Global SITREP C10-18: The Final Battles for Syria - A Regional War

Screenshot: Syrian Mi-8 'Hip' dropping a barrel bomb on Al-Lataminah town.

UPDATE 10 September 2018: The Wall Street Journal, The Times of Israel and Market Watch are all reporting the same news this morning: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has ignored the US, UK and French warnings and has approved the use of WMD (Chlorine Gas) in offensive operations against Idlib Governorate. Also, Germany is now saying that it will likely join the Western Allies in punitive strikes against the Syrian regime. A third round of punitive strikes by the Western Allies will be a lot more severe than the last.

9 September 2018: The assault upon Idlib has been in full execution since yesterday morning. It began, as all previous pro-regime forces invasions of rebel held towns and cities have begun, with a sustained air assault on hospitals and humanitarian rescue facilities. Struck yesterday were an underground hospital in Hass, Idlib Governorate and the town of Al-Lataminah 20km to the south. 

The screenshot above is from a video recorded by the civilian-run Hala System (a/k/a Sentry Advance Warning System) taken during rebel surrveillance of the barrelbombing attack (object below the chopper) of al-Lataminah town. The Hala System provides early warning the moment any regime or its allies aircraft departs their respective airfields. Deliberately attacking hospitals and rescue centers (i.e. local ambulance and pararescue teams) is a war crime. Regime chemical weapons have long been delivered on civilian targets in Syria by Mi-8 choppers dropping such improvised barrel bombs.

In light of these attacks the U.S. Pentagon has prepared several potential military response options. These existence of these options was made public yesterday by Chairman-Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford. The UMSC has also deploYed OVER 100 additional troops to the CJTF-OIR base at At-Tanf. The Marine landed and immediately engaged in a live fire demonstration designed to give Russian, Syrian and Iranian forces a chance to reconsider striking the At-Tanf base or moving within its extended 35-mile forward perimeter.  The firepower available to CJTF-OIR far exceeds anything the combined Russian, Syrian and Iranian forces have available on land, sea or air.

Map of northwestern Syria 07SEP18

7 September 2018:  The map above shows the current situation in (south to north) Hama, Idlib and Aleppo governorates in northwestern Syria, and who controls what territory. Within Idlib there are a reported 2.9 million civilians, nearly 1 million of which are young children. 

There are also two new and highly critical developments to report in this update: 

1.) The US, UK and France have seen strong indications that the Syrian government has prepared chemical WMD for use in the coming battle. These allies continue to urgently warn the regime of Bashar al-Assad of a switft and appropriate military response if chemical weapons are used in battle.

2.) The Russians have warned the United States directly on two occasions in the past week that the U.S. CJTF-OIR base at At Tanf could be attacked by Russian forces due to the presence of "insurgent forces" there. Since there are no known Russian ground combat units or Wagner Group mercenaries in the area of At Tanf, such an attack would have to be made against the U.S. base using Kalibr cruise missiles launched by Russian naval combatant ships off the Syrian coast.

Lines of Control in Syria on 3 September 2018

5 September 2018: There are last ditch diplomatic carrot and stick entreaties to the al-Assad government in Damascus today, and they're being put forward under a nothing ventured/nothing gained mindset. Almost everyone involved actually believes the die has been cast for continued war and a humanitarian catastrophe in Idlib. 

The massive Russian investment of rubles in the form of a large military deployment into and off the coast of Syria would be for naught should the Idlib assault be called off. That object in motion will tend to stay in motion. The alleged Russian, Iranian and Turkish 'summit' scheduled for tomorrow in Tehran stands as a very high probability of becoming a grand disappontment for the Turkish government which hopes against hope for the Idlib operation to be called off. Turkey very much stands against the Russian, Iranian and Syrian plan of conquest of the Idlib Governorate. The Turks want a far more precise operation to rid the governorate of select jihadists, much as they accomplished in Afrin earlier this summer. The Russians and Iranians have already rubber-stamped and green-lighted the full-scale operation. That means an ethnic cleansing of Syrian and Turkmen Sunni's from Idlib is certain to inflame the Turkish government which are Sunni Turkmen themselves. Make no mistake, at this point Turkey is no military ally of Syria, Russia or Shi'a Iran. Turkey could well intervene against the Iranian and Syria ground forces in the days to come.

