Regional MidEast War Appears Imminent

09 October 2012 (also UPDATED): It now seems obvious that due to the deteriorating military situation in Syria the Iranian mullahs, string-pullers for the puppet government of Bashar al-Assad, have decided to engage Israel in war through their HAMAS proxy in the Gaza Strip. This grossly ill-advised military action may have consequences far beyond anything the Ayatollah or his equally apocalyptic sock puppet have envisioned and without the mythical al-Mahdi to come riding to their eschatological rescue.

A cross-border artillery war between NATO ally Turkey and Syria is nearly a week old and a seventh day of rest looking highly unlikely and having the potential to lead to a ground war in northern Syria, the Iranians and their forward-deployed allies of Hezbollah this week upped the ante and launched a drone aircraft on a photographic reconnaissance mission over the Negev whose apparent strategic target was the nuclear facility at Dimona.  The Israeli Air Force tracked the drone for the better part of a half-hour before directing F-16 fighters to shoot it down in the area of the Yatir Forest on the southern slopes of Mount. Hebron.

The failure of the Iranian reconnaissance mission resulted in orders to HAMAS and Islamic Jihad in Gaza to launch a massive rocket barrage into Israel in the midst of the Simchat Torah holiday (7-9 October 2012). Israel's response according to multiple Israeli news reports is that a large scale invasion of Gaza by the IDF is imminent. The Iranian drone utilized for this mission was the recently unveiled Shahed-129, itself a close copy of the Israeli-made Elbit Hermes-450 UAV. The speed with which Iran transferred the Shahed-129 into an operational role out of Lebanon is remarkable. It's only a matter of time before another new and more lethal Iranian drone targets Israel. That vehicle is the Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) known as the Karrar ("Striker") which is powered by a subsonic turbojet engine. This vehicle bears an uncanny resemblance to the Nazi V-1 "buzz bomb" of WWII. The resemblance does not end there as its mission appears to be identical. A fully armed Karrar UCAV launched from a point north of the Litani River in Lebanon has the speed and range to strike Dimona approximately 45 minutes later. Israel will have no choice but to destroy the Karrar UCAV in mid-flight over populated areas.

The failed Iranian reconnaissance of Dimona also appears, via breaking news this morning, to have been an element in fast-tracking a joint US-Israeli series of strategic strikes on Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities. While these strikes might last from just hours to a couple of days, there is no media mention at this point of the inevitable retaliation which could certainly range from Iranian missile strikes against US bases throughout the region to Syrian or Hezbollah missiles and their WMD warheads falling on Israel. The new deployment in the past day or so of Patriot PAC-3 air defense batteries in northern Israel are not intended to shoot down little UAVs coming out of Lebanon. These systems are to defend Israel against missiles from Hezbollah and/or Syria.

UPDATE 10 October 2012: What remains uncertain at this point is whether a US-Israeli precision joint strike on an Iranian nuclear target is related to the Obama re-election campaign or an effort to buy-off a unilateral Israeli strike prior to November 6th.  Nevertheless, Israeli media continue to report on the possibility of a US-led "surgical strike" prior to November 6th citing sources close to the Pentagon and the White House. Two such articles appear in YnetNews.com today here and here.  The assessment regarding the second window of low observability for a unilateral Israeli strike put forward here in late August remains plausible. If the US leads the strike any day between October 15th and 30th would also be plausible. In fact, a long-postponed "exercise" named "Austere Challenge" (AC12) will commence on October 21st with large numbers of US troops arriving in Israel beginning this Sunday, October 14th.

UPDATE 17 October 2012: An accurate count of the number of terrorist rockets and missiles being fired into southern Israel from Gaza in just the past week is difficult to know, but a good estimate would be between 75 and 100. At least seven were fired in a barrage aimed at Sderot in the past 12 hours. IDF soldiers returned fire with reports from inside Gaza revealing that their fire was accurate. The IAF was also in action with attack helicopters targeting missile launch sites in northern Gaza.

Multiple reports indicate that American  air power is prepping a strike for somewhere in the Middle East; the exact point of attack is unknown but could occur anywhere from Libya to Iran.

In Syria, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) has captured (and killed) members of Hezbollah from the region of Baalbek. According the Lebanese media the FSA has issued an ultimatum that they will expand the war into Hezbollah strong holds in Lebanon, including southern Beirut, unless Hezbollah's forces immediately withdraw from Syrian territory. The FSA ultimatum to Hezbollah includes a direct threat of assassination to Hassan Nasrallah.

