Middle East Report Oct. 23, 2015

Friends, during these turbulent prophetic times it is important we put on the armor of God.

James 4:7 says that if you resist the devil, he’ll flee from you and this is what Ephesians 6:10-18 is all about. Each piece of the armor symbolizes something we do, and we must put on all the armor to be fully protected.

The belt of truth stands for God’s promises. It protects your “gut”, the core of your beliefs. He will never leave you and will never lose you (John 6:39-40). Even during the time you were “away” He was with you (Matt. 28:20). No one can take you out of His hands. (John 10:27-30) and nothing can separate you from His love (Romans 8:38-39). We have to know what He has promised us.

The breastplate of righteousness protects your heart. God’s righteousness is imputed to you by faith. (Romans 3:21-22) No one is worthy, so it has nothing to do with our worthiness. It’s all about His faithfulness. Romans 10:9 says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Having your feet fitted with the Gospel of Peace has to do with your “walk”. Phil. 4:4-7 tells us that to receive His peace, we rejoice in all things. Nothing will cause the enemy more frustration than a continual attitude of gratitude. Paul’s letters tell us how to express our gratitude. Following his advice pleases the Lord and drives the enemy crazy.

A shield is movable and can be placed between us and the weapons of attack, where ever they come from. The shield of faith stands for our belief in the Lord’s power to defeat our enemies. We meet each attack with the belief that we’ve already achieved victory. The Lord said we’d have trials in this world, but to take heart because He’s overcome the world. (John 16:33)

A helmet protects our head, where our knowledge of God resides. 2 Cor. 10:3-5says we have the power to demolish every stronghold and every pretension that conflicts with our knowledge of God. We can take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.

Our sword is the weapon with which we counter every attack. It represents God’s word. It’s what Jesus used to defeat the devil in the wilderness temptation. (Matt. 4:1-11)

Praying as the Spirit leads us is how we stay in touch with the Lord. Paul said we should pray “without ceasing” (1 Thes 5:17).

As you can see being fully equipped for battle requires knowing God’s word. Having zeal for the Lord without the knowledge of His Word is like charging into battle without protection or weapon. No soldier would ever go into battle this way. Neither should we.

Russia and Jordan are establishing a coordination center in Amman for sharing information on counter-terrorism operations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday. Russia is already in touch with Iran, Iraq and Syria through a Baghdad-based center used for the same purpose. Lavrov said Jordan would play a positive part in finding a political solution to the Syrian conflict through negotiations between Damascus and opposition forces, an outcome that Russia itself is pursuing. His Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh said the center would serve as an efficient communication tool for the militaries of the two nations

 

The White House said Friday that Brett McGurk has been named as US President Barack Obama's new envoy to the coalition against ISIS. He will replace Gen. John Allen, who is retiring in November. McGurk is currently serving as Allen's deputy. As you can see McGurk is a CFR member and not a member of the U.S. military.

  

Wholly preoccupied with the ferocious Palestinian terror campaign washing over their country, Israelis have scarcely noticed that Hizbollah forces, believing they are protected by the Russian military presence in Syria, are creeping toward Israel’s northeastern Golan border. Hezbollah thinks it is a step away from changing the military balance on the Golan to Israel’s detriment and gaining its first Syrian jumping-off base against the Jewish state – depending on the Syrian-Hizbollah forces winning the fierce battle now raging around Quneitra opposite Israel’s military positions.

For two years, Hizbollah, egged on intensely by Iran, has made every effort to plant its forces along the Syrian border with Israel. For Tehran, this objective remains important enough to bring Al Quds Brigades chief, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, above, on a visit last week to the Syrian army’s 90th Brigade Quneitra base, which is the command post of the battle waged against Syrian rebel forces.

Soleimani, who is commander-in-chief of Iran’s military operations across the Middle East, is acting as military liaison in Syria between Tehran and Moscow.

My Israeli military sources report that the Iranian general inspected the Quneitra battle lines no more than 1.5-2 km from the Israeli Golan border. He arrived a few days after Revolutionary Guards Col. Nader Hamid, commander of Iranian and Hizbollah forces in the region, died there fighting against Syrian rebels. His death betrayed the fact that not only are Hizballah forces gaining a foothold on the strategic Golan enclave, but with them are Iranian servicemen, officers and troops.

While in Quneitra, the Iranian general also sought to find out whether Col. Hamid really did die in battle or was targeted for assassination by Israel to distance Iranian commanders from its border.

 

Just 10 months ago, on Jan. 18, Israel drones struck a group of Iranian and Hizbollah officers who were secretly scouting the Quneitra region for a new base. Iranian Gen. Ali Mohamad Ali Allah Dadi died in that attack. Tehran and Hizballah are again trying their luck. During his visit to Quneitra, Soleimani called up reinforcements to boost the 500 Hizbollah fighters in the sector.

The Iranian general and Russian Air Force commanders agree that the drawn-out battle for Quneitra will not be won without Russian air strikes against the rebels holding out there. A decision to extend Russia’s aerial campaign from northern and central Syria to the south would be momentous enough to require President Vladimir Putin’s personal approval.

This decision would, however, cross a strong red line Israel laid down when Netanyahu met Putin on Sept. 21 in Moscow and when, last week, a delegation of Russian generals visited Tel Aviv to set up a hot line for coordinating Israeli and Russian air operations over Syria.

Israeli officials made it very clear that Iranian and Hizbollah forces would not be permitted to establish a presence opposite the Israeli Golan border and that any Russian air activity over southern Syria and areas close to its borders was unacceptable.

The possibility of Israeli fighter jets being scrambled against Russian aerial intervention in the Quneitra battle was not ruled out.

This state of affairs was fully clarified to Gen. Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint US Chiefs of Staff, when he was taken on a trip this week to the southern Golan under the escort of IDF Chief of Staff Gen. Gady Eisenkot and OC Northern Command Gen. Avivi Kochavi. He visited the command post of Brig. Yaniv Azor, commander of the Bashan Division, which will be called upon for action if the hazard to Israel’s security emanating the Quneitra standoff takes a dangerous turn.

Israel conducted a secret mission into Iranian airspace in 2012, and the United States believed the act to be a practice attempt to bomb nuclear enrichment facilities. The probe into Iranian airspace was conducted while the U.S. concealed talks with Iran over its nuclear capacities from Israel.

The relationship between Obama and Netanyahu deteriorated quickly in 2009, once they both took office. Republicans in the U.S. Congress told Netanyahu that Obama was pro-Arab.

As tensions mounted, the Obama administration decided to start spying more and more on Israeli communications, because the administration feared that Israel was planning an attack that would sabotage the talks with Iran. Through the spying, it was discovered that Israel had sent planes into Iran in 2012.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, recently endorsed the nuclear agreement that was signed by Iran and six world powers, including the U.S., in July. In doing so, he said any future sanctions on his country would make the deal void. Iran agreed, in the deal, to limit nuclear enrichment and allow inspections in exchange for the lifting of heavy economic sanctions imposed by Western powers. The nuclear agreement's viability on the U.S. side was secured in September when Senate Democrats blocked a resolution that would have rejected it. Senate Republicans failed to muster the 60 votes necessary to file cloture on filibusters tying up bills to block the deal.