And then, as in Item 4 below, there is Israel. The IAF struck Iranian targets in the Hama and Tartus Governorates (see image above). Again, the IAF strike aircraft were flying high over Lebanon, and they had to have been detected by the Russian S-400 anti-air site just a few miles northwest from the targets in Masyaf that were struck. There isn't a single reliable report of anti-air fire going up against the Israeli jets - not Russian, not Syrian, not Iranian. The IAF struck with impunity. This strike reaffirms that Israel is actively at war against anything belonging to the Iranian military forces in Syria. This is a wild card in the ongoing war in Syria. Russia apparently has no qualms with Israel obliterating Iranian military hardware and facilities in Syria, even right under their own noses.

Even though covered multiple times this year in various SITREPs, a reminder of the prophetic picture would be in order at this point.

"Hamath and Arpad are shamed,
For they have heard bad news.
They are fainthearted;
There is trouble on the sea;
It cannot be quiet." - Jeremiah 49:23

"Woe to the multitude of many people
Who make a noise like the roar of the seas,
And to the rushing of nations
That make a rushing of mighty waters!
The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters;
But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away,
And be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind,
Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind." - Isaiah 17:12-13

This impending battle is located in northwestern Syria, between the same two ancient locations named by Jeremiah. There are gathered in the sea of the Syrian coast an array of warships from many nations involved in the conflict, and which stand ready to engage in combat. The literal word here is, well, very literal; it says what it says and it is unique in all of recorded history up to this point. The culmination found in both Jeremiah's and Isaiah's prophecies here is the destruction of Damascus, and of the nation we know as Syria.


4 September 2018: It appears the Idlib offensive has begun. Russian combat aircraft began the operation with airstrikes within the past two hours.  

3 September 2018: The final battles for Syria are a regional war already in-progress, albeit at a slow or no boil from time to time. The SITREP at present goes something like this: 

1.) There are  behind the scenes diplomatic efforts ongoing that have, more or less, postponed the Idlib (northwestern Syria) offensive operations. By the same token there are major powers maneuverings or exercises the Mediterranean Sea which are probably preludes to combat operations.

2.) Within Idlib there are multiple anti-regime forces, each within its own cantonment of influence or control. There are AQ terrorists, Free Syrian forces, Turkomen militias, Kurdish militias, and Turkish Army outposts as well. There are anti-regime forces from all over Syria which have come to Idlib via free passage; Idlib is a dumping ground of opposition forces from the rest of the country. They are not all currently presenting a united front, but will likely act as such when the hammer drops.

3.) The national interests of the Russian Federation (and its allies) and the United States (and its allies) are in conflict, although at present there are norms of communication which have thus far prevented hostile fire. Should Syrian forces use WMD in Idlib the spectre of a Russia-America confrontation in this arena is very real.

4.) And then there is Israel and the United States confrontation with Iran in Syria (and soon possibly in Iraq). This warfront has been smouldering of late with potential sparks (large air strikes) at al-Mazzeh Air Base near Damascus and at At-Tanf in southeastern Syria within the past 24 hours failing to ignite into a more widespread conflict. In both airstrikes it was Iranian proxy forces which were devastated, the former a warehouse, the latter an on-the-move military convoy. Israel has also revealed that it will strike Iranian targets in Syria, or in Iraq, as they present themselves.

Global SITREP C5-18: Idlib and Jermiah 49:23-27

IDLIB Governorate of Syria

3 August 2018: Above is an outline map of Syria. The IDLIB Governorate is highlighted in bright green. To the north of Iblib is the Turkish border and Hatay province. Idlib has been under Sunni rebel control since the start of the civil war and it has always enjoyed Turkish support, and Turkish military forces occupy observation posts throughout this region.

Idlib is the Syrian governorate to which the Assad regime has been allowing free passage to for rebel forces who have not surrendered in other battles all across Syria. There now are an estimated 100,000+ rebel troops awaiting a Syria-Iranian-Russian forces onslaught now that the southern Syria offensive appears to be winding down. The Iblib rebels have placed all of their various factions under a single command known as the National Front for Liberation, or Jabhat al-Tahrir al-Watanya (JTW).

