Global SITREP C10-23: War! By Air, Land and Sea

Gaza's Unprecedented Bombardment

UPDATED 27 October 2023: On the evening of the 21st day of the war IDF armor took up positions inside Gaza. This movement was preceded by the most intense bombardment to take place in Israel's 75 years. It came from the IAF, from Israeli naval forces offshore and from IDF tanks and mobile artillery. The IDF spokesman announced this expanded ground maneuver would take place as the IAF began pummeling the terrorist network of tunnels. With this action many are now watching to see if Hezbollah and IRGC-QF militias in Syria will join in full-scale warfare.

The Coming Northern Warzone

UPDATE 1 November 2023: Despite media reports to the contrary the Islamic Republic of Iran will set its proxy forces loose to open the northern front against Israel. These forces are composed of Hezbollah and IRGC-QF proxy Shi'a militias from Iraq. They are now staged near the front with Israel in a line that stretches from Quneitra to Nawa to Dara'a in southern Syria (see map above). The figurehead leader of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, is powerless to prevent the use of his rump nation, now a fully subjugated vassal state of the Iranian Twelvers in the assault upon northern Israel. 

Many should recall that an agreement between Russia, Syria and Jordan to not allow Iranian forces or their proxies to encroach upon Jordan's border or within a certain distance of the UNDOF Zone on the Golan frontier with Israel. Apparently Russia feels it is now free to ignore than agreement having given Iran tacit permission to stage thousands of its proxy troops and their advanced equipment on this front. Yesterday, the MEMRI website published its Special Dispatch 10920 which contains many details with abundant footnotes. It is obvious that precursory to the opening of the Syrian front the attacks against US Coalition bases in recent days, warned about here for the past few weeks, have now approached at least 30 rocket, missile and drone attacks. US retaliation has occurred and will almost certainly continue with the recent buttressing of US and Coalition military forces in the region. Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah has announced he will issue and address, most likely on Friday of this week.

Updates as they occur...

Global SITREP D2-19: RED ALERTS PART II

Hoveyzeh LACM

16 September 2016: This is the essential follow-up to Global SITREP C10-19.

Eschatology Today assesses the cruise missiles used in the attacks on Saudi Aramco facilities to be an improved version of the Soumar Land Attack Cruise Missile (LACM) noted previously. It is known as the Hoveyzeh LACM and has major improvements over the older Soviet-based Kh-55 Granat version known as the Soumar. The Hoveyzeh was first identified earlier this year as incorporating state-of-the-art advancements making it a stealthy, extremely accurate, terrain or sea-surface skimming cruise missile. The example apparently shot down or crashed in the Saudi desert appear to cnfirm this assessment, even though offical word ffrom the Saudi's of a shoot-down of at least one of the Hoveyzeh has not been forthcoming.

The most important news update comes in the Trump Administration decision to announce publicly the U. S. Intelligence Community's assessment that a dozen of these cruise missiles and nearly twice as many drones were launched by the IRGC-QF from Iranian territory and not from Iraqi territory as noted yesterday. President Trump has also strongly hinted that U.S. military counter-strikes ("locked and loaded") or coalition military counter-strikes on Iranian targets may be imminent. The potential for massive regional escalation cannot be over emphazied.

Updates as they are made available.

Global SITREP B1-19: Israel's Northern Front Offensive - Part IV

NZIV.Net map of enemy forces in Golan region.

Update 13 March 2019:  At 23:00 EDT last night the IDF issued an alert regarding declassified intelligence on an enemy that would be made public in one hour.  As promised exactly at midnight my phone rang with  the declassified intel which was presented in video form by the IDF spox (LTC Jonathan). 

I'm sure that alert and video are the lead story in Israel this morning regarding Hezbollah's (Iran's) drive to establish fighting positions on the Golan from which to attack Israel. We also now have open confirmation from Israel about the recent IAF strikes on Quneitra, Hader (Khader) and Erneh on the Syrian Golan. No doubt there will be a lot more strikes coming in the days ahead, and that quickly takes us to the next SITREP. 