UPDATE 22 October 2012: The assassination of Lebanese Brigadier General Wissam al-Hasan, a Sunni intelligence and security chief, by the apocalyptic Shi'a of Hezbollah on Friday, 19 October further pushes Lebanon to the precipice of renewed civil war that has been raging in Syria for months. A Sunni retaliation, possibly against Hassan Nasrallah (as noted above) or one of his key lieutenants is a virtual certainty.

That this assassination occurred just as a large US-Israeli exercise was beginning was probably no accident. At the minimum it provides the exercise with a real-time, real-world vignette to include among the nodes of the exercise's preplanned aspects, along with the active low-intensity conflict occurring in southern Israel, Gaza and along the Sinai frontier with Egypt. At the maximum current events are a boon to Israeli war planners on what the tactical map of a multi-front war will look like and how Israel can shape that map to its strategic benefit.

UPDATE 23 October 2012: Two weeks after the first OSINT mention of  "a joint US-Israeli series of strategic strikes on Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities" mentioned in the fourth paragraph above, it is still the hot scuttlebutt among US military forces in the Middle East and elsewhere. Something, no one is really sure what, is in progress towards an execute order. This observation is based upon various service members in the region, and who are not necessarily involved in the executable, are seeing indications and warnings (I&W) of its existence.

UPDATE 25 October 2012: As the update directly above was being posted to Eschatology Today the Yarmouk weapons factory just south of Khartoum, Sudan (see Eschatology Today reference: Kuwsh) was in flames and spewing exploding live ordnance over a nearby residential area. The weapons factory had just been struck, most probably by stealthy Israeli F-16I Sufa aircraft. Eyewitnesses to the attack have perfectly described F-16I strike aircraft in a ground attack role as they were maneuvering in the sky overhead; I recognized these descriptions because I am an eyewitness to similar F-16 maneuverings just about every weekend in the sky over the Warren Grove ground attack test range in the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey. What is important about this is that it proves that Israel is more than capable of striking any similar factory or bunker complex located in Iran, sites like like Fordow, Esfahan, Arak, Natanz. How can I be so sure of this? Simply because the distance in air miles between Tel Aviv and Khartoum is 1,148 miles and the distance between Tel Aviv and Tehran is 987 miles. All of the probable target sites in Iran are closer to Israel than 987 miles. Intellectually honest military planners have probably taken notice of this now established fact as well.

UPDATE 04 November 2012: Do not overlook the fact that this long-range strategic strike by Israel into  Sudan (Kuwsh) occurred with thousands of American troops deployed in the Holy Land in preparation for the official start of "Austere Challenge 2012," or "AC12," the largest joint exercise ever between the two nations. The original start date and the deployment of American troops into Israel was postponed indefinitely from last spring due to the fever pitch of rhetoric coming from the Netanyahu government regarding a unilateral Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities and the Obama Administration's opposition against a strike at that time along with official statements that the U.S. would not support Israel if it initiated a war with Iran over its nuclear weapons program.

Exercise "AC12" is classified 'TOP SECRET' and only the slimmest margin of details on the type of scenario being exercised will be made public. However, I personally have no doubt that the scenario being exercised regards the defense of Israel and American bases in the kind of regional Middle Eastern war that this nearly month-long blog topic is about. Make a special note of this: the American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (C-JCS), General Martin Dempsey, arrived in Tel Aviv this morning along with the top American general for the European Command, Admiral James Stavridis, to officially launch this top secret, $38 million dollar exercise just 48 hours before presidential election day in these United States. The presence of an American C-JCS at any exercise is extremely unusual. The message to Iran found in the Yarmouk strike in Sudan and the launch of the AC12 exercise is unmistakable as are the blatant political calculations of Barack Hussein Obama (see the update above for October 10). Concurrently with the start of AC12 the Islamic Republic of Iran announced this morning that it has suspended its uranium enrichment program at the 20% level, just a short step from achieving nuclear weapons grade enrichment. Coincidence? I think not.

UPDATE 11 November 2012: The full-scale, no-holds barred IDF engagement I've been forecasting for almost a full month against the terrorists in Gaza is getting harder for Bibi Netanyahu to not execute as the order of the day. The longer he waits the more Israel voters in this region will turn against him. Netanyahu's credibility is on the line with a promised "escalation" of his own against the terrorists. Israeli's don't want an   escalation of violence, they want a thoroughly vanquished enemy and they want it now.

This morning Gaza terrorists escalated their attacks with barrages of Katyusha rockets and 120mm mortars against civilian targets. These are likely the heaviest weapons in the enemy arsenal and may well be the continuing response coming out of Gaza for the destruction for the Yarmouk weapons factory in the Sudan. The good news is that no more supplies of these weapons will be forthcoming from the Sudan.