Notice where Idlib is located within Syria. It is right in the middle of the two locations identified in Jeremiah 49:23. Eschatology Today has been consistent over many months in linking northwestern Syria as key to the literal fulfillment of Jeremiah's ancient prophecy (49:23-27) and Isaiah 17. 

The countryside to the immediate west of Hama is also still in the hands of rebel forces, as is the region west of Aleppo. In preparation for the final assault on Idlib this entire region is being pounded by Syrian and Iranian artillery; an ongoing rocket and artillery duel is ongoing as you read this. Again, those who say the Syrian war is over are incredibly premature with such pronouncements.

16 August 2018: The battle for Idlib (Idleb) has not been forgotten.  It's a final warzone in northwestern Syria pitting the Syrian regime and its Iranian allies (Shi'a) against Sunni jihadists (AQ and company) plus other Turkomen factions supported by Turkey. Because of the Turks the Russians trod lightly here. 

One Iranian general let slip recently that after Idlib is conquered Syria (and Iran) would move to recover all of the Golan from Israel. Problematic to that is the US-led CJTF-OIR coalition (mostly the SDF/SDC militias and US Special Forces are in a position to cut off the Iranians from their homeland base of support via Iraq. The Coalition still has military control over 30 percent of Syria east of the Euphrates River and several hundred square miles around Al-Tanf at the Syrian-Iraq-Jordan border region. Iran is on notice that US forces will remain in Syria until all Iranian forces have permanently departed the country. The SDF believes the US forces will go into battle against Iran in Syria shortly.

But watch Idlib, it's where everything could unravel for Syria.

25 August 2018: The predictive sentence directly above is looking more likely with each passing day.  Turkey is begging the Russians to prevent  Iran and Syria from launching the full-scale Idlib battle. But Russia is sending even more ground combat power and shipborne Kalibr cruise missiles into the war zone.  

U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton has expressly warned Syria against using chemical weapons (WMD) against the Idlib redoubt, promise a powerful US-UK-French response against the regime of Bashar al-Assad if they those weapons are deployed.  

The Russian media is issuing beau coup propaganda trying to cover the the regime, saying that the rebels are the side actually preparing to use chemical weapons. They've even gone so far to accuse British Special Forces of assisting the terrorists in Iblib governorate in launching a false flag chemical strike and the promised US-UK-French retaliatory counter-strike.

Again, notice where Idlib is located within Syria. It is right in the middle of the two locations identified in Jeremiah 49:23. Eschatology Today has been consistent over many months now in linking northwestern Syria as key to the literal fulfillment of Jeremiah's ancient prophecy (49:23-27) and Isaiah 17. 

The approaching Battle of Idlib will (according to the Isaiah and Jeremiah prophecies) be utterly catastropic for Syria, the foreign nations involved will flee from the catastrophe that occurs, and also result in great damage and loss of life occurring in northern Israel. Forewarned is fore-armed.

29 August 2018: The buildup of foreign military forces hardware into and along the periphery of Syria continues. Such buildups take time to complete. The daily intelligence collection/analysis is out in front of the deployed hardware. This is all part of an effort to forestall error or miscalculation, yet the bristling and sabre rattling are an intentional effort to cause the other side to blink (i.e. stand down). 

There is no way that a "false flag" chemical attack by Islamic jihadists against  the civilian population in Idlib governorate can succeed. By the same token and the same real-time intelligence collection being employed by the Western allies in Syria, there is no way a Syrian chemical attack against Idlib could succeed either - even if it is conducted as a mimic of a jihadist chemical attack. No amount of Iranian or Russian propaganda making the rounds in global media can obfuscate what will occur when WMD by either side occurs.

Nevertheless, the military situation continues to deteriorate and appears to be taking on the attributes of a runaway freight train, especially in Russian and Iranian words and deeds. The Western allies (US, UK and france) have warned via unambiguous language in the UN Security Council that they will execute an appropriate response to a Syrian chemical attack against Idlib governorate. 