11 March 2019: Syria has now twice declared its intention to attack Israel and recover the Golan. The first declaration was to the U.N. three days ago and the second to the world at-large. Behind Bashar al-Assad's government pushing for this is the apocalyptic regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is but one side of the proverbial coin. 

The other side of that coin is the now persistent RUMINT (Rumor Intelligence) that the United States will recognize the Golan  as sovereign Israeli territory and do so prior to upcoming election in Israel on 9 April. It will be interesting to see if we get to the Israeli election without a major conflict erupting beforehand.

6 March 2019: As if on cue, what began as a continuous HAMAS nighttime assault against the security fence around Gaza and an ever increasing level of balloon-borne IEDs into southern Israel has transformed over the past 48 hours into a large scale engagement. The timing of this to take the focus off of the Golan has not been lost on anyone, so it is included here as part of the Psalm 83 war.

As of this evening a barrage of katyusha rockets was cut loose by HAMAS. Iron Dome intercepted them. Israel has responded with punishing airstrikes throughout Gaza from drones and fighter aircraft. Tremendous explosions make these strikes far different than the pin-pricks that have been so routine in the past several months. The new port area at Khan Younis is recieving at lot of IAF attention. IDF armor, Merkava tanks to be precise, are staring into Gaza from several locations (avenues of ingress should that order be given).

Bibi with US Army troops deployed in Israel

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Israel... The above image is of PM/DM Bibi Netanyahu posing this morning for a selfie with US Army troops deployed in Israel. The US soldiers are part of the deployment of the THAAD (Theater High Altitude Air Defense) and AN/TPY-2 system. 

This system is specifically going to counter any and all Iranian ballistic missiles fired towards Israel. None will make it as the TPY-2 can "see" an object the size of a baseball hundreds of miles away. In fact, this radar can see many baseball size objects at the same time. An Iranian ballistic missile warhead would obviously be much larger than a baseball, so you get the point, TPY-2 sees anything and everything. TPY-2 then tracks, targets and fires the THAAD interceptor(s) which intercepts the target(s) by impacting at a speed of Mach 8 and a distance of about 93 miles from Israel. THAAD is a "hit to kill" high altitude air defense system. Now you know why Bibi and the US soldiers are smiling. Ayatollah checkmated. 

3 March 2019: We begin Part IV of this series with a current Operational Intelligence (OPSINT) map from NZIV.net. This map serves as a companion to an also current ILTV report (video below) on the massing by IRGC-QF General Qassam Soleimani of Hezbollah and Iranian proxy forces on the Israeli Golan border. Solemani's intent is for these forces to invade and capture the Israeli Golan.

As you may recall, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited Tehran just last week for a pair of face-to-face meetings with Ayatollah Khamenei. General Soleimani accompanied al-Assad in both the public and private meetings al-Assad had with the Ayatollah. Below is the image of the private meeting attended by the three and the Arabic-Farsi interpreter. It would appear that operational orders have been issued to both Soleimani and al-Assad for the war to shortly commence upon Israel. This is the war Eschatology Today has long identified with the literal fulfillment of Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49:23-27.

Global SITREP B1-17: Jeremiah 49:34-39 Meets OSINT Head-On

Iranian Static Rocket Display

UPDATE 7 March 2017: The Global SITREP B1-17 update comes to us directly from an article by Heshmat Alavi entitled "Iran in Crisis." Alavi's article was published on Sunday, 5 March 2017 by AmericanThinkerdotCom. Combined with the original post of 26 February it was impressed upon this author to change to change the subtitle to Jeremiah 49:34-39 Meets OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) Head-On. The details within these OSINT reports, which I first read with a sense of complete astonishment, mesh in near perfect harmony with how the Holy Spirit led in the interpretation of Jeremiah's prophecy on this blog seven years ago.

