Global SITREP D7-19: Missing Pieces (Jordan)

King Abdullah II, military staff and VIPs stand before a sand map
of the "Swords of Karama" exercise area opposite the Israeli border.

UPDATE 30 November 2018: As KenB noted in the comments section, the Royal Jordanian Army, with King Abdullah present, engaged in a large military exercise on its border with Israel north of the Dead Sea. The full Report was found on the MEMRI website. 

In the now three days since the report was published it has been studied in greater detail. Of note is the fact that the Netanyahu announcement concerning the annexation to Israel of the whole of the Jordan Valley undoubtedly resulted in the Jordanians launching this exercise billed as being defensive in nature, but it was certainly much more than that against the "occupier of Palestine" and the "occupying entity." 

To the contrary, this was an unambiguous message to Israel of Jordanian belligerence for the obvious fact that an exercise of this scale is totally unnecessary to cause the destruction of the Allenby Bridge connecting Israel and Jordan. The Jordanians are not folling anyone. 

Also, the town of al-Karameh, site of the 1968 battle for which the exercise was named, lies north and 1 mile east of the Israeli border. This town was the northern edge of the simulated battlefield. The southern edge of the battlefield was the historical pilgrimage site where John the Baptist conducted the baptismal of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Allenby Bridge lies between these two points. 

18 November 2019: This is will be a sort of continuation of the 'Missing Pieces' topic of Global SITREP D3-19, with an emphasis on Jordan. Eschatology Today long ago established a direct link between the fulfillment of Psalm 83 and Isaiah 11:14 (NKJV) as quoted below. 

"But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west;
Together they shall plunder the people of the East;
They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab;
And the people of Ammon shall obey them."

We've been keen on watching for Indications and Warnings (I&W) that the current status quo peace accord between Israel and Jordan was in danger. On November 12, 2019 that specific I&W appeared in a MEMRI report that was based on the Jordan Today TV program hosted by Ms. Rana Hmouz.

The program began by celebrating the recent transfer back to Jordanian sovereignty the areas of Baquora and Ghumar. The land transferred, but the Israeli farmers will remain tilling the soil for a while longer. But then Ms. Hmouz got around to expressing the real intent of the program. It doesn't get any clearer than this message to the Jordanian people:

"But our joy is not complete. We have more demands. We want to see a similar decision that will let us trample the peace accord underfoot. We want to see a similar decision that will let us trample the gas and water agreements underfoot. We want to see a similar decision that will let us trample the entire Zionist entity underfoot. We don't want their representatives defiling our land...After Baqoura, we want to gouge out the eyes of the Zionists and their [Arab] supporters. After Ghumar, we want [our hearts] to overflow with joy when we annul the peace agreement in support of the blood of our martyrs and the Arab identity of Palestine."

What can be seen here is the convergence of purpose of the entire Psalm 83 confederacy, from Lebanon, to the Arab street in Judea and Samaria, to the terrorist factions in Gaza, and now including Jordan. By looking at Isaiah 11:14 the Jordanian regions of Edom and Moab appear to be the center of what will occur, their being militarily seized by the IDF simultaneously with the conquest of Gaza. The Jordanian region of the capital in Amman will be subdued into what appears at this point to be a type of vassal state to the greater Israel. 

Note in the map above that the northern part of the ancient land of Moab contains the future burial site of Gog and his military confederation's soldiers following their destruction according to Ezekiel 39:11-16. The prophetic new city of 'Hamonah' will be very near to or the same location as the present day city seen on the map as 'Dibon' (Dhiban). This SITREP will be expanded or followed up as new material is located.

Global SITREP C7-19: The One-State Solution

Near-future map of Israel; the One-State solution

8 August 2019: The abduction and murder in Etzion last night by HAMAS operatives of 18-year old yeshiva student, Dvir (Yehuda) Sorek, who also had just begun his stint of service in the IDF, stands a very good chance of igniting a significant, if not defining, final act of the ongoing Psalm 83 war (1947 to Present). 

HAMAS claims Dvir's murder was a "powerful response" to discussions in Israel about the annexation of Judea and Samaria. In reality, Dvir's murder makes the annexation of Judea and Samaria more not less likely, and by force of arms more than likely. HAMAS also reiterated its goal of expelling "the occupiers" from all of Jueda and Samaria. Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Tehran's patron, referred to this murder, which some of its operatives may have also participated, as "heroic."

PM/DM Bibi Netanyahu immediately countered by saying "our mission is to establish the nation of Israel in our country, to secure our sovereignty over our historic homeland." The key word here is sovereignty. Israel's sovereignty over all of its historic homeland. 

At the present time none of the major political parties in Israel are talking about the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state, the so-called two-state solution. What Likud, Labor and the Blue and White List are all talking about is separation of the the Palestinians from Israel. This separation is being accomplished by the building of walls. Walls around settlements, walls that divide highways straight down the middle. Walls that separate the citizens of the State of Israel from the areas and transportation nodes of the "Palestinians."

This is now. Taking a snap-look forward to a time nearing and soon to become a present reality, how does the God-breathed prophecy of Ezekiel describe the land of Israel's habitation prior to the Magog's attempt to invade? 

Ezekiel 38:10-12 

‘Thus says the Lord God: “On that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will make an evil plan: You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’— to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land."

Unwalled villages inhabited by peaceful people dwelling safely, all of them dwelling without walls, bars or gates in the midst of the land. This is certainly not the Israel we know today, but it will be the Israel that exists immediately prior to the events of Ezekiel 38/39. 

