Global SITREP A4-19: Current Developments - The Global Order PART II

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.

Global SITREP B1-18: Syria - Part V

Update 17 April 2018: Based upon various Indications and Warnings (I&W), and there are a great many of them, the likelihood of a regional war involving Israel is very high at present. 

Russia and its client-state Syria have denied access yesterday to the OPCW team of the specific site of the 7 April chlorine/sarin attack in Douma. Russia/Syria cite "safety concerns" as the reason access was been denied. This is an utterly false concern as there are video and still images of Russian and Syrain military personnel without chemwar masks or clothing crawling all over the attack site less than 48 hours after it occurred. This denial of access to Douma also puts the lie to claims by Russia that no chemical warfare attack occurred in Douma.

Images taken yesterday show Syrian civilians walking around the site without any protective apparel. It is much more likely that Russian/Syrian chemical santizing teams are still searching for and eliminating any persistent chemical traces from the site, turning over every brick or cenment rubble. The site will probably be declared "safe" later today which would be ten full days after the attack. Accordingly, the OPCW team will find a fully sanitized site when they are finally allowed access to it.

Iran continues a build-up of its forces in Syria and its proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon in preparation for a promised retaliation for the IAF airstrike on an Iranian military facility at the T4 Air Base. At the same time there are conflicting Syrian goverment reports of new air strikes occurring this morning at Sharyat and Dumayr Air Bases. Syria earlier this morning claimed shooting down several incoming missiles; now they say it was all just a false alarm. Remember, in March Israel decimated Syrian air defenses around Damascus, so any reports of fending off air strikes are mere propaganda.

14 April 2018: The US, UK and French joint strike against Syrian WMD sites occurred last evening. As the strike was ongoing it was realized that waiting for the media was unnecessary as the Syria WMD targets which were struck were clearly identified in an Eschatology Today post prior to the  start of the Global SITREP series. Not four years ago as noted below, but even earlier in a very specific post of October 2012: Syria Crisis: Threat of WMD War Remains Very Real. 

I suspect that most folks have completely forgotten about these posts, so I would therefore strongly suggest a re-reading of the above linked post, which also contains a link to an even earlier post that dates to May 2010. These posts detail the background of what we're seeing in media reporting today. There are also critical items which will NOT be reported in media today, even in the aftermath of last night's strikes. The strikes of last night validate entirely the information these posts contain, and which came direct from a Syrian defector, Major General Sillu. 

The noted locations also pose a grave danger to Israel due to their close proximity to the border of Lebanon. That proximity belies the near certain clandestine transfer of these WMD in small quantities over time into Lebanon for Hezbollah's use in the coming war prophesied by Isaiah 17. You should also take careful note of the 2003 testimony of then-Undersecretary of State John Bolton; that testimony was blocked by an already politicized CIA.

Jobar neighborhood, Damascus, Syria

13 April 2018: Wars and rumors of wars. In a matter of days the U.S. is preparing to take on direct negotiations with North Korea, to get it to denuclearize itself. How many recognize this negotiation comes against the also current backdrop of the U.S. taking on Russia in a direct military confrontation over Syria's use of WMD against its own people. A confrontation which could go to tactical nuclear weapons usage pretty quickly. The message in all of this to Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang is pretty stark. 

This also comes at a time when the already powerful American warfighting capabilities are being upgraded to the tune of $1.7 Trillion dollars through September 2019. A military force more powerful than anything the world has ever seen. Sound familiar? It should as Eschatology Today has discussed this on occasion and in detail over the past four years, beginning with Global SITREP C3-14: The Current Global Military Situation. Hindsight is always 20/20, but what was posted here fours years ago wasn't hindsight, it was forward thinking and projection based upon what the Bible says about a final world empire, the fourth beast of Daniel 7:7. If you will notice the numbers cited in SITREP C3-14, then note also the numbers being cited here are $100 Billion more per year for the next two years, and more than double those four year old figures over the next two years. Staggering, even considering the projections made in 2014.

Another development that must be acknowledged is the bellicose throw-down that has developed between Israel and Russia. Russia telling Israel within the last 24 hours to stand down over striking Iranian military infrastructure building in Syria, and Israel basically repeating to the Russian's the American response to Nazi forces in Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge in WWII: "Nuts!" This is very interesting, Russia defending Iranian military adventurism in Syria. It's just reeks of prophetic tones found in Ezekiel 38:7 (NKJV), which says "Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them."  Be a guard for them. Check. Russia is definitively attempting to guard Iranian military forces from an Israeli military onslaught. But that's all it is, an attempt to guard given Israel's response.

Meanwhile, America is not going it alone against Russia. France and the U.K. are pressing ahead with a joint response with the U.S. to the Syrian chlorine-sarin WMD attack in Douma last Saturday evening. British PM Theresa May received unanimous support from her "war council" cabinet to proceed with warning orders given to Her Majesty's ships off the southern coast of Cyprus. Media attention may wane, but the armada of ships enroute are not slowing down; "trouble on the sea" is coming.

Marana'tha!