The question we are all waiting for an answer to is whether Bibi Netanyahu's bite is more than his bark; whether he will cease being the Jewish politician in order to become the Israeli Commander-In-Chief.

UPDATE 14 November 2012: Today we see the answer to the question posed above just three days previously with the full-scale execution of the IDF's Operation Amud Anan (English: Operation Pillar of Cloud) against the terrorists in control of Gaza. The stated objective of the Israeli Defense Forces operation against Gaza terrorist organizations is to completely cripple them. Israeli special forces are already inside Gaza's borders and IDF armored and infantry units are poised to invade. The full statement by IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich was as follows:

“The foremost goal of this operation is to protect Israeli civilians, who have been living under fire for past 11 years. Only this year, the citizens of southern Israel have suffered over 760 rocket attacks. The second goal is to cripple the terrorists’ capabilities. As you heard, our first target was a vehicle in central part of Gaza. Inside the vehicle was Ahmed Jabari, born in 1960, the head of the Hamas military wing who was involved in numerous terror attacks on Israelis, as well as Gilad Shalit’s kidnapping. This is a man who has a lot of Israeli blood on his hands. 

The second phase of the operation was an aerial attack which targeted 20 different targets, all underground, which served as launching pads for various kinds of rockets. Among these rockets were Fajr-5 rockets, Iranian-made weapons which can reach a lot further than the ordinary Grad missile. This was the second phase. 

IDF General Staff is currently assessing the progress of the operation and according to its findings, will decide how to continue. All options are on the table, including a ground operation.”

We shall see what transpires tomorrow, 15 November 2012, 1 Kislev 5773.

The potential for a rapidly escalating regional war throughout the Middle East continues to evolve and intensify more than has ever been seen in this region in history. The prophetic implications are simply staggering to contemplate. Expect a plethora of updates to continue.

Heads Up: Watch Greece

26 September 2012: Given Greece's important role in the prophecies Gabriel imparted to Daniel regarding the rise of both the precursor and ultimate last days Antichrist, watch Greece in the coming days/weeks for the enigmatic rise from obscurity of a pseudo-miracle working leader who will solve that government's (and then Europe's) abysmal financial crisis and imminent bankruptcy. 

 

The Greek crisis has the recently created coalition government completely stumped and has all but paralyzed the economy. Nationwide the transportation and public service sectors are basket cases. There is not a single major Greek city that is unaffected by the ongoing general strike. Given the season and the depth of the current crisis it would seem that conditions are quite favorable for an epic hero to arise.

Yom Kippur 1973, 2012 and Beyond

19 September 2012: There is much talk in the media as well as in Christian circles that America is abandoning or has abandoned Israel. Is this a fact? As I see it, no, it is not an established, manifest fact.

I am of the opinion that many of our current political leadership including our elected president have abandoned Israel or have made plans to do so.  However, the real-world fact-of-the-matter is that the resident Bride of Christ and very significant portion of the American people have not abandoned Israel and demand that this nation continue to honor and support the only true ally we have in the Middle East. Yes,  I believe that it is because of the resident Bride of Christ in America indwelt by the Holy Spirit that Israel has not been abandoned and American military equipment and personnel remain stationed inside Israel in her defense. However, I also believe that this Spiritually-empowered dynamic will change when the Harpazo occurs. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5.

I also believe that we and our nation are a part of the manifest will of God. America, due to our founding as a believing Judeo-Christian nation was born and bred, so to speak, to be here for Israel at this point in history. We were blessed from our founding through revolution against tyranny to become a great nation for this very purpose. It seems to me that God allotted an approximate 170-year span of time for us to become a  superpower, just in time for Israel to rise in a single day per Isaiah's prophecy on 14 May 1948. This occurred for both America and Israel between the utter chaos and destruction of World War II and the Korean War and the wars that have occurred ever since then. It has been about American military support for an unbelieving Israel as she has been involved in the ongoing fulfillment of Asaph's Psalm 83 - a war which since Israel's creation has been about one thing and one thing only, the destruction of the State of Israel by the Arab Muslim countries around her.

There is also some relatively recent history some may be unaware of.  Just 39 years ago, during Yom Kippur 1973, something very much like the prophetic Battle of Gog of Magog of Ezekiel 38/39 might well have occurred were it not for a superpower America holding off by conventional and nuclear means a military invasion of Israel by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and her allies. 

For all of the year 1972 there was the threat of renewed full-scale war by Israel's Arab neighbors, a renewal of the so-called 'Six Day War' of 5-10 June 1967 which was halted only by Israel's miraculous battlefield victories and the decision not to press on less a world war develop through the threatened intervention of the Soviet Union. Those decisive Israeli victories had resulted in Cairo, Damascus and Amman being virtually defenseless before Israel's American-supplied war machine. 