Do we recognize that this complete lack of walls, bars or gates not only refers to the midst of the land of Israel, but also includes the rather significant defensive walls, bars and gates currently surrounding Gaza? They're going to be coming down, and soon. This is what the Lord GOD through Ezekiel is telling us if were willing to listen. The future reality well ahead of the time in which it will be.

Isaiah 11:14, as has been discussed here several times previously, directly links Israel's military coming conquest of the terrorist-controlled Gaza with a simultaneous military conquest of most of western Jordan. This near-future reality, is reflected in the map at the top of this SITREP. The only missing piece in this map is the area to the southeast of the Dead Sea, that too will be Israel. And it will occur, as Eschatology Today believes, before Ezekiel 38/39 takes place. Ditto for Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49:34-39. All of this constitutes a very big paradigm shift if not a geo-political tsunami for the Middle East, which won't come even close to looking like it does today.

So, let's see how this new developing paradigm takes shape before our eyes and falls in with the marching cadence set by the Lord's prophets so long ago.

Global SITREP B8-19: SCALING UP THE WAR

Patriot PAC-3, B-52H Stratofortresses, 100,000+ Combat Troops, Naval Armada

FINAL UPDATE 16 May 2013: This will be the final update for SITREP B8-19. A lot has taken place in these past two weeks, most of it from Gaza to the Arabian Peninsula. 

However, a question must be posed: Are we in a crisis? The Eschatology Today answer is, no, we're not in a crisis. It is the Islamic Republic of Iran that is in the midst of a serious crisis, and how it attempts to extricate itself from its self-made crisis will determine how severe this crisis will become for the abhorent Twelver regime and whether or not literal fulfillment of Jeremiah's and Isaiah's relative prophecies occur within a relatively short span of time. Remember, Jesus said, "these things must take place, but the end is not yet."

What will take place next is a classified briefing to the members of the U.S. Congress next week regarding what Iran has done this past week, what it has done via its proxies, and what the potential responses will be should further attacks take place. The United States took the leadership role only it can provide by surging significant military power into the Middle East. Even more will move if that becomes necessary and that depends entirely on how foolsih the clerics in Tehran decide to become. They are a seriously apocalyptic-minded lot, so no one's going to hold their breath in the hope they suddenly become peacemongers.

14 May 2019: As the title of this SITREP attests, the situation in the Middle East is being significantly scaled up. The reason for this can be stated in one word: Iran. Take a cold, hard, objective look around the whole of the Middle East and one thing becomes blatantly obvious from the Bible prophecy perspective: none of the ongoing conflicts or areas of military tension have abated one iota. To the bold contrary, the over-riding theme of "wars and rumors of wars" has only increased; scaled up, in every imaginable and even unimaginable way.

There was a very high-level meeting of all the significant players of the US National Security apparatus at CIA HQ Langley last Thursday. Speculation was rampant on what the meeting was about. Now we know, and again, it's a one word answer: Iran. To the mix of American military forces and capabilities being surged into the Middle East in the past week, the meeting also pushed forward the high potential for a 120,000-strong combat force of US soldiers to deploy into CENTCOM build-up of American combat force projection.

This projection of American power clearly focused against the Iranian Twelver regime's regional aspirations of dominance over Sunni Arab nations, but mostly against the State of Israel, has had a curious effect. It has shown how weak in the knees our European NATO allies are. They, meaning nations like the UK and Spain most notably, appear to prefer a path of appeasement towards the apocalypse-minded clerical regime in Tehran rather than stand firm and hold a line drawn in the sand. 

As of yesterday, following a weekend (Sunday morning actually) where Iranian forces clandestinely attacked four oil tankers of the coast of Al-Fujairah port in the UAE, causing significant damage (big holes) to those vessels, but without creating oil spillage or injury to the crews. A prompt US investigation issued a preliminary assessment just yesterday that Iran was responsible for the apparent limpet mine attacks against the four oil tankers. As the U.S. bristled over these attacks, a Spanish frigate sailing as a part of the Lincoln CSG which had just entered the Gulf of Aden, was ordered by its government authority to withdraw itself from the CSG operations. In the UK that government began expressing fears that another Iraq-like war was in the offing. Fear and trepidation are not signs of leadership in the face of clear aggression.

So much, at this point, for the prophecy-based theory circulating that an all-powerful all-EU, without the United States, will be the beast empire military juggernaut of the 70th Week. We would do well to read again the text of Daniel 2; not to mention chapters 7 through 12, to refresh once more about the "Ten Toes" and the rise of the "Little Horn." Prophecy theorems that do not begin with these texts, plus Ezekiel 38:13, will miss the mark, first time, every time.

We have our Lord's assurance that "these things," that is the several signs He gave in the Olivet Discourse, "must take place." We emphasize this a great deal here on Eschatology Today, and it's for good reason. While no one can foretell specifically what will happen in the next day, next week or next month, we can understand the "big picture" that has been given to us in Scripture. Eschatology Today interprets the Lord's prophets, it is not one of them.

9 May 2019: A flight of B-52H Stratorfortresses departed Barksdale AFB in Louisiana yesterday on their deployment to Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The "Buffs" were topped off with fuel for their intercontinental transit by KC-10 Extenders flying out of Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakehurst, New Jersey. The "Buffs" are joined in this expedition by the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group which is currently in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The Lincoln CSG will probably not enter the Gulf without an extensive US de-mining of those shallow waters.

 

B-52H being refueled over Atlantic by JB-MDL KC-10A 8MAY19.
Image courtesy USAF AMC.