I'll read anything by Heshmat Alavi simply because he is a tier one expert on anything to do with the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Middle East. He is a prolific writer, with articles appearing in all of the major Open Source outlets, from Forbes, to GatestoneInstitutedotOrg to FrontPageMagazine to TheTowerdotOrg. His articles focus on any topic causing crises for the Shi'a Hojjatieh mullahs ruling Iran to the inner mechanisms of its armed forces. But what caught my eye in this article was that it contained spot-on open source confirmation of the Eschatology Today interpretation of the Jeremiah 49:34-39 prophecy. 

First off, this article discuses the city of Ahvaz in southwestern Iran. For those who don't know, Ahvaz lies in the heart of what used to be the ancient land of Elam, the core geographic fixture in Jeremiah's prophecy. Ancient Elam today is known politically as Khuzestan, and Khuzestan is overwhelmingly populated by ethnic Arabs instead of Persians. 

It seems that the mullahs in Tehran, the IRGC in particular, have for many decades been embarked on a program of desertification in this region. These desertification policies have resulted in an ever increasing catastrophic environmental disaster, one in which studied projections indicate will result in 80 percent of Iran becoming desert not unlike Saudi Arabia's famous and largely uninhabited desert. The Iranians, as did Iraq's Saddam Hussein before them, are draining the marshlands and natural underground aquifers northeast of the disputed Shatt-al-Arab and Arvand Rud basin at the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers.** 

Ahvaz, capital city of Khuzestan Province, ancient Elam

(NOTE**At a minimum, this activity might be considered as preparatory for the prophecies found in Revelation 9:14 (Sixth Trumpet-World War) and Revelation 16:12 (Sixth Bowl-Har Megiddo/Armageddon) in the drying out of the region for the passage of the armies of the kings of the East.)

So disastrous are these policies at present that the 14 to 15 million people currently living in the region of ancient Elam are being left to the mercies of monster dust and salt storms, several of which have occurred in recent months, and the people not happy about it at all. The result has been massive anti-government protests in the streets and calls for the people to rise up in revolt against the mullah's in Tehran. Short of that, the people currently living in ancient Elam will be forced to migrate to more habitable locales. Sound familiar?

Another familiar sounding crisis Alavi writes about in this article is the one where Iran finds itself with enemies coming at it from every direction as it did at the recent Munich Security Conference. To quote the author, "This resembles a vast international coalition against Tehran, inflicting yet another blow to the mullahs" ..."strategic interests."  An international coalition of nations which views Iran as the preeminent state sponsor of terrorism in the world, the Middle East and the unrelenting carnage in Syria in particular.

Iran also faces crises in its relationships with nations some see as her allies per the Ezekiel 38/39 prophetic scenario, namely Russia and Turkey. Turkey in particular is calling for Iran's "Persian nationalism" to be stopped in its tracks; that its sectarian (Shi'a) warfare against the Sunni Muslim Gulf States, and plan to turn Syria and Iraq into compliant Shi'a dominated states must be halted. And for Russia, its goals in Syria do not mesh at all with what Tehran has in as its agenda.

And then there are the national elections to be held this coming May. Ayatollah Khamenei is in ailing health and is seeking to secure the presidency for a loyalist by the name of Ibrahim Reisi instead of the current president Hassan Rouhani. A hand-picked Reisi being installed as president may cause upheavals not seen since the national riots of 2009.  In short all of these crises may come to a head with political instability as a cherry on top. They also present pretty clear indications that Jeremiah's God-breathed prophecy is, as all Bible prophecy is, right on target.

26 February 2017: Back in mid-September of 2010 Eschatology Today was the first Bible prophecy blog to commence publishing a fairly detailed exegesis on Jeremiah 49:34-39, entitled "Will a Coalition of Nations Move Against Iran (Yes, They Will!!)". The above link is for reference to the original post and its 2011 and 2012 updates. There is also the most recent in the series which was published in August 2016 as "Global SITREP C8-16: Iran Crossing The Rubicon." SITREP C8-16 also included four additional SITREPs in the same series: B5:14, B4:15, B5-15 and C8:15.