The Pentagon, U.S. State Department, and Executive Office (i.e. NSA John Bolton) also issued similar warnings directly to the Russian and Syrian government officials within the past 24 hours. The U.S. appears to have taken the position that if Syria uses chemical weapons it is because the Russians did nothing to prevent it, and they will be held as culpable in the resultant WMD atrocity. Backing up the US, UK and French warnings, NATO as a whole also has given stern warning to the Russians of potential consequences should they fail to prevent Syrian use of WMD.

There are an estimated 2.1 million civilians in Idlib living in areas under the control of Islamist and jihadist forces. The humanitarian situation there is dire and a catastrophe in the making even before the expected large-scale Russian, Syrian and Iranian military operation commences. 

Global SITREP C8-18: The Great Darkening - What it Really Means For This Earth! - PART II

20 August 2018: So we proceed with Part II of this subject. 

Eschatology Today believes it would be remiss to not begin with a brief side-bar regarding the brethren of Berea, Macedonia, due to the invoking that term we use today which carries the name of their city. 

How many are aware of the phrase "first to the Jew, then the Greek (Gentile)"? We all know it comes from Paul in Romans 1:16. We should also know that when the Apostles departed Israel to preach the Gospel their first stop wherever they went was to the local synagogue in the various foreign lands. The Jews were in diaspora all across the ancient world well before the Romans sack Jerusalem in 70 AD. Many Jewish communities, like the one in Berea, Macedonia had been there for as many as four centuries prior to the time of Jesus Christ on this earth. Jewish colonies existed throughout Asia Minor, Greece and ultimately Rome itself. The Book of Daniel contained the prophecy of the coming of the Greek Empire of Alexander, and its eventual division into four lesser kingdoms. Paul was himself a Hellenized Jew living is Tarsus, Seleucid Empire. 

So, it was to this Jewish diaspora that the Apostles first presented the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Messiah. The intense political upheaval within the Macedonian-Greek Empire after the death of Alexander the Great in the 2nd Century BC led to a pronounced revival of Jewish messianism. So, little wonder that Paul and Silas in presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Bereans in their synagogue received the word they preached after searching their Jewish Scriptures. See: Acts 17:10-15. "...they received the word in all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so." This is what we should do also on a day to day basis to determine if something we read online is so, Eschatology Today included. There is no better example of a Jewish or Gentile Christian than those of ancient Berea, Macedonia.

In true Bereanism, more references to the unprecedented event have been found and need to be shared. In the second chapter of the prophet Haggai's book, there are a pair of distinct references indicating that shortly after the 3rd Temple is standing in Jerusalem the events discussed in this now two-part series will take place. In Haggai 2:6  and 2:22 there are what I believe a dual-purpose prophetic passages concerning the Lord's shaking of heaven and earth and judgment upon nations while the temple stands in Jerusalem.

Also direct your attention toward Hebrews 12:26 where the prophetic promise of a greater shaking is found: "Yet once more i will shake not only the earth, but also heaven." Verse 27 amplifies this by saying: (emphasis added) "Now this, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of those things being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain."

Then we have Isaiah 24:1-6. Many commentators of years past would explain this language as simply an ancient Hebrew prophet venting, as if he were going off on some kind of ancient Jewish rant. An "it's what they do" kind of thing. To that I say nonsense. The ancient prophets ALL spoke with the authority of God by the Holy Spirit. They spoke what He wanted to be written down. None of this is to be taken as merely figurative Hebrew language. 

And then there is a reference to the great darkening and the great shaking of heaven and earth in the very distinctive past tense. The reference is by John of Patmos, and it is found in Revelation 20:11 where we read, "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them."

Another thought to consider. The others planets in our solar system. Mercury, Venus, Mars. The so-called wandering stars. Since the Lord shakes the heavens and the earth is moved out of its place, it stands to reason the other planets would not be immune to the Lord's handiwork.

The study continues...

Global SITREP C6-18: The Great Darkening - What It Really Means For This Earth!

4 August 2018: Many are there who erroneously teach, or repeat as teaching because they have been so taught, that the phrase "in that day" refers specifically to the day of the Lord, also known as the "tribulation" (Greek: thlipsis) and "great tribulation" (Greek: megas thlipsis). These prophetic periods of time are known on Eschatology Today primarily as the 70th Week per the angel Gabriel in Daniel 9:24-27. I find this kind of teaching on the phrase "in that day" or "on that day" to be an considerably inaccurate interpretation of prophetic Scripture.