Russia could not abide with the conquering of her Arab allies and a ceasefire was quickly arranged and agreed upon by all parties. But it was only a ceasefire and renewed warfare appeared to be inevitable throughout 1971-72. Egypt's President Anwar Sadat said he was ready to sacrifice one million Egyptian soldiers in renewed war with Israel.  Iraq's President Abdur Rahman Aref and Jordan's King Hussein were allied with Egypt's Sadat and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, father of the current Syrian president facing Islamist rebellion, who were both committed allies of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was a confederacy of communist-ruled nations led by Russia (Magog) that was created and held together only by the massive force of arms.  Yet despite all of this Israel's intelligence analysts believed that the Arab would not risk another war and overwhelming defeat as had occurred just 6 years previously. They would be proven very wrong in that assessment.

Urged on by their Russian allies the military forces of 9 Arab nations supported by 4 non-Arab nations attacked Israel on Yom Kippur, 6 October 1973. Israel's enemies had at their disposal a military force that, on paper, rivaled that of the NATO alliance in Europe. For example, one the first day of the war in the Golan just 180 Israeli tanks held off 1,400 Syrian tanks, a force more than 7 times as powerful as Israel's defenders, and in the Sinai just 436 Israeli soldiers were overwhelmed by 80,000 Egyptian soldiers, or more than 183 Egyptian soldiers for each Israeli soldier to defend against. Israel was in renewed war with its Arab neighbors as well as substantial military forces from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and Lebanon. There were even 4 thousand Cuban troops deployed to Syria in the fight against Israel as well as North Korean pilots. All of these forces were supplied and re-supplied via air and sea by the Soviet Union. Yet Israel recovered, and re-supplied by America by the order of President Richard Nixon in the largest military airlift in history, all of its early battlefield losses of the first two days were quickly reversed in such a miraculous way that once again by the third week of October the Arab capital cities of Cairo, Damascus and Amman were left virtually undefended. Anwar Sadat's well-founded fears prompted him to call Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev for Soviet military intervention.

To this day the world does not believe that God had a hand in Israel's victory. Some Israeli's do not truly believe this or have forgotten about it. Yet one day soon they will see His hand in their defense, Bible prophecy assures us of that future reality.

It was during the evening of 24-25 October 1973, during ongoing UN mediation efforts and in the midst of the Watergate Scandal, that Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev informed President Nixon in an ultimatum that he was about intervene militarily on the Arab side if the US did not force Israel to unilaterally halt their overwhelmingly successful combat operations. President Nixon was totally indisposed and unable to respond at that time, so Nixon's national Security Advisor "Henry" Kissinger and the White House Chief of Staff, retired general Alexander Haig, took the lead from the indisposed CInC. They responded in Nixon's name to Brezhnev in a conciliatory manner yet raised the American DEFCON to Level 3 (one step from readiness for thermonuclear warfare) and communicated to Sadat that if the Soviets intervened for the Arab side America would intervene on Israel's side.  The Soviets became aware of this American posture and immediately placed 7 airborne divisions on pre-deployment alert and sent 40,00 Soviet marines into the Mediterranean Sea. By morning on 25 October the Soviets realized the American commitment to go to war in defense of Israel as did Anwar Sadat who promptly cancelled his request for Soviet intervention. World War III in the midst of the Cold War was avoided; Brezhnev turned out not to be Gog of Magog and the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38/39 has been left to an irrevocable appointment in the near future.

Yom Kippur occurs this year on 25-26 September, next week as of this writing, the 39th anniversary of what nearly occurred in the last great Arab-Israeli war. This is the date on which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has very recently set as the "red line" before which Western military action against the Iranian nuclear program must occur or Israel will be forced to act unilaterally against the same. We shall see in very short order what transpires in the wake of this very deliberate and timely ultimatum.

Given what our current leadership and president hold up as their anti-Israel agenda only time and the enfranchised will of the American electorate are to determine when this nation will pull its protective umbrella away from Israel. In the meantime, the prophetic Psalm 83 War continues along with American beneficence towards the State of Israel. It should also go without saying that the Harpazo could occur at any moment according to the will of God the Father and the current Spiritually-empowered dynamic in this world would change in the twinkling of an eye.

Marana'tha!