This SITREP has become necessary as the latest in the series due to new raw intelligence data which also relates directly to the following prophecies: Isaiah 17, Jeremiah 49:23-27, Psalm 83 and Joshua 13. The most noteworthy aspect from an intelligence perspective is the absolute omission of any of the various names for Iran in Bible prophecy, such as Paras or Elam, in these prophecies. Given current events in southwest Asia such an omission might appear as being in error. However, as with the rest of the Bible, Bible prophecy is inerrant; no mistake has been made nor given the source of Bible prophecy was an error ever possible. Some other unmentioned and internal centrifugal force is clearly at play. That's where the new intel may have revealed with some specificity what those forces are.

In a nutshell, it's the Iranian-led war in Syria acting as the causation for these centrifugal force issues, However, that's just a headline, a macro view which misses the essential details of the effect of the Iranian-led war within Syria, and Lebanon. That centrifugal effect is a fracturing within the Shi'a sect of Islam between Persian and Arab Shi'a, and even Pakistani Shi'a, brought in to fight for the Ayatollah and the Iranian commander, General Qassem Soleimani. 

The astounding thing about this intel is that it comes from within Lebanon, from Beirut, and it was published just this morning in the Lebanese media organization that resulted from the Hezbollah assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on 14 February 2005. That media is known as Ya Libnan  (Oh Lebanon)." The link is well worth reading for however long is remains an active URL on the internet, but I will provide an exsum of its content below, for the record.

Ya Libnan is the voice of the resistance against Iranian Shi'a domination which came with the establishment of Hezbollah by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Qods Force (QF) in 1982. Hezbollah was established as the most-forward deployed unit of the IRGC-QF in 1982. Ya Libnan is running a virtual gauntlet of Iranian retaliation with the publication of the article today as it speaks only on the periphery of the very serious issues that exist between the IRGC-QF and Hezbollah. 

The focus of the article is about how the Arab Shi'a militia (from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Pakistan) see themselves as merely "cannon fodder" for the Ayatollah and IRGC-QF commander Soleimani. This mindset is due to something I myself have experienced directly, and it is summed up with two words: Persian arrogance. Persian arrogance is by its very nature extreme and unrelentiing. It is quintessential political micromanagement, and by definition it is the kind of political micromanagement that loses wars instead of winning them. It's as if the Ayatollah were Cyrus the Great re-born. This arrogance is causing friction to the point of open resentment within the Iranian-led forces engaged in the current war. 

Left to its own devices, this kind of centrifugal force could lead to an unprecedented schism within Shi'a sect of Islam, the center of which is in Iran. It could, and likely will lead to an Iranian defeat in Syria and Lebanon. That would leave Hezbollah alone to face Israel on the northern front as both Joshua 13 and Psalm 83 indicate. It could lead to the destruction of the Syrian state as Isaiah 17 indicates, and it could lead to Iran facing an international coalition of nations by itself and stripped of the strategic depth afforded to it by Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. It could well be the reason Iran appears as a second-rate power in the prophecy of Ezekiel 38-39.

Another, aspect is that from its inception as the most forward deployed Iranian military force Hezbollah had been designed for confrontation against Israel. Yet the war in Syria is literally consuming Hezbollah like some flesh-eating bacteria. This has left Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to issue insane attempts at face-saving such as rocket strikes against Haifa's ammonia chemical plant and the Dimona nuclear complex in southern Israel. Truth is, the Arab Shi'a know as well as the rest of the world that Nasrallah is just another of the Ayatollah's sock puppets. Iran would risk everything to cut Nasrallah and Hezbollah loose on Israel. I've not yet found a direct reference to this in any of the Bible's prophetic passages; Isaiah 17 maybe, but, again, there's no mention of Iran in that at all relative to the literal text.