For example, the prophet Amos was speaking for the LORD God when he foretold 800 years in advance what would occur on the day our Lord was crucified: (emphasis mine)

“And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord God,

“That I will make the sun go down at noon,

And I will darken the earth in broad daylight..."

The point, therefore, is that this phrase refers to a specific day and even to a specific time in which a specific event takes place. And with the LORD God, there have been and are yet to occur multiple appointments on specific days. 

This is exactly as Amos 8:9 foretold the events that would take place on the day of the crucifixion of our Lord. We know as fact from Matthew 26:45, Mark 15:33 and Luke 23:44-45 that the sun was darkened at the moment of our Lord's passing from this world from the 6th hour to the 9th hour. Sunrise marks the 1st hours, so the 6th hour is Noon, 12 PM, midday, and the 9th hour accordingly is 3 PM. 

This was a three-hour long eclipse of the sun by Almighty God. Did Amos spend the time to precisely calculate 800 years in advance a darkening of the sun  that would occur precisely at midday on the Jewish passover circa the year 33 AD? No, no need for that, God, as the text states told Amos directly what would take place in the future. God told Amos precisely what He would do on that day. God has appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, Job 9:7, Job 38:33 and Jeremiah 33:19-26 prove it is so, as least until the LORD God Almighty decides otherwise.

This celestial event is exactly what Amos foretold would occur "in that day" and the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke confirm it as fact. So too did Dionysius the Areopagite (Acts 17:34) (a Greek man in Athens who became born again by the sermon of Paul at the Areopagus well after the crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ) made a record of the sun's darkening at the precise time of Jesus crucifixion. 

What we have learned in hindsight through modern technological means is that in the heavens above this event occurred at a position in the sky directly at the feet of the lamb, the constellation Aries. The sun, moon and the stars were used in what was the most important sign of all time - the redemption of all Created humankind by the Word, through whom all things were made. " All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." John 1:3.

All of this sets up the next great darkening as foretold in in Scripture: "For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light." Isaiah 13:10.

When does this next great sign take place? Jesus told us in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:29) that it will be, "Immediately after the tribulation (thlipsis) of those days..." Immediately after the first 42 months of the 70th Week in other words, at the conclusion of the thlipsis and before the start of the megas thlipsis. Mark 13:24 repeats this. Even earlier Joel 2:31 foretold this will occur BEFORE the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. In "that day" is, specifically, the megas thlipsis; the great tribulation; the final 42 months of the 70th Week. 

But wait, there's more. This day is also when Jesus opens the 6th Seal, as we read in Revelation 6:12-17. These prophetic verses inform that day includes a really great earthquake. Luke 21:25 expounds upon this, so that the entire earth quakes causing dismay among the nations of the world at the "roaring and tossing of the seas." A global quake that, in all likelihood, will be of a magnitude well beyond a 9 or 10 on the Richter scale.

So, what would cause a global quake of such an unprecedented magnitude? To learn the answer we must turn to Isaiah 13. Read this chapter carefully. Firstly, we find that Isaiah 13:6-10 provides incredible details for what is written in Luke 21:25. But then we come Isaiah 13:13 at which the LORD God provides an exquisite detail that answers the question of what would cause such a global earthquake:

"Therefore I will shake the heavens and the earth will move out of her place."

I know of no other way to interpret this other than the earth will be shaken out of its station in orbit around our sun which the LORD God has maintained since its Creation. This, in my interpretive view, is the direct result of Jesus opening the 7th Seal.  Imagine... the sun dark, blood red moon, stars not where mankind has known them to be since they were first seen and the earth moved out of her place in the order of the solar system. Yes, when the sun is dark, the stars can be seen during what would normally be daylight hours. This makes perfect sense of what Luke wrote immediately after verse 25:

"Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." Luke 21:26

Who among you brothers and sisters does not now understand the full context of prophetic Scripture as presented here? I asked in another very recent post "Are You Ready?" To put it bluntly, anyone who is not ready to be taken in the Harpazo will have to live through the possibly fatal events described above. Why risk that when Jesus can keep you from it if you will believe on Him. It's a no-brainer.