Barksdale AFB B-52H on the tarmac at Al-Udeid AB Qatar late yesterday.
This is real power projection. Image via CENTCOM.

7 May 2019:There's a very good reason why the Netanyahu government has paused operations against the terrorists in Gaza: Iran. Both President Trump and PM/DM Netanyahu are completely aligned in what is about to take place. 

The US/Israel plan of action has been developing for the past few weeks, with only glimpses of its scope hinted at in statements made prior to this past weekend. An interuption was caused by the assassination attempt on an IDF Colonel and another soldier on the Gaza border by a PIJ sniper on Friday. Israel retaliated for this action and resumed heavy rocket fire following the IAF's retaliation strike. Both assassination attempt and high-volume rocket fire were ordered to take place by Iran which hoped the resulting combat would derail the US-Israel action plan. 

Israel did great damage to HAMAS and the PIJ through Saturday and Sunday (4/5 May), and also assassinated the critical HAMAS-Iran money man in very tight quarters on a busy Gaza street in broad daylight with a precision missile strike. Even the terrorists have acknowledged this in a statement early today saying they needed the current respite from combat to lick (heal) their wounds. Netanyahu has told the Israeli people point-blank that the Gaza combat is not over and will be resumed soon.

Standing by on Gaza border...

So what took place about 8 weeks ago? Israel provided to the US the intelligence its Mossad had collected indicating that that Iran was in advanced stages of tasking the IRGC and its proxy forces throughout the region to launch wide-scale attacks on US forces in Syria, Iraq and in the Gulf. In the ensuing week or so the US detected these preparations first-hand for itself. A military response was ordered. 

As background, in March the B-1 bomber group that had deployed to Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar concluded its deployment and returned home to Dyess AB in Texas. This left the Middle East without a combat bomber group in the CENTCOM CJTF-OIR AOR. The announced deployment of a new bomber group (either B-52 or B-1, or a mix of both) fills this void. Concurrent with the new bomber group deployment the US has also rerouted the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (Lincoln CSG) to the the Gulf and operations within 5th Fleet. These two combined are part of the "unrelenting force" promised to Iran by NSA Bolton should Iran follow through on its attacks.

Updates as they occur. This situation should develop rapidly over the next day or so, and there is sporadic firing along the Gaza border as you read this.

5 May 2019: The Eschatology Today expectation forecast of the previous B7-19 SITREP hit the proverbial nail on its head - the Twelver regime of Iran has commanded its Gaza proxies to launch a rocket war (500+ and counting) against the civilians of southern and central Israel just as Israel prepares to celebrate its 71st anniversary of modern-day existence. 

This time there is a mounting death toll in Israel, and the Israeli response has all appearances of being a more lethal and expanded or upscaled set of military actions. The IDF even struck and destroyed a mosque adjacent to the beach area of al-Shati (NW of Gaza city) that the PIJ was using as a Command and Control (C2) facility. 

Israel has also begun targeted assassinations of the HAMAS and PIJ leadership in Gaza. Israel will also go after this leadership cadre in Beirut, Lebanon and wherever else they may hole themselves. No quarter is to be given, vehicular movement is also no guarantee of avoiding death from above as HAMAS' senior field commander Hamed Hamdan el-Hadary just learned while driving his Toyota. Before his death this morning El-Hadary was the Iran-to-Gaza money transfer official for HAMAS and the PIJ according to IDF sources.

Hamed Hamdan el-Hadary's Toyota destroyed in IAF precision missile strike

Israel has reinforced the IDF envelope around Gaza with the deployment of an additional armored brigade. The closure envelope announced by PM/DM Netanyahu extends outwards from Gaza by 40km (25 miles). Netanyahu and his Security Cabinet has also issued the order this morning ti intensify the IAF airstrikes in Gaza as well as a general mobilization of deploying ground forces. It is a near certainty the IDF inject itself into Gaza at some point. Whether these insertions are hit-n-run strikes are rocket launch sites or a campaign to seize territory remains to be seen. 

Going Forward: Eschaology Today's focus will be whether or not this round of warfare becomes a fulfillment of Isaiah 11:14 and Ezekiel 28:24-26 as the culmination of the Psalm 83 prophecy, meaning an armed conflict which begins in Gaza but comes to involve Lebanon, Jordan, Sinai, Syria and Iran. Ongoing rapid and fluid developments wil be covered in the next update.

Global SITREP E2-18: IDF Operation Northern Shield

FINAL UPDATE 16 December 2018:  Comments that were made yesterday and early this morning are going to constitute the final update for this SITREP.

The shoot down of the Russian IL-22M (NATO Name: Coot-A) ELINT aircraft (See: Global SITREP D1-18: The End-Game in Syria?) in mid-September did indeed launch the "end-game" in Syria. In fact, that critical event has become the direct impetus for the literal fulfillment of Ezekiel 38:7 NKJV, which reads:

"Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them."

Here are the details of which Eschatology Today is now fully aware. One week ago a senior IDF military delegation, led by IDF Operations commander Major General Aharon Haliva, and his staff traveled to Moscow to meet with his direct Russian Federation military counterpart.  

Now understand this, most published media accounts, including and especially Israeli media, about this allegedly high-level face-to-face meeting are disinformative at best. These reports deliberately obscure the true net results of what took place. There is one exception that Eschatology Today located yesterday, and that report was published by YNet News yesterday morning.