Known ranges of Iranian ballistic missiles

The above image relates directly to Jeremiah 49:34-39. Eschatology Today was also the first Bible prophecy blog to reference the fact that the crown jewel of the Iranian nuclear program lies within the territory of ancient Elam. Yet, in looking at the prophecy deeper there's only the widely publicized subjective assumption that it has anything to do with Iranian rockets fitted with nuclear warheads. It is a fact that none of Iran's strategic rocket forces have tested and proven such a capability. Neither has its partner in nuclear crime, North Korea, for that matter. It is mostly the presumption of long range missiles delivering nuclear warheads that drives the Bible prophecy blogosphere and conference circuit narrative that Jeremiah 49:34-39 is about such a potential.

However, what the prophecy does say is not that the nuclear program will be destroyed, but that God will break the bow, which is the foremost of Iran's might. The bow is a metaphor for the technology to launch a projectile - be it a low-tech arrow or a high-tech modern-day missile or rocket. Simple question: What good is even one nuclear weapon if you cannot deliver to the intended target? Simple answer: The nuclear weapon is worthless and actually poses a greater threat to the territory and the population of Iran than to any of its enemies. Who knows what safety mechanisms Iran may or may not have included on a clandestinely manufactured nuclear weapon? Or its nuclear fissile production facilities? A Stuxnet-like attack can do as much or more to move people like refugees from radioactive fallout zone than a conventional military attack. Cases in point: Chernobyl and Fukushima, and neither of them were caused by a cyber attack..

So, Jeremiah is telling us point blank that from the Lord's perspective it is the bow that is the foremost of Iran's might, not their potential for nuclear warheads. The Lord is certainly aware of the potential illustrated by the image above and what it would mean to Israel's longevity. In simple words: Not gonna happen. The bow that Iran possesses will be destroyed. No bows, now arrows get launched.

And then there's the metaphor phrase "I will bring the four winds from the four corners of heaven" to scatter the people of this country to all of the other countries of the earth. What does this metaphor mean? Jeremiah's contemporaries Ezekiel and Daniel also used this phrase, as did Jesus in His Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:31) and John on Patmos in Revelation 7. 

The metaphorical meaning is generally with respect to the whole earth, and also with respect to an extraordinary or devastating event. Ezekiel used it with great effect concerning the valley of dry bones and the restoration of modern Israel after the Holocaust of WWII. Daniel used it with respect to the stirring up of the Mediterranean Sea region in which the world empires of his vision would hold ultimate power until the next one overtook it, all the way to Rome, and the present day.  And finally, Revelation 7 uses the same metaphor with respect to the angel who holds back four other angels from harming the earth during the 70th Week until the 144,000 of Israel have been given the seal of the living God on their foreheads. In this context the metaphor has everything to do with Divine judgment on a global scale, not unlike the Flood of Noah's day. 

Given what Iran has done and wants to do, it is Divine judgment that Jeremiah's use of this metaphor is most likely intended. That judgment scatters Iranian people to nations all over the planet; that judgment looks and sounds a lot like a military regime change is coming to Tehran, probably just before the 70th Week if not during it.

Global SITREP E2-15: Bible Prophecy and the War in Syria - Part II

UPDATE 11 November 2015:  I noticed on today's front page of my local newspaper there a USA Today article (links to Chicago Sun-Times) written by Tom Vanden Brook confirming my previous update of 6 November below regarding the deployment of USAF F-16C air-to-air combat aircraft to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey as well as the reasons for this deployment according to an anonymous DoD (Pentagon) source. The F-16Cs now confirmed purpose is: "...to protect low-flying U.S. attack planes hitting Islamic State targets and to deter Russian aggression in the region..." Protect them from whom? From Syrian and Russian fighter aircraft. This article reveals that 6 additional F-16E are being deployed to Incirlik to join the B-1 Lancers, A-10 Warthogs and AC-130U Spooky and the new AC-130J Ghostrider gunships striking Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq. Ahead of the curve is a good place to be.

