Assad's "Deadly Agenda": First Chemicals, Next Iskander 9K720

This is a follow-up to a story from yesterday:

Assad's Deadly Agenda: First, Chemicals

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised two US presidents, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, not to let the Iskander reach the hands of Syria or Iran.

Moscow has no illusions that once in Syria, the lethal cruise missile will pretty soon reach Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Saturday, Dec. 15, Iran’s chief of staff Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi warned that the Patriot missiles in Turkey portended world war. He was referring to the missile-versus-missile face-off in Syria .

By giving Assad the Iskanders, Moscow has plumped itself squarely in the Tehran-Damascus-Hizballah camp, whereas President Obama is carefully holding back from an unreserved commitment to the Syrian insurgency. 

Some Western circles see Russia’s military intervention in the Syrian conflict as presaging Bashar Assad’s early downfall.  The reality, according to DEBKAfile’s sources, is that before he falls, the Syria ruler is getting ready for desperate measures – first by unleashing chemical warfare and, after that, using the deadly Iskanders for a last throw against his enemies.

Keep in mind God's warning of Zechariah 12:3:

EU Joins Chorus Against Jerusalem Building Plans

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Thursday joined other international leaders blasting Israel for its “unprecedented” plans to increase construction in Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the Green Line, repeating a thinly veiled threat to “act accordingly” if Israel doesn’t back down.

“The approval of an additional 2,610 housing units in the settlement of Givat Hamatos is extremely troubling, coming in addition to announcements made at the end of November and Monday’s approval of 1,500 units in Ramat Shlomo,” she said in a statement. “This plan for Givat Hamatos would cut the geographic continuity between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. I strongly oppose this unprecedented expansion of settlements around Jerusalem.”

On Wednesday the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee approved the construction of 2,612 housing units in Givat Hamatos, an area in East Jerusalem between the neighborhoods of Gilo and Talpiot, beyond the Green Line.

Syria's Chemical Weapons Headed Towards Lebanon

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has moved some of his chemical weapons arsenal in the direction of Lebanon. If one reads between the lines of a report written by David Ignatius this week in The Washington Post, it is not hard to make the jump between that trip and the possibility of such trucks --- or missiles carrying warheads with their contents -- crossing the border.

Israel has maintained a close watch on its northern border, in response to periodic "spillover" from clashes between Assad troops and rebel forces. An Israeli military intelligence expert told Arutz Sheva earlier this month that measures are also being taken to minimize the threat from chemical weapons. Lt. Col. (res.) Mordechai Kedar, a lecturer at Bar Ilan University and a 25-year veteran of military intelligence says actions are quietly being taken to deal with the potential threat posed by Syria's chemical arsenal.

Speaking from his hideout in an Arab nation outside Syria, a Syrian source told Ignatius the Assad regime developed special vehicles equipped to move and mix chemical weaponry. In January, two senior Syrian officers allegedly transported 100 kilograms of chemicals used to create the deadly sarin nerve gas from a base 50 kilometers northeast of Damascus, to a site that was located towards Lebanon, the source said. 

Moreover, the Syrian defector revealed that two men with Lebanese accents arrived at the secret base and were trained to mix isopropanol and methylphosphonyl difluoride – the combination that produces the lethal sarin gas. It is known that Syria possesses 500 tons of the two chemicals. But the regime until now has stored them in separate areas so as to avoid the danger of inadvertent lethal combinations.

Syrian Scud Missiles Seen As Escalation Of War

Syria's recent use of Scud missiles against rebel-held areas has alarmed the West and escalated fears that the Syrian government is inflicting a new stage of terror on its citizens.

“It certainly is by definition an escalation because it’s a potent weapon that hadn’t been used before," said Greg Thielmann, a chemical weapons expert with the Arms Control Association, a private research firm.

“Scuds are not particularly accurate fired in an urban context as apparently these were. It's a way to kill a lot of civilians - but it’s not exactly an accurately targeted weapon against the fighters that are opposing the Syrian government," Thielmann said. "It’s a terror weapon.”

Experts say Scud missiles can be armed with warheads containing chemical weapons.

Gregory Koblenz, an expert on chemical weapons at George Mason University, said Syria “has a stockpile of potentially several hundred tons of different chemical weapons, primarily mustard gas - but also the more lethal nerve agent, sarin. And there is also concern that they might have VX, which is the most lethal nerve gas agent that is available today.”

Scud missiles are not the only way the Syrian forces can deliver chemical agents. They can be placed in artillery shells or in bombs dropped from aircraft.

Al Qaeda Grows As Civilians Shelled Across Syria

As the Assad regime becomes increasingly desperate, its forces are starting to shell civilians in every major city across the country.
Troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are attacking civilians and rebel forces alike around Hama, Homs and Aleppo, according to a report issued Wednesday by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Nearly 50,000 people have died since the savage civil war began in March 2011, with a simple scrawled grafitti message of protest by a teen on a wall in Dera'a.

Large-scale electricity and water shortages have been reported across Syria, an increasing concern as the frigid winter sets in. In Aleppo, the country's northern commercial hub, power has been unavailable for the past week, and there have been reports of no running water for the past five days, UNRWA said. Every major artery to the city has been cut off in clashes between government and rebel forces with the exception of the Damascus-Aleppo highway.

Meanwhile, the international Al Qaeda terrorist organization is taking advantage of the chaos in the country to stage a comeback there, much as it did in Libya during the revolution that deposed dictator Muammar Qaddafi last year.

It's pretty easy to see what is happening here, from a prophetic perspective - and it's pretty simple. The surrounding areas around Israel (Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, West Bank and next-in-line Jordan) are all becoming dominated by radical Islamic groups - groups who are determined to destroy Israel. Its as simple as that and highly prophetic. 

Meanwhile, we are seeing in 'real-time' and in living color, the nations aligned against Israel while they attempt to divide Jerusalem. 

All right out of the pages of biblical prophecy - and exactly as we would expect.