The senior Russian officer did not meet with MG Haliva. In fact MG Haliva and his staff were snubbed completely by the Russians. The Russian officer who did meet with MG Haliva was his subordinate stand-in, Major General Vasily Trushin. This thing here is that MG Trushin, who is about to retire, has no direct connection to the Russian military operations in Syria. According to an un-named IDF official, MG Trushin is the only Russian military officer to have any regular contact whatsoever with Israel since the Coot-A shoot down by Syrian forces. As reported by Ynet News, 

"Furthermore, the Russians set the date for the meeting knowing full well that their chief of military operations, chief of staff, defense minister, and a large part of the Russian military brass would not even be in the country during Haliva’s visit."

 These details are critically instructive about what the IDF delegation actually returned from Russia with. And that is nothing more than a continuation of discussions on "security coordination" in Syria through which zero of substance is accomplished. Israel, as represented by the IDF, was snubbed in the most overt, in-your-face manner possible by Russia. Israel's best efforts at diffusing tensions with Russia, which are not Israel's fault but Syria's, have been repeatedly rejected. Moreover, the Russians have given the Iranian military forces in Syria, including Hezbollah, the freedom to disguise themselves by flying the Russian flag wherever they may be operating. 

This is essentially Russia fulfilling in real-time the prophecy of Ezekiel 38:7 in guarding them from Israeli military attacks and allowing Iranian and Syrian forces to soon fire upon Israel from their positions flying the Russian flag. What takes place next, preemptive or not, is eminently predictable as we know from several of the ancient Hebrew prophets God-breathed texts.

14 December 2018: The case for direct linkage of several major prophecies (i.e. prophetic dominoes) is becoming easier with each passing day. Take Isaiah 17 for example. There's some intel circulating in the past few days, especially since the alleged IAF strikes on Kisweh and Harfa of a week ago (AFP image above), that the IRGC-QF has deployed Hezbollah units in a continuous line along the Syria-Lebanon border, and then in a semi-circular ring around southern Damascus. 

In addition to these deployments IRGC-QF has deployed its Shi'a militias in front of the Hezbollah positions facing the Golan and Israel. The thinking that goes with this intel is that Iran is preparing to open a broad front against Israel from both Lebanon and Syria, with the initial intent of slicing off the Galilee region, or a good chunk of it, from Israel. Simultaneously the terror in Judea and Samaria and from Gaza is intended to encircle Israel with conflict on all sides. 

The current Eschatology Today assessment holds that Israel will continue to act preemptively as discussed in this SITREP, probably with its regional allies and without so much as a peep of warning, to continue thwarting the Iranian war plans. Think: modern maneuver warfare on steroids, in-depth and well behind enemy lines. It's just a matter of time; yet sooner rather than later.

12 December 2018: There are a handful of updates gleaned from OSINT in the past few days to keep us all ahead of the curve. The events may seen to some to be a world away and no great concern to us. However, as you will soon see, that is not the case.

1. Most of the civilized world is aware, ad nauseum, thanks to media hyping, of the brutal Saudi killing of journalist Adnan Khashoggi. Yet most are completely in the dark about two Iranian murder plots to be executed on foreign soil. One, thwarted in the nick of time last month by Danish intelligence, involved an Norwegian-Iranian who planned to murder an Iranian dissident in Denmark. The other was exposed last July after Austrian intelligence arrested an Iranian diplomat who was leading a plot to bomb an annual meeting of Iranian dissidents in Paris. President Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani attended that meeting. So, behind the scenes, those in power in the West are well aware of the malignant nature of the Iranian Shi'a Twelver regime in Tehran.

2.) Iran has within the past day officially acknowledged the test launch of their Khorramshahr MIRV ICBM. This test has set the EU, specifically the UK, Germany and France, firmly against the Islamic Republic, because they now realize Iran could today hit the heart of the EU with MIRVed warheads, possibly nuke warheads unless Iran's clandestine nuclear program is halted. This reality scares the EU's governing body, and not due to any regard for the prophetic text of Jeremiah 49:34-39. Their anxiety is instead due to Iran's flagrant violation of what they do hold as sacred - UNSCR 2231, a/k/a Annex B of the 2015 JCPoA. These two items have had a cumulative effect upon Western leaders lead us directly to the third and most important part of this update. 

3. There is a growing realization among the Western intelligence community, especially in Israel, that the largely down-played Iranian Shi'a Twelver apocalyptic worldview did not suddenly cease to exist with the fall from power of Mahmud Ahmadinejad. Rather it is very much alive and well within the Ayatollah, his clerics and the current Iranian president Rouhani. Western intelligence now believe in the reality that Iran is planning a "massive regional war" in furtherance of the Twelver objective of hastening the arrival their al-Mahdi figure. Put another way, our guys now believe their guys are serious of creating an apocalypse in the Middle East. The intel folks assess the sum total of all Iranian actions, covert and overt, from the Hezbollah tunnels to Gaza, to Lebanon, to the Gulf and even to Central and South America, all have the common objective of being preparations for war.

One last note, and this one really brings it home. It's been revealed that the "Hezbollah tunnel operative" seen recently on an Israel robot video camera has been identified an an Iranian known by the pseudonym "Azaladin." This Iranian is known to have trained with Mexican drug cartels on the U.S. southern border. Kinda puts a new light on what President Trump said on live TV yesterday with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer regarding who we've captured, who we've seen, and who's still there, as well as the urgent requirements of our own border security. We need to forcefully tell the politicians to stop playing politics with our national  well being - or else.