6 November 2015: Another rather large nail was driven into the coffin of the faulty exegesis and expository preaching of some that the Russian military intervention in Syria's civil war is heralding the immediate fulfillment of Ezekiel 38/39 yesterday when the NATO alliance publicly sounded a call to arms to counter the ongoing Russian military buildup. Ezekiel 38/39 is coming, but it most definitely is not the next fulfillment within the now apparent sequence of pre-70th Week fulfillments that have been discussed in many blog posts over the past seven years and reside in the front-page archives of Eschatology Today.

The forceful call to arms announced in Troia, Portugal (a 'merchant of Tarshish' by the way) by NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg is the diametric opposite of what is prophesied to occur in Ezekiel 38:13. This announcement at its core is an order of magnitude beyond the self-perceived enhanced flexibility of U.S. President Barack Obama in his dealings with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin. This announcement effectually is a line drawn in the sand instructing Putin to go no further; that this is not about Obama, but something well beyond him, this is about the future of the West itself, 'Revived Rome of the 70th Week' as referred to in our dispensational exegesis.

As reported by a plethora of world corporate media, the NATO call to arms (a military response) is a direct response to the Russian military challenge to NATO that is occurring along a north-south axis from Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea, to Crimea and Ukraine on the Black Sea, to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea on the Syrian littoral where Russian military forces have been massing all manner of combat capabilities in recent weeks. To quote Stoltenberg, "We have to be sure that we are able to overcome these capabilities, so we can reinforce, so we can move and we can deploy forces if needed." NATO's military response is now in progress and is the reason behind the publicly announced movement of a squadron of American F-16C Fighting Falcons to Incirlik Air base in Turkey.

Again, SITREP E2-15 is a continuation of SITREP D10-15. In the second-to-last paragraph of D10-15 I provided an assessed forecast which was based upon Jeremiah 49:23-27 and Isaiah 17. At this junction that forecast might bear repeating.

"There are verses in both Jeremiah's and Isaiah's prophecies that directly relate to an apparent military catastrophe along the Syrian littoral of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and ashore in the area from Hama to Arpad (the area of Aleppo and north to the Turkish border), and, of course, the destruction (possibly if not probably by nuclear means) of Damascus and all of the military forces that will be within the city as it meets its prophetic fate. Also, not only will the endgame of this intervention in Syria be a military disaster for the Russians and Iranians, but Syria as a nation itself will cease to exist."

In Happier Pre-War Times - Parading IRGC Troops

5 November 2015: As the title strongly suggests, this SITREP is actually going to be a continuation of D10-15.

It may still come as a surprise to some, but a report published today by Asharq al-Awsat (datelined in both Tehran and London) claims according to a source close to Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) that due to the deaths of several senior Iranian generals and field-grade commanders (at least 30 in the past two weeks), and the increasingly heavy death toll among IRGC regular troops in Syrian combat against Sunni jihadists, a mutiny has begun to take hold with a significant number of senior IRGC-QF commanders who have begun refusing to return to the front lines and fight with their troops, while still others back home in the majority ethnic Arab province of Ahvaz have retired from the IRGC-QF and the regular Iranian Army rather than be deployed into the Syrian war zone. In a bid to entice other ethnic minorities in Iran (Balochis, Azeris, Sunni Arabs and Kurds ) to join its depleting ranks, the IRGC is offering these would-be recruits the equivalent of $830 for agreeing to a six week combat tour in Syria after completion of their training. According to Bible prophecy, specifically Jeremiah 49:34-39, Iran's military problems are just beginning with unimaginable losses foretold for the future.

 
One of the adjunct repercussions of the war in Syria, as we all know, is the flood of Christian, Muslim and secular refugees fleeing into the heart of Europe. Much has been made of the strong probability of Islamic terrorists coming with the rank and file refugees, but we've not heard much about what many Europeans themselves think of this influx, until now. Below is an image of a hand-painter banner measuring 50 feet tall by 75 feet wide that was unfurled at a home soccer game in Wroclaw, Silesia, Poland. The banner depicts boatloads of jihadists giving the one-fingered salute of the Islamic State coming uninvited to the southern shores of Europe, only to be greeted by European continent guarded by a fully armored Crusader brandishing a massive sword and St. George's cross, and whose shield displays the Wroclaw football club's crest on it.

