Monday, June 23, 2014

Global SITREP C11-14: Is the Middle East Boiling Over?

IDF tank crewmen with their Merkava MBT on the Golan near the Tel Hazaka-Quneitra crossing load ammunition yesterday, 22 June 2014. (AP Photo by Oded Balilty)


23 June 2014: In response to the deliberate targeting and murder of a 12-year old boy by Syrian government forces on the Israeli Golan, IDF retaliatory strikes destroyed nine high-value Syrian targets about 15 hours ago as of this posting. The boy was accompanying his father, an Israeli defense ministry contractor looking after the border fence, when the Syrian's fired a Russian-made Kornet anti-tank rocket at them. They boy was killed; the father survived that attack. Israel scored direct hits on the Syrian 90th BDE command center in Quneitra and three subordinate battalions in the same sector. 

Further to the east, on the Jordanian-Iraqi border, the AQ ISIS terrorists have attacked and possibly have seized the main Route 10 border crossing . This report follows the ISIS capture of the last major Iraqi town of Ar-Rutba in Iraq's western Anbar province.  ISIS also recently took control of the Syria-Iraq border crossings at Al-Qa'im on Route 12 in the north and Al-Waleed on Route 11 in the south, ISIS now controls all border crossings between Syria and Iraq and is in a position to attempt to take take control of  the Jordan-Iraq border crossing. Jordanian reinforcements are reportedly enroute to the Tarbil Crossing on Route 10.

Just learned that on 19 June ISIS launched an ambush against Iranian troops at the ancient border town of Qasr-e Shirin in Kermanshah Province, Iran.  The government of Iran officially acknowledged the attack two days later on 21 June, but claimed the attackers were a Kurdish militia instead of ISIS. While Iran was not forthcoming in acknowledging any casualties, it is known that at least two Iranian officers, and possibly more, were killed in the ambush. Saudi Arabia has belatedly warned Iran to not intervene in the Iraqi civil war; the ambush of Iranian troops occurred on the same day as they entered Iraq in large numbers to support the crumbling regime of Nouri al-Maliki.

24 June 2014: The Baiji Petroleum Refinery fell under the complete control of ISIS forces today. ISIS offered free passage to Erbil for all 460 remaining Iraqi soldiers as long as they would lay down their weapons.  ISIS will reportedly now hand over the Baiji Refinery to local Sunni tribesmen. ISIS also poses an imminent threat to the Haditha Dam, a major hydroelectric asset still under government control, and to which the Iraqi government has dispatched 2000 soldiers tasked with its defense.

25 June 2014: The Al Qaeda branch in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra, a/k/a The Nusra Front, pledged its loyalty to ISIS today during a meeting at the Syria-Iraq border town Albu Kamal.  The international aspect of Al Qaeda is reflected in the fact that Jabhat al-Nusra was represented at the meeting by an Egyptian jihadist and the ISIS by a Chechen commander. There is now a unified Sunni jihadist now in control of a large swath of Syrian and Iraqi territory plus virtual all of the border posts between the two countries. The oath of loyalty makes the name 'Islamic State of Iraq and Syria' a defacto reality.



26 June 2014: The answer to the question posed by the title of this SITREP is a resounding - Yes! The Middle East has boiled over into a virtual free-for-all of international conflict stretching from the Mediterranean coast to the Persian Gulf and from Turkey to the Saudi Desert. Eight nations (alphabetically: Lebanon, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the United States) are now directly involved in the fighting between Sunni and Shi'a armies. The Sunni armies count among their number hundreds, if not thousands, of foreign fighters from nations all over the planet. On the Shi'a side there is also the Iranian controlled Hezbollah which effectively includes the government of Lebanon. Indirect participation of Russia can also be assumed through its shipment of arms and other war materiel into the region and in support of the Shi'a forces.

 ISIS (a/k/a DAASH) controlled territory in Syria and Iraq as of Monday, 23 June 2014 in red color. Yellow-colored areas are known additional areas of combat operations.

27 June 2014: Add Egypt to the list of the eight nations to become directly involved in the war. A contingent of Egyptian special forces are being deployed to bolster Saudi Arabian special operations forces moving to defend the border with Iraq if necessary. Saudi reconnaissance aircraft discovered an ISIS column moving towards at the Arar border crossing at Highway 80 in the Al-Judaida region.



Update 28 June 2014: A barrage of rocket and mortar artillery fire coming out of HAMAS-ruled Gaza last evening was aimed at Israeli targets in Ashkelon to the north and the Eshkol Regional Council area (see image above) to the east of Gaza. The barrage resulted in no reported injuries or damage in Israel. Details can be read in this INN report. Israel responded to this latest series of attacks prior to dawn this morning by cutting the IAF loose against four select HAMAS military targets in Gaza, all of which were destroyed. Details are in this Times of Israel report.  In the Nahal 'Iron (Wadi Ara) area (not far from Haifa) clashes between Israeli-Arabs waving PLO flags and the IDF searching for a trio of kidnapped Israeli youth resulted in injuries to both the Arabs and IDF troops. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman was correct in saying that all those Arabs who support the actions of terrorists "should be treated as terrorists in every respect." That means bullets instead of tear gas. Soon enough, Avigdor, soon enough. It is inevitable.