UPDATE 15 August 2018: In line with a comment I posted to this SITREP yesterday, I believe the mystery of this unprecedented event has been revealed through Scripture! From Leviticus to the Book of Daniel to Paul's letters to the Thessalonians to The Revelation of Jesus Christ, the mystery of this is revealed in great detail. The Bible interprets the Bible, and the underlying truth of it all will probably stun you as it stunned me once it was all laid out in coherent fashion. 

As we saw in all of the above discussed prophetic Scripture God is going to move the earth out of her orbit around our sun. Put any thought to this whatsoever and what jumps out at you? The times and the seasons would have to change as a natural cause and effect. Who set the times and the seasons at Creation? The LORD God did!

When Daniel was seeking the correct interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream from God (Daniel 2), God immediately provided the interpretation to Daniel in a night vision. In responding to God for providing him the night vision Daniel said, "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and seasons..." Who has the power to change the times and seasons of the earth? God alone does.

How many times have you read the phrase here, "the past as/is prologue"? Bunches of times, and with this subject the phrase "past is prologue" is more relevant than ever. The 70th Week is all about Israel, the salvation of all Israel, and to a lesser extent, the innumerable multitudes of gentiles who will be saved by the preaching of the 144,000 Jewish missionaries of every tribe of Israel. And during the 70th Week what will be of tantamount importance to the Jews who will have had the Holy Spirit poured out upon them? Keeping the festivals and ordinances set by God for their worship in the coming 3rd Temple on the Mount.

Leviticus 23 lists these ordinances of God for Israel. These ordinances are the ordained holy days or festivals of Israel, they are the God-given laws of Israel! They also foretell the future sequencing of prophetic events. I am sure many of you are quite aware of this aspect, so for brevity sake I'll present them in exsum fashion. They are the four of the spring season: The Sabbath, Passover and Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits and Weeks. Jesus completed the prophetic aspect of these with His death, resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit in the spring of 33 AD. The next three are the fall festivals and they foretell the future: Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles. These should be studied by all in detail, but not within the context of this SITREP. Yet I believe in them we can see the sequential three major end-times events: Harpazo, Atonement of Israel and New Jerusalem.

With the earth shaken and moved out of its place how could the proper timing of the festivals be known? They are based on the lunar calendar. Sounds very problematic, but not more so than immediately after the Antichrist attempts to usurp the ordinances of God by proclaiming himself God in the Temple of God at around the mid-70th Week and in the overcoming of the Two Witnesses. Satan, in the person the Antichrist, attempts to usurp the role of God Himself. And then, after Antichrist is laid low by what I believe will be an assassination attempt, Scripture tells us (in the Gospels and in Revelation) about the Abomination of Desolation. This is where the false Prophet will cause evil men construct and stand up in the Holy Place within the 3rd Temple the image of the Antichrist. Daniel 7:25 speaks to this concerning what Antichrist will try to do, saying: (my emphasis added).

"He shall speak pompous words against the Most High,
Shall persecute the saints of the Most High,
And shall intend to change times and law.
Then the saints shall be given into his hand 
For a time and times and half a time."
 
So, by the Scripture-based events described in the original part of this SITREP, detailed expressly in Isaiah 13:13, God thwarts Satan's intended plan (Satan indwells Antichrist during the final 42 months of the Megas Thlipsis (Great Tribulation) to change the times and the laws established by God by moving the earth out of its place, thereby fulfilling Isaiah's and Daniel's prophetic words (Isaiah 13:13 and Daniel 2:21). Satan's plan to usurp the authority of God is made null and void by the very deliberate act of God in moving the earth out of its place, thereby changing completely the times and the seasons so that they can no longer be accurately measured or observed. Satans attempt to usurp the place of God and His ordinations will amount to the most epic fail of all time.

As Paul explained to the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 5), we who are watching, sober and wise, understand these things. But to those of the night and darkness (the unrepentant, sinners) these things are and will remain incomprehensible. And we have covered what Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 on a couple of occasions, yet in the context of this SITREP, verses 3 and 4 are of paramount importance. Now we all can understand why the prophecy of Isaiah 13:13 and all of those related to it will take place. Our God is in complete and total control and always will be.