An American's Civic Duty: See This Film

15 September 2012: I have just returned from watching the motion picture documentary "2016: Obama's America" in my local theater. With just 51 days to go until the November 6th American Presidential Election, I come away from this film fully convinced that it is every American citizen's civic duty to also pay the price of admission (I paid $11.00) in order to receive the essential education that this film will provide to you. I believe viewing this film could be the most important thing an American citizen could do in the next 51 days, and the sooner the better. Not withstanding world events that might come to pass between right now and November 6th, this film will make your choice on election day a very simple decision to make, a no-brainer in fact, in order to save this nation from those whose intent it is to destroy it.

Ezekiel's Confirmation of Psalm 83

14 September 2012:  There is a passage in Ezekiel 38:10-12 that defines the real-world situation that will exist for a disbelieving Israel just prior to the attempt by "Gog of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal" to invade and conquer the land God has given to the descendants of Jacob. In fact, it is this very situation which is the catalyst for Gog's evil plans.

‘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."

Many words have been written by Bible eschatologists in identifying the events which will create that situation for Israel. We know those many words as sound exegesis on the Psalm 83 war. But how many of us are aware that the prophet Ezekiel was also given a prophecy by God which confirms the singing prophet Asaph's Divinely inspired psalm? Yes, the Lord told Ezekiel that judgments would come against all those nations who despise the regathered house of Israel living in the land of Israel. Clearly, this judgment against Israel's neighboring adversaries occurs prior to the pre-70th Week prophetic events described in Ezekiel 38/39.

Ezekiel 28:24-26 has the prophetic confirmation of the coming Psalm 83 war.

“And there shall no longer be a pricking brier or a painful thorn for the house of Israel from among all who are around them, who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord God.” ‘Thus says the Lord God: “When I have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and am hallowed in them in the sight of the Gentiles, then they will dwell in their own land which I gave to My servant Jacob. And they will dwell safely there, build houses, and plant vineyards; yes, they will dwell securely, when I execute judgments on all those around them who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God.”

Israel's Technological Breakthrough: Nanofiltration + Solar Energy = Abundant Water

Posting this report exactly as I received it today via Email. I am absolutely not surprised that there's zero media coverage of this breakthrough simply because good news from Israel is the last thing the global corporate media will publish. Great news from Israel as this information imparts has to be suppressed as much as possible less the agenda of de-legitimizing of the State of Israel in some manner be harmed.

Nevertheless, God's will is being done and His prophetic word is coming to pass.

Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a release on August 9, 2012, "Freshwater from the sun," detailing a new development in nanotechnology paired with the use of solar energy that could help solve water shortages in under-developed and under-resourced regions including Africa. The research was undertaken at the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research at Ben Gurion University of the Negev and central Arava R&D.

Ynet News covered the subject as did The Algemeiner, writing:

The new innovation uses solar energy panels to power the pumps of a desalination unit that generates clean water for crops. More importantly, the technology utilizes unique nanofiltration membranes that enable farmers to decide which minerals should be retained from the water to feed various types of crops, a method which requires much less energy.

According to experts, water is going to be an increasingly scarce resource. Bloomberg quotes Dow Chemical Chief Executive Officer Andrew Liveris saying "Water right now is a strain on this planet more than carbon. We mismanage water terribly. It's going to be a big issue."

Even so, few in the media have seen fit to report on Israel's breakthrough technology. A Google News search for "Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research" turned up only five mentions -- and none of them in a mainstream media outlet.

Though criticism of Israel is ubiquitous in the media, including on the front pages of America's leading newspapers, when it comes to good news about Israel… Where's the coverage?

This report immediately brought to mind the following prophetic chapter from Isaiah. Some folks are fond of saying "It doesn't get any better than this!" On the contrary, it does get better than this for God has said so.

Isaiah 35 (NKJV)

The Future Glory of Zion

The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them,
And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;
It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice,
Even with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
The excellence of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
The excellency of our God.

Strengthen the weak hands,
And make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who are fearful-hearted,
“Be strong, do not fear!
Behold, your God will come with vengeance,
With the recompense of God;
He will come and save you.”

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then the lame shall leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the dumb sing.
For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness,
And streams in the desert.
The parched ground shall become a pool,
And the thirsty land springs of water;
In the habitation of jackals, where each lay,
There shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

A highway shall be there, and a road,
And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.
The unclean shall not pass over it,
But it shall be for others.
Whoever walks the road, although a fool,
Shall not go astray.
No lion shall be there,
Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it;
It shall not be found there.
But the redeemed shall walk there,
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness,
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Timing of Iran Strike

22 August 2012:  I would assess that a decision by Israeli PM Netanyahu to launch a preemptive strike against the Iranian nuclear weapons program before the US election on November 6, 2012 will boil down to the final two 7-day optimum windows of low observability: 13-19 September and 11-18 October 2012.