Global SITREP C12-14 will pick up where this leaves off.

15 comments:

  1. I don't want to make any more specific predictions, but between the wars in Iraq and Syria and the Iranian nuclear deadline approaching, it appears we are in for a very hot summer!

    Also the blood moons are another warning sign!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yup, and this is why I have covered all of these thingS on this blog.

    It's not a prediction... it is Bible prophecy from the inerrant Word of God which comes to an exact and precise fulfillment AS IT WAS WRITTEN.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks you for taking the time to provide this information Sean. It seems that western leaders are stumbling through a darkened powder magazine and using a match for illumination... keep praying for the peace of Jerusalem!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Bro!

    Psalm 122:6-9

    Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

    “May they prosper who love you.
    Peace be within your walls,
    Prosperity within your palaces.”

    For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will now say, “Peace be within you.”
    Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek your good.

    "Sha'alu Shalom Yerusalayim"

    ReplyDelete
  5. Roz,

    Yes, I have heard of Capt. Amir Tsarfati of Behold Israel.

    I'll check out the link shortly.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yes, they are encircling Baghdad, but the truth of the matter is that ISIS took the towns of Mamoudiyah, Iskandariyah and Yusufiyah back in April when Western media wasn't so keen to report on the failure of Barack Obama's disengagement from Iraq.

    When ISIS moves on to besiege the Shi'a cities of Najaf and Karbala then we will have some really significant events to report on.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you so much for all of the updates! Keep it up!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Remember, in all of this and what comes in the days and weeks to come, the inerrant prophecy of Daniel 2.

    The "great image" or "great icon" (tselem) that Daniel interpreted the meaning of, and the final world empire which would, as Rome, and Greece before it did, standing on both European and Middle Eastern sides of the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits. The two legs standing on two feet and ten toes is an unmistakable image of the future reality --- the 70th Week reality.

    This means that the so-called final departure of Western military forces from this region (2010-2011) is just that... a so-called departure. Western forces will be back in control of this region just as the Roman and Greek armies before them were.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sean,

    I am seeing a lot of reports now that ISIS is declaring their mission is to destroy Israel.

    This all appears to be strong evidence Psalm 83 is on the way!
    MARANATHA!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. ISIS, a/k/a al-Dawlah (the State), has as its stated goal the same goal as its parent organization Al Qaeda, namely, global jihad.

    The ISIS organization uses the exact same media arm as does Al Qaeda, which is the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF), therefore they are to be seen as the same jihadist organization.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm just not exactly sure how this will play out in the short term. I know the final outcome from the Holy scriptures but is the current situation psalm 83 shaping up? Or is it Jeremiah 49 or Isaiah 17? Or is this just another middle east crisis that will soon be dealt with (I highly doubt that)? Perhaps it's still way too early to tell, but considering the nations most heavily involved it almost looks like Isaiah 17, Jeremiah 49 and Isaiah 19 (Isis being the cruel master) all in one.
    Forgive the question if it's disingenuous but I'm trying to be in the know.

    ReplyDelete
  12. The report cited by the Anonymous comment above:

    Regional War Looms? Jordan Deploys Massive Force on Iraqi Border

    is an Israel National News reported based upon a report published by another Israeli paper Yedioth Aharonoth, which cites an Arab-language report from Asharq Al-Aswat.

    It talks about Jordan's army placing a massive armored and highly mobile force along the Iraqi border in order to block any ISIS advance into Jordan, all the while failing to note that Jordan's restive Sunni population occupies the Jordanian cities and towns to this army's rear.

    It's a classic example of a muslim army going out to meet the muslim enemy face-to-face and then saying in a SITREP back to higher headquarters in Amman... "we have met the enemy, and the enemy is us."

    The article also makes mention of the threat ISIS poses to Kuwait, as well as the Kuwaiti's getting a little cozier with Iran as a security partner. The article makes no mention of the fact that there is still a massive US military presence in Kuwait.

    Other than this, it pretty much confirms what I've already posted to this blog.

    ReplyDelete
  13. hartdawg asked:

    "Is the current situation Psalm 83 shaping up? Or is it Jeremiah 49 or Isaiah 17?"

    Bro, I think you correctly answered your question in your summation; this situation is setting up the fulfillment of a plethora of last days Bible prophecies.

    "All of the above" in other words.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Sean,

    Looking at the new map on debka today, it's clear that ISIS now controls half of Iraqi cities while contesting some others.

    http://www.debka.com/dynmedia/photos/2014/06/28/src/iraqsyriaFull.jpg

    It's rather stunning to see how fast these developments are occurring!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Mark,

    DEBKAfile is slowly catching up with what was posted to this blog days ago.

    The problem is that DEBKAfile is written by and gets information from secular Jews who are clueless about these events from a Biblical perspective.

    The Biblical prophetic perspective is the defining and cutting edge that we enjoy via Eschatology Today and other similarly themed Christian websites.

    ReplyDelete

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