Incidentally, one week prior to this soccer match the result of the national election was that the Polish people threw out of office ALL of the left-wing members of the national Parliament. All of them. Memo to America: one year from now follow Poland's lead.

Russia has just a few of it's best combat aircraft in Syria, but America is not letting that go unchallenged. While both countries are against the Islamic State, they are also supporting opposite sides in the Syrian civil war. So the U.S. has upped the ante by sending a squadron of F-16C Fighting Falcons armed only with air-to-air weaponry to operate in Syria from Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. Clearly these top-of-the-line U.S. Air Force fighters will not be dog fighting with Islamic State fighter aircraft. So, their purpose is to defend NATO ally Turkey from Russian or Syrian air force incursions - or - to give the anti-Assad rebels the US is supporting air cover from attacks by Russian and/or Syrian aircraft and helicopters. 

Russian Air Force General Bondarev is being quoted in various media reports of 5 November saying that due to the possibility of foreign fighter aircraft being "hijacked" in countries adjacent to Syria (i.e. Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Israel) the assets Russia has deployed to Bassel al-Assad Air Base near Jableh includes an air defense system comparable to Israel's Iron Dome air defense (AD) system. The types of anti-air defenses was not mentioned by Gen. Bondarev. However, Eschatology Today has determined precisely what systems have been deployed into Syria. They are the modernized 9K33 OSA SA-8 'Gecko'; the S-125-2M Pechora-2M, the NPO Almaz S-200 SA-5 'Gammon', the Pantsir-S1 SA-22 Greyhound' and BuK-M2E SA-17 'Grizzly,' as well as all of the associated radar emitters and command and control (C2) infrastructure. This effectively constitutes a division-level air defense umbrella to cover the Latakia and Tartous governorates in Syria. No one should believe the 'hijack' nonsense given by this Russian air force general, these weapons are clearly designed to defend against NATO and Israeli airstrikes against the Russian bases in Syria.

Did I say "upped the ante?" Roger that, I certainly did. And to those who still think the Russian intervention in Syria is a lead-in to Ezekiel 38/39, think again, Russia and Turkey are enemies in this war. 

Global SITREP C19-14: The Operationally Invalid Cease Fire That Failed; the War Continues and includes Iran

IDF armor in a 'hurry up and wait' formation near Gaza border.

15 July 2014 Operation Protective Edge - Day 8:  Now we know what has been holding a massive IDF armored invasion force up on the Gaza border. It is a Netanyahu government that is all too eager to placate, if not outright capitulate, to a leftist American presidential administration which clearly does not have Israel's best interests as its foreign policy's cutting edge.  There is no doubt that the failure to execute a Gaza ground operation as the only and truly effective means of neutering, and possibly even giving a coup d'grace to HAMAS, PIJ and other Islamic terrorists bombardment of Israeli cites and towns from Gaza, came at the hands of an inept Netanyahu government; a government which by all accounts on the evening of 14 July has acquiesced to an unenforceable cease fire agreement and agreed to a unilateral cease fire to take effect in about 5 hours from now (0900 IST) based upon terms which the Islamic aggressor has not even agreed to. 

OPE Day 8 - First Update: The security cabinet accepted the Egyptian mediation offer and agreed to the ceasefire imposed only upon Israel that went into effect at 0900 this morning in Israel.  HAMAS and PIJ are enemies of the government of Egypt; they rejected the ceasefire straightaway. Not only have the terrorists rejected the ceasefire, but it never discussed directly with them by anyone in the Egyptian government. So, combat missions continued in Gaza right up to the 0900 hour and then Israel honored the ceasefire agreement with Egypt. HAMAS and the PIJ have rejected the ceasefire and continue to fire heavy barrages of their artillery rockets into Israel, as have the terrorists in Lebanon and the Syrians who lobbed rockets into Israel from the north. HAMAS also fired rockets against Eilat in southern Israel for the first time. As noted in the title of this SITREP, this is an operationally invalid ceasefire to which only Egypt and Israel have agreed, yet Egypt is not involved in the hostilities and has been, more or less, an ally to Israel since the start of the war. This ceasefire had zero chance of success.

