Things To Come: Early Preparations For The Coming Gog-Magog Invasion Of Israel

There is no denying it. We know the invasion into Israel will come from the north and we know it will involve Iran and Russia. With Russian and Iranian military bases now in Syria, which is due north of Israel, we are seeing the early preparations of the invasion into Israel, whether at this point it is by intent or not is irrelevant - we are seeing the "stage-setting" in real time. 

Putin orders Russian military forces into combat in Syria, just miles from northern border of Israel. Russian forces working closely with Iran. Here’s the latest.

In the Kremlin’s biggest military operation in the Middle East since 1941, Russian air and ground forces are now engaged in combat in Syria. And they are now operating just miles from the northern mountains of Israel.

The Kremlin’s stated objective is to defeat ISIS and protect the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a long-time Russian ally in the Middle East. But Vladimir Putin’s aggressive moves have broader, more ominous implications.

1. Putin is a Czar, an imperialist, consumed with “Mother Russia’s” need to expand it’s borders and influence — and he is now on the move to seize control of the dynamic in the epicenter.
2. Putin specifically wants to replace the United States as the dominant military and political force in the Near East. It’s been firm, bipartisan U.S. foreign policy since World War II to keep the Russian military out of the Middle East. Yet President Obama is surrendering the region to the Kremlin with breathtaking speed and foolish recklessness.
3. Putin is not alone in making these moves — he is working hand-in-glove with Iran’s government, which is also sending military forces into Syria.
4. The Hebrew prophet Ezekiel wrote 2,500 years ago that in the “last days” of history, Russia and Iran will form a military alliance to attack Israel from the north. Bible scholars refer to this eschatological conflict, described in Ezekiel 38-