Israeli soldiers work on their tanks at a staging area near Israel's border. Israel launched a large operation Monday to destroy Hezbollah terror tunnels. (AP/Ariel Schalit)

8 December 2018: As ONS continues apace, the anticipated forward deployment of the IDF into Lebanon proper to complete destruction of discovered tunnels may be a step or two away rom becoming reality. Hezbollah appears to want this to occur. So, within this light the statement today by Minister Yoav Glanat on Israel Channel 10 News is worth noting. This is not a new statement as it has been stated previously when the threat of war with Hezbollah reared its head a couple of time in the past decade or so. 

 "We must trust the IDF and its strength, we know what to do. It does not mean that we want a war, but if we have one, we will return Lebanon to the Stone Age." - Housing Minister Yoav Galant on 8 December 2018. 

Note: Yoav Galant is a retired IDF Major General. A former commander of the Southern Command, MG Galant led the IDF against HAMAS during Operation Cast Lead of 2008-09. 

4 December 2018: Overnight the IDF launched a large-scale operation, code named Operation Northern Shield (ONS for short on this blog), to destroy invasion tunnels built by Iran's Lebanese military proxy force Hezbollah. No doubt these intended invasion tunnels were constructed with funds provided by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Israel has issued warnings to both Hezbollah and the Lebanese Army about the deadly danger they would find themselves in should their forces approach the border.

A quick review is in order to place a series of major recent events in the proper perspective, as they are all part of the larger ongoing war between Iran and Israel.

1. Just over three weeks ago, as ordered by Iran, HAMAS and the PIJ in Gaza launched a massive barrage of nearly 500 rockets into southern Israel. Israel countered this attack with an even more massive set of counter-strikes into Gaza. HAMAS plea for a ceasefire were accepted by Israel, which created a serious problem for Netanyahu's coalition govenment. Assurances were made that the ceasefire was necessary in that a larger issue was at-hand.

2. One week later Israel launched massive punitive attacks on Iranian and Hezbollah positions, command posts and military warehouses across the breadth of southern Syria, right up to the Golan area of Quneitra. Syria, Iran and Hezbollah go silent and lick their serious wounds. Israel watches and waits for retaliation which does not materialize.

3. Operation Northern Shield is launched launched one week later, and as of last evening Israel time the operation was well under way to locate and destroy the tunnels that Iran had planned for Hezbollah and its other proxies forces to invade and seize Israel's Galilee region. These tunnels are a casus belli for Israel to re-engage Hezbollah in combat as they are an obvious and blatant violation of the ceasefire that ended the 2006 war under a U.N. resolution.

Related: IRGC Test Launch of Khorramshahr MIRV MRBM

It should go without saying, but only destroying one-half, the half that are inside the Israeli border, of each of the several Hezbollah invasion tunnels will never result in a "mission complete" status for Operation Northern Shield. The IDF will of necessity have to also destroy the half of the tunnels inside Lebanon. That will bring war against both Hezbollah and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). And that war will require Israel to subdue ALL of Lebanon, and in that we should find the fulfillment of the ancient Joshua 13 directive prophecy found in verses 1 through 7. Verses 8 through 33 deal with the inheritance of the lands in present-day Jordan east of the Jordan River. Israel's possession of these lands in also in accordance with the prophecy of Isaiah 11:14 as well as Ezekiel 39:11-16. 

Eschatology Today cares not what any man or group of men have to say, only what the prophetic Word of God has long ago said about these matters before us today. Marana'tha!

Global SITREP D10-18: Would an IDF Reconquest of Gaza Occur in a Vacuum?

Gettin' ready...

UPDATE 25 November 2018: Regarding the transfer of Russian-made 9M133 Kornet anti-tank missiles from Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah to HAMAS and the other terrorists in Gaza, The Times of Israel is the source for this update. It seems that the Islamic State in Sinai (IS Wilayat Sinai) recently intercepted and confiscated a shipment of these and other high-tech, GPS-guided weapons as they were crossing the Sinai Peninsula (Egypt) enroute to HAMAS in Gaza. It is most telling that despite the blockade imposed upon Gaza, shipments such as this very large one (the largest to date seized by IS Wilayat Sinai) still continue unabated. 

Analysis: In addition to Gaza, the Sinai will also be a front in the coming fighting. HAMAS is therefore liable to permit IS Wilayat Sinai keep the seized weaponry in the realization that a secondary front to pull additonal IDF assets away from the coming Gaza operation would be beneficial to HAMAS and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

There is also a report found on the INN website which made global news this past week. With the U.S. clamping down on economic sanctions against Iran, it was revealed this past Tuesday that a clandestine money pipeleine run by the Russian Federation and Islamic Republic of Iran governments was discovered by the U.S. Treasury invesigators. This complex scheme was one in which crude oil transfers along with hundreds of millions of dollars were run through Syria for funding the Syrian government in addition to the terrorist operations of Hezbollah in Lebanon and HAMAS in Gaza. Details are in the linked report, yet an easy assessment to make here would be that the cuting off of this level of funding for Syria, Hezbollah and HAMAS, all terrorist proxies of Iran and the Russian Federation, is bound to hurt. Financial strangulation is as much a tool of war and bombs and bullets.

22 November 2018: One would have significantly impaired hearing, both literally and spiritually, to not hear the increasing beat of war drums across the Middle East for most of this past year. Limited military engagements are one thing, and these have markedly increased from the spring to this fall, but in the past day, and as noted in the previous SITREP, the military situation across the Middle East has changed significantly.

How significantly? When was the last time a senior Israeli security council official was heard to say publicly that Israel was "being forced to recapture parts or all of the Gaza Strip." Gilad Erdan said it yesterday. Fellow security council member Israel Katz was quick to back his colleague up, saying Israel faced "a no-choice war against HAMAS in Gaza." When was the last time a former senior Israeli official of the stature of Gideon Sa'ar called for a precision preemptive strike on Iranian missile factories run by Hezbollah in Lebanon before the "window of opportunity closes?" 

