war that had they not done so HAMAS and its terrorist Gazan allies would have ceased to exist months ago.

However, the true fact of the matter is that Almighty God had no such appointment for this past week, or in weeks now passed for such decisive moments in this war, meaning that the process of fulfillment for a host of prophetic texts appointed times continues on the path He has determined from ancient times. 

Again, on the surface there is zero indication that the Shi'a Twelver's have abandoned their apocalyptic eschatological beliefs, and on Israel's part the determination to prevail over all of the surrounding enemies remains as strong as ever. In sum this indicates that West Asia (i.e. Middle East) remains on the precipice of tremendous conflict, the result of which we know so very clearly through Scripture. Put another way, the current status quo is most obviously unsustainable, even in the short-term and particularly for Eretz Israel which is still reeling from the greatest and bloodiest tragedy since the founding of the State of Israel almost 76 years ago, not to mention the dozens of Israeli civilians still held hostage by the jihadists who remain in Gaza.

UPDATE 3 MAY 2024: The IAF says it struck a Hezbollah base south of Damascus International Airport late yesterday, but Syria claims the base was that of its own army and eight Syrian soldiers were casualties in the strike. The IAF continues daily strikes on Hezbollah in southern Lebanon as Hezbollah, or their allies, fire rockets into Israel also on a daily basis. The IDF intercepted and destroyed three rockets yesterday. The final IDF Gaza offensive in Rafah and and movement into Lebanon remain imminent as has ben discussed here. 

The War in the North, much further north in Ukraine, is dangerously close to becoming a Russia vs NATO war. French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated his comments of earlier this year in an interview with The Economist of not ruling out the deployment of the French Army into Ukraine. In the UK Cameron says they have no issue with Ukraine using long-range rockets to target sites deep within Russia.

President Macron listed two primary criteria for such a deployment of his army: 1) Russian troops break through the contiguous Ukrainian defensive lines in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts or open new fronts in the Kharkiv and Sumy oblasts of eastern Ukraine, and 2) the Ukrainian government in Kyiv requests their intervention. This month will be critical for Ukraine as Russia presses its offensive while the Ukrainian forces are at the moment greatly out-gunned and short on manpower while waiting on the billions of dollars in game-changing U.S. approved weaponry and supplies to arrive on the front lines. 

Additionally, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) claims that Russia has been using banned chemical weapons in its assaults on hardened Ukrainian defenses. These claims are confirmed the Ukraine's general staff. This comes at the same time as the Geneva Convention claims Russia is in blatant violation and committing the war crime of executing Ukrainian troops who make clear attempts to surrender. It is clear that the Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin has abandoned its earlier claims of its invasion of Ukraine was a "Special Military Operation" and now openly declares that the war in Ukraine is "total war." We have here a clear and present danger of a NATO-Russia clash that could quickly morph into a World War III in Europe.

To be continued...