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| Iran Surrounded |
UPDATE 18 November 2023: The big Ohio-class nuclear-powered submarine in the Middle East is sailing with the Eisenhower CSG somewhere in the Arabian Sea. The converted boomer boat is the USS Florida (SSGN-728) and she's carrying 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles for delivery to Iranian military targets should either Hezbollah or Iran join the war against Israel as they've threatened.
There may be a significant indication that this US power-play is not enough to deter Iran (and its proxies) from entering the war. On Wednesday, 15 November, the Twelver regime's Houthi proxy in Yemen launched an armed drone strike against one of the Eisenhower CSG combatant vessels in the Arabian Sea. That ship was the Arleigh-Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) as it was transiting in international waters in the Red Sea. The Houthi drone was shot down at distance by the ships air defense systems.
This attack by Iran's regional proxy forces is in addition to the current total of 61 attacks on US troops in their bases in Iraq and Syria as of yesterday, 17 November. The Biden Administration is between Iraq and a hard place in that it must put brute, kinetic military force on the table if deterrence of the Iranian Twelver's is to have any change of success. Thus far, and according the the Pentagon, 60 American troops have sustained minor injuries in the proxy attacks in Iraq and Syria, but all have since returned to duty.
And can be seen in the above collage image, the Islamic Republic of Iran is surrounded by a most impressive array of American military power in every direction on the compass. The USS Ford CSG to the west, B-1 Bombers to the north, the USS Bataan ARG to the south, and the USS Eisenhower CSG to the east, not to mention dozens of the world's best strike aircraft based throughout the region. As Israel presses on to the south of Gaza in its hunt to exterminate HAMAS, PIJ and other terrorists, push will come to shove at some point as almost no one believes Iran will back down at this point.
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| IDF in Northern Israel |
13 November 2023: The prospect for a much greater war across the MidEast looms today as the deterrent warnings from both Israel and the United States appear to have fallen upon deaf Islamist ears. From Lebanon, through Syria and Iraq to the heartland of the Islamic Republic of Iran the rhetorical flames of a great war increase by the hour. IDF commanders in the north want to take the war of attrition with Hezbollah deep into Lebanon but are, for the moment at least, being held back by political decisions and international pressure. This pressure will likely evaporate should the IRGC-QF proxies invite a large U.S. retaliation. At that time the IDF will initially seek to drive to the Litani River in Lebanon, but DM Gallant is not bluffing when he recently stated that Beirut could become Gaza.
In Israel the prospect of full-scale war with Hezbollah in Lebanon is being discussed in terms of not if it will escalate, but when. At this time the when this war will escalate is regarded as imminent. Hence the need for this new SITREP. Israeli civilians living in eight villages, moshavim and kibbutzim located along Israel's northern border, just inside the so-called 2000 U.N. Blue Line and within the Ma'ale Yosef Regional Council and the Upper Galilee Regional Council, have been instructed by the Northern Command to enter protective spaces.
Within prophetic Scripture this larger war can be seen within the texts of Jeremiah 49:23-27, Isaiah 17 and Joshua 13:1-7 which have never previously found fulfillment. The death toll will be great.