And then we have Nickolay Mladendov, the U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, opine what most intellectually honest observers have known for quite some time now: the Islamic Republic of Iran wants a full-scale war to erupt between Israel and HAMAS in the Gaza Strip and across much of southern Israel. All of these statements occurred on the same day at the same Jerusalem Post event. None of them were mere rhetoric.

To top this off, and concurrent with the above statements, the Iranian commander of IRGC forces, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, threatened all American ground and air forces across the CENTCOM AOR, and all vessels of the U.S. 5th Fleet with strikes by Iranian missile forces. (The Brigadier General's typical Persian braggadocio notwithstanding, that kind of a strike on U.S. forces in the Middle East would almost certainly amount to the last thing he would do with his forces.

Any ardent student of Bible prophecy should be able to rattle off all of the prophetic verses which correspond directly with the above statements. And all of them are inter-related in one manner or another. For example, Isaiah 11:14 has a direct correlation to an Israeli reconquest of the Gaza strip. But if one reads the entire verse it directly links an IDF assault upon Gaza with a military conquest of those areas of modern Jordan (i.e. the Aqaba, Talifah, Karak, Madaba and Amman Governorates) known in ancient times as Edom, Moab and Ammon. This speaks to a much wider war and is just one aspect of what we know as the prophetic Psalm 83 war.

There is also the longstanding real-world link between the terrorist forces in Gaza and Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria. Again, this link is a specific point from Asaph's Psalm 83 prophecy. The Iranians and Hezbollah have been clandestinely supplying Israel's enemies in Gaza with high-tech warfighting materiel for at least the past seven years. The reference here is to war materiel such as the Russian-made, laser-guided 9M133 Kornet anti-tank missiles. 

These anti-tank missiles were transferred from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon prior to the 2006 war, and subsequently Hezbollah supplied them to HAMAS and Islamic Jihad. The Kornets, with a maximum range of over 3 miles, have since been fired at and have destroyed a number Israeli civilian buses, including school buses traveling within line-of-sight of the Gaza Strip, since April 7, 2011. We read about these attrocites every now and then in Israeli news reports, but the events are soon forgotten as time passes. With absolute certainty, they are not forgotten in Israel. In addition to Psalm 83 there is the widely unheralded (except here on Eschatology Today!) prophecy found in Joshua 13 which deals specifically with Lebanon, and therefore is linked also to the overall Psalm 83 prophetic scenario.

Does anyone seriously think that Israel would engage in warfighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon without also directly confronting Iran and its military proxy forces in Syria? It's a no-brainer, of course they will, and there we have a direct link to the Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49:23-27 prophecies that have been a focus on Eschatology Today pretty much for the entire year as well, and since everyone is familiar with them by now those prophecies won't be belabored further in this SITREP.

The point of this is that a full-scale military operation undertaken by the IDF to retake Gaza is a virtual gateway to a much larger conflict; there is no way  such a reconquest would occur in a geopolitical or military vacuum. An IDF operation for the reconquest of Gaza would directly involve, and/or lead to the fulfillment of a half-dozen or more 'last days' prophecies. The flood of falling prophetic dominoes, remember? So, does Eschatology Today assess that a literal fulfillment of Isaiah 11:14 could lead to the final act of the Psalm 83 war? Yes, of course; it's been a consistent theme here for several years. And to borrow Minister Gilad Erdan's phraseology... we're now closer to a literally fulfilled mass of prophetic Scripture than we have ever been before. And it's not if, but when. Eschatology Today assesses the 'when' is soon - very, very soon.

Global SITREP D7-18: MidEast Wars Magnified

Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Missouri (SSN-780) on May 31, 2018. US Navy Photo

UPDATE 30 November 2018: No real surprise here, but again it has taken a full month for the real-world news to catch up with Eschatology Today. The direct reference here is to the final sentence of the 29 October update highlighted below which defined the meaning of this SITREP's title "MidEast Wars Magnified." Today, Israel National News is the news site whose just published analysis "Syrian war becoming a global conflict" achieves that catch-up. Indeed, a magnified MidEast war is a global war.

12 November 2018: This update is not really new news, although it may be new news to some folks. Russia and China are not the only nations currently preparing for war. The United States of America has also been preparing as was revealed in an article first published by the United States Naval Institute last Wednesday (07NOV18) and updated Thursday (08NOV18). 

The reason this linked article is not new news is that the core of the article was actually new news back on 6 August 2018 when RADM Charles Richard became the United States Navy Commander Submarine Forces (COMSUBFOR). It was at that time that RADM Richard told all U.S. submariner forces to "prepare for battle." 

In the few months since August, as the more recent article attests, an aggressor force of submariners has been created to train our submarine fast attack forces much as the Navy's Top Gun squadron trains Navy pilots, or, by extension, how the US Army's "OPFOR" has trained Army ground and airborne combat units at NTC Ft. Irwin, California.

VADM Richard told our submariners, "To the men and women of the submarine force, prepare for battle. It is only by being prepared for battle that we can hope to avoid it. If we cannot (avoid it), our nation expects and demands victory. We shall not fail." 

Not only is there now an aggressor submarine force training American submariners, but also NATO submarine forces as well. VADM Richard is also wearing that hat. On top of this is the reestablishment of the US Navy Second Fleet which is tasked with defending and countering Russian fleet activity in the Atlantic Ocean, as was reported in a USNI article back in May 2018. The new U.S. 2nd Fleet, established on 1 July 2018, was stood up in Norfolk, Virginia in tandem with the establishment of a Joint NATO naval command. Simply put, the potential for global warfare demands a global force be in place to fight it.