Addendum: There are numerous other verses in Scripture, many of which are Jesus' own spoken discourse, that directly relate to this topic. A couple to note are Matthew 24:15-22 and 29-31, and the parallel verses of Luke 21:25-28. Study and see how many more you can find!

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 C4-18: Are You Ready?

ARE YOU READY?

These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens. I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, [f]and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name." Revelation 3:7-8

"Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth." - Revelation 3:10

These words are a preview of the coming Harpazo of the bride of Christ. The next thing which John on Patmos saw as he recorded these things in sequence was a door standing open in heaven, and then he heard a voice like a trumpet speaking to him, saying... "Come up here..."

Once again, we should read Matthew 25:1-13. The door will be open, and then shut. On which side of the door will you be? Are you ready?

Global SITREP C3-18: Dara'a, Quneitra, the Israeli Golan and Damascus - Part II

AP Photo 16 JUL 18 of Bashar al-Assad "Victory" poster in Old Damascus

25 July 2018: This SITREP will serve as the continuation of SITREP B10-18 with Damascus as an additional point of eschatological focus. 

Contrary to what some prophecy teachers may be saying, as of this date Damascus, Syria has not yet seen the fulfillment of Isaiah 17:1 come to pass. The above Associated Press photo, taken a week ago Monday in the old city section of Damascus, is the entrance to a "Palestinian Arts" souvenir shop. To the entrance door is attached Bashar al-Assad's "victory" poster. He, and his Russian and Iranian allies want the people of Damascus, and the whole of Syria, to believe the war has been won and Bashar al-Assad is personally victorious.

Nothing could be be further from the soon to be manifest prophetic truth of Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49:23-27! The reality now is that Bashar al-Assad is essentially the titular vassal puppet king of Syria; his stature is maintained by Russian combat power, supported by Iranian Revolutionary Guards-Qods Force militia and Hezbollah of Lebanon. Syrian military forces are but a shell of what they were just 7 years ago. The Syrian Army's troops are mostly Hezbollah and Shi'a militia from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan under IRGC-QF General Qassem Soleimani's command. These troops man a front line in southern Syria from Dara'a, across the northern Golan to the slopes of Mount Hermon.

Another dose of reality was poured out on al-Assad, the Russians and Iranians a day ago when a Syrian attack jet moving at a very high velocity penetrated the 1974 Seperation of Forces Line B, and continued a little over a mile into Israel's airspace, when it was immediately shot down by a pair of the IDF's Patriot air defense missiles. The pilot of the Syrian SU-22 'Fitter' was killed; his body allegedly captured by Islamic State (IS) forces on the Syrian side of the southern Golan. 

Yarmouk River basin in tri-border region of Israel, Syria and Jordan.

Let's consider those IS forces in the triangle formed by the Israel, Syria and Jordanian border for a second. This is the Yarmouk River basin, and it is very rugged territory. Flushing IS forces out or killing them in place within this natural defensive redoubt will never be accomplished by any amount of Russian or Syrian airpower. Steep, sheer cliffs, deep ravines, near vertical inclines and destroyed bridges mark its entire length. Eschatology Today would speculate another crisis point will soon present itself when chemical weapons are used for the dislodging purpose by the Iranian militia commander. The Yarmouk River flows south and becomes the Jordan River. 

Soon, if not as soon as full "Syrian administrative control" is so to be restored over its part of the Golan, Israel will be free to begin a wholesale assault on the Iranian-led forces all along this frontier. The reason for this is as stated above and stands to be repeated for emphasis. Syrian administrative control in any part of Syria is a fantasy; it doesn't truly exist; it is an Iranian charade. It has been true for some time now that the Bashar al-Assad government has no real power and Syria as a country is a failed state. Also deserving of a repeat: Syria has no real, coherent army which it commands and controls as the rebel factions destroyed it some time ago. What was left fractionated, and any semblance of a cohesive force was due to the embedding of Iranian Shi'a proxies and Lebanese Hezbollah. These are the forces wearing Syrian uniforms in Quneitra and Dara'a running up to the Israeli and Jordanian borders. They are Iranian forces under Brigadier General Qassem Soleman's command.

Someone studying Isaiah 17, verse 3 in particular, might recognize that the proverbial stage is set for a very specific fulfilment: "The kingdom from Damascus, And the remnant of Syria."