So, at this point (0600 in the US/1300 in Israel) it appears as if OPE combat operations against the Gaza terrorists have resumed after a very brief hiatus. Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu spoke about 20 minutes ago on the current situation saying (emphasis added):

“We accepted the Egyptian proposal in order to present an opportunity for Gaza to be disarmed of its missiles, rockets, and tunnels through political means, but if Hamas does not accept this proposed ceasefire, and this is how it appears at present, Israel will have full international legitimacy for an expanded military operation to return the necessary quiet.”

Operation Protective Edge continues on Day 8, hopefully without further unwarranted interruption.
 
Second and CRITICAL UPDATE OPE- Day 8: The Islamic Republic of Iran, specifically the Islamic Republic Guards Corps - Qods Force (IRGC-QF)  is the driving force of the continuing rocket fire from HAMAS and PIJ in Gaza as well as the rocket fire coming out of Lebanon and Syria by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC). The PFLP-GC and the PIJ are operational commands within the overall structure of the IRGC - Qods Force. This means that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and IRGC-QF commander Brigadier General Qasem Suleimani have issued an order to maintain rocket fire against Israel irregardless of any other external considerations (such as a ceasefire). Technically speaking, it is not only HAMAS that is openly at war with Israel, but so is the Islamic Republic of Iran waging an undeclared war against Israel through their proxy forces in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.

The links between IRGC-QF, PIJ and the PFLP-GC are very well known to both the United States, Israel and probably Egypt as well. An official Fact Sheet published by the US Department of the Treasury on October 25, 2007 makes these interconnections abundantly clear and has included updates which cite US President Barack Obama's Executive Order 13227 of April 13, 2013 in the enforcement of sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

 Proof positive that IDF troops will have to enter Gaza City itself during a ground invasion. Here are three rockets being launched at Israel from the crowded urban city center today, 15 July 2014. Hard and dirty fighting lay ahead for IDF troops.

Third Update - OPE Day 8: Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu addressed the nation this evening and pretty much repeated the same things he has said all along. Nothing new here, except that he is operating in lock-step with the leftist Obama Administration.  Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman is calling for a full-scale invasion resulting in total IDF control of Gaza. While the Israeli security cabinet as a whole democratically accepted the Egyptian ceasefire proposal, both Liberman and Naftali Bennett cast their votes against accepting it. They were the only members of the cabinet to do so. OPE Day 9 could turn out to be a turning point in this war.

 Former Israel Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon

A very short time ago Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu fired Danny Danon, the Deputy Defense Minister and a member of Netanyahu's own Likud Party. The reason for the firing is a public statement Danon made that, on the surface at least, appears to  betray the PM's public comments. Stated DDM Danny Danon, "Once again, Hamas is dictating the terms. We must not be humiliated. We must correct the mistake of accepting the ceasefire proposal made this morning and let the military do its job."  I cannot help but think that Danny Danon will become the political leader of Israel that many thought Bibi Netanyahu would become. In fact, Danny Danon strongly reminds me of the young Bibi Netanyahu of a couple of decades ago. Watch Danon, his rise in Israeli politics could become meteoric in a very short span of time. He could become Israel's "Ronald Reagan."

Empty IDF HETs (Heavy Equipment Transports) seen in the vicinity of the Gaza border on 15JUL14. Empty HETs usually means the armor they transported to this point will be advancing into combat under their own power.

Final Update - OPE Day 8: Looks like the final blitz prior to the expected IDF ground operation will commence just after 0800 tomorrow Israel time - about 5 hours from now which is 8 PM EDT/5PM PDT in the US. The IDF delivered yet another warning order to approximately 100,000 Gaza residents to evacuate their residences prior to 8 AM.