A fitting tribute on this Veterans Day and Remembrance Day 2018 being observed in the US, Canada and in Europe in honor of those who sacrificed all in the so-called and grossly incorrect "war to end all wars" of 100 years ago. 

Russia's new Novator 9M729  (NATO: SSC-8) cruise missile

Novator 9M729 (SSC-8) cruise missile

29 October 2018: It took a full two years for this part of the SITREP to develop fully. In late 2016 the US and NATO began to cry foul over what intelligence had determined was a new Russian cruise missile under development, yet the allies kept the specific object of their intelligence under wraps and classified. In November 2017 the US and NATO finally made public that it was a new Russian nuclear-capable cruise missile, the Novator 9M729 (NATO designation SSC-8). This missile is a clear cut violation of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty between the USA and the USSR (Russian Federation). The INF treaty is specific to surface launched missiles that have a range of between 310 and 3,417 miles. This missile has been developed by Russia to specifically target the European nations of the NATO alliance or other specific targets in the Middle East.

The seriousness of this violation can not be understated. The Russians had all but ignored the consistent US and NATO protestations of this violation of the INF from 2016 to the present. Suddenly, in October 2018, the issue has welled up like a skin boil in need of lancing. The two key elements to the escalation are:

1.) The US, with full concurrence of the NATO allies, declared that if this new Russian cruise missile were operationally deployed and capable of delivering a nuclear weapon then the US would then be looking at preemptively taking it out. 2.) US President Donald Trump upped the ante by stating the US would unilaterally withdraw from the INF Treaty. This statement by President Trump has one core fact in essence, and that is since Russia refuses to abide by the terms of the INF Treaty, then no purpose is served in the United States remaining a party to it. Therefore, the INF Treaty withdrawal threat is a classic Donald Trump "Art of the Deal" action. 

These two items finally got Russia's attention, the first more than the second. Russia is now fixated of the threat of a US preemptive strike to take out the SSC-8 cruise missiles. Why, because they know the US can accomplish it. Then, just yesterday, following the first meeting of the UN General Assembly, Andrei Belousov, who is very closely tied to Russian Federation president Valdimir Putin, stated the following:

"Here recently at the meeting, the United States said that Russia is preparing for war. Yes, Russia is preparing for war, I have confirmed it. We are preparing to defend our homeland, our territorial integrity, our principles, our values, our people - we are preparing for such a war."  Yes, Russia is definitely preoccupied by the threat of US action to make their new cruise missiles inoperative.

Also, at that UNGA meeting referenced by Mr. Belousov, a draft Russian attempt to support the INF Treaty it is so thoroughly violating, was soundly rejected by the U.N. General Assembly which refused to give an ear to even one word of it.

Without any doubt this will develop further, being either exacerbated or stimulated by events occurring in the Middle East.  So, and with respect to the title of this SITREP - how are MidEast wars magnified? They are magnified when they become global nuclear war.

27 October 2018: The image above is representative of how most folks view the Middle East. It's a flat, 2-dimensional, devoid-of-depth map in a book or pamphlet. However, through the inerrant lens of the Lord's prophetic word, we can see how all of the ongoing wars and rumors of wars are interconnected, and will one day soon result in an exactingly precise and literal fulfillment.

Through the violent flare-up between last night and this morning it can be clearly seen that the warfront in Syria is directly connected to the battles raging in Gaza and southern Israel. 

How? 

Eschatology Today assesses as obvious that the Iranian military command in Syria have convinced themselves that the recent large-scale Russian deployment of S-300PMU2 SAM batteries into Syria has checkmated the Israeli Air Force into total inaction against them in Syria, thus leaving them free to direct their proxies in Gaza to launch massive rocket barrages into southern Israeli communities. Obviously the Iranians also fervently believe that Netanyahu has no stomach for a total ground invasion of Gaza to erradicate the enemy there once and for all. 

However, the bottom line is that it is not about Netanyahu, or the Russians, or the Iranians, Syrians or you-name-them. It's about the Lord's prophetic word, as has been discussed here for the past decade, which unambiguously informs of a completely different outcome than Israel's enemies - or allies - currently imagine. This prophetic outcome has been for almost 3,000 years indelibly written upon the Lord's appointment calendar. It's a 'last days' schedule of key or critical events; all of which are centered upon the present-day State of Israel, and the enemies which surround her. 

The Eschatology Today assessment is that it will be some unheralded critical event, possibly, or probably, a mass-casualty event in Israel, that alters the current dynamic. That event will occur on the day of an indelible appointment resulting in a chain-reaction fulfillment of Isaiah 17, Isaiah 11:14 and Psalm 83.

It is quiet at the moment again, but it won't be an enduring quiet. Stay tuned...

Global SITREP C7-18: GAZA Part II

War on Terror in Gaza

9 August 2018: The coming hours will indicate to us if this round of war in the south of Israel will lead to the literal fulfillment of Isaiah 11:14, possiblt as one aspect of the over-arching Psalm 83 scenario. Indications are this morning that Israel's government is prepared to engage in full-scale war against the terrorists to the point of their complete and permanent erradication inthe Gaza Strip.

Eschatology Today believes this round was provoked by the Iranians leaning on HAMAS as a means to off-balance the IDF from the coming war in the north of the country. The Iranians forget that the IDF is more than capable of fighting on three fronts simultaneously and even taking the war to the Red Sea choke points and beyond, even to Iranian shores. This may well turn out to be the Iranian Twelver regime's greatest miscalculation.

The global media have already begun to savage Israel in the wake of the IAF's preemptory, or preparatory, strikes against terrorist command and control. Civilian life will be lost, it is inevitable in war.

8 PM - Just another round of HAMAS terror rockets and IAF air strikes. Something major has to change for the Israeli government to cut the IDF loose. So we wait.

Update 13 August 2018: Not if, but when That's how DM Avigdor Liberman characterized the prospect of renewed clashes with HAMAS in Gaza. To that we should probably add, sooner rather than later, because the situation is akin to burning embers that need nothing to ignite but a fresh terrorist provocation. There is no ceasefire, just a temporary pause in hostilities. 

Renewed war will happen; it's the jihadist way of things because there is no such thing as a permanent peace with them. The necessity to achieve the results Netanyahu promised yesterday is for Israel's armed forces to destroy HAMAS completely, otherwise the "game" that is being played between Israel and HAMAS will continue indefinitely. Make no mistake, permanently eradicating HAMAS is precisely what Isaiah 11:14 foretells.

Global SITREP B5-18: Gaza

17 May 2018: This approximately 3-minute long MEMRI video should be everything Israel requires to know fully that there is only one solution to the problem facing the nation. 

These other one dozen plus MEMRI video's are also well known to the government in Jerusalem, as well as the governments in Washington, Moscow, London, Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Athens, Rome, Madrid, Lisbon, et cetera, et cetera. Name the country and the government of that country knows full well that HAMAS can never be negotiated with into accepting Israel and comitting to live in peace beside her. 

Isaiah 11:14 foretells of the day coming very soon when Israel will have a day of reckoning with these jihadists in Gaza and the others plotting in Jordan.

Minor skirmishing with airstrikes and tank fire against HAMAS targets continues through 22 May 2018. Additional updating of this SITREP will occur when the IDF moves enmasse against the terrorists in Gaza as Isaiah's prophecy foretells.

IDF Merkava tanks maneuvering for assault on HAMAS and Islamic Jihad.

29 May 2018: Early this morning HAMAS attacked the towns of southern Israel with a barrage of at least 30 rockets or mortar shells, possibly more. PM Netanyahu tweeted that "dozens" of rounds had been fired. Israeli media are reporting both types of ordnance as being fired from Gaza. There are no known casualties in Israel; at least none have been reported as of 6 AM EDT.  

PM Netanyahu promptly convened the Security Cabinet in an extraordinary session, thereafter promising that the IDF "will respond with great force" and that "Israel will exact a heavy price" in response to the rocket fire intended to harm Israel.  The IAF is currently striking targets in central Gaza as this update is being posted. The comments section below will contain any critical updates which occur today.

UPDATE 15 July 2018: We've all read the reports, so we all know that the 29 May update above remains the current situation 45 days later and the fulfillment of Isaiah 11:14 is closer now than it was at the end of May 2018.  Do not be surprised if the literal fulfillment commences within the next few days.

Global SITREP D7-16: FATAH PREPARES FOR WAR WITH ISRAEL

Members of Fatah's Martyr Nidal Al-Amoudi Division in Gaza read a statement condemning Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for attending the funeral of former Israeli President Shimon Peres.

19 October 2016: This SITREP is based upon the (emphasis added) bullet points taken from an article by the Jerusalem-based journalist Khaled Abu Toameh posted this  early this morning at GatestoneInstitute.Org entitled Palestinians:Fatah Prepares for War with Israel. Click in the link for the full article which has critically important details on the who, what, when, where and how these Fatah troops are training for war.

• "We have pledged to prepare an army of fighters by devoting our full abilities and energies to consolidate the option of armed struggle as the only means to liberate Palestine." — The armed wing of Fatah, Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Martyr Nidal Al-Amoudi Division.
• The international community continues to perceive Fatah as the "moderate" Palestinian party with whom Israel should make peace. Yet Fatah is far from a single united bloc; many groups within the faction continue to seek the "liberation of Palestine" through armed struggle. Moreover, neither Abbas nor any of his senior Fatah loyalists have repudiated the war-set Fatah militias. Crucially, many of these Fatah militiamen continue to receive salaries from the Palestinian Authority.
• These Fatah gunmen who are preparing for war with Israel are indirectly receiving their salaries from Western donors, including the US and many EU countries, who fund the Palestinian Authority.
• These groups believe that they represent the real Fatah, the one that never recognized Israel's right to exist and holds on to armed struggle as the only way to "liberate Palestine." They are not breakaway groups. That is why they continue to operate under the name of Fatah.
• Fatah is a two-faced hydra; one face tells the English-speaking international community what it wants to hear, namely, that it supports a two-state solution and seeks a peaceful settlement to the conflict with Israel, while the other tells the truth: it is committed to an armed struggle and the "liberation of Palestine," and is even preparing for war with Israel.

As most of the intellectually honest bride of Christ knows, these points are, in essence, the key points made Asaph, the Spirit-inspired musical prophet of Psalm 83.  As stated many times over on Eschatology Today, the Psalm 83 prophecy has been in a process of literal fulfillment which began in late November 1947, the 70th anniversary of which occurs next year. 

The final fulfillment of this prophecy, as expressed in Isaiah 11:14 and Ezekiel 28:24-26, is an expected and imminent reality. This pair of parallel prophecies given to us in the Word of God by two of His major prophets make a fallacious false teaching of those who say that Asaph's Psalm 83 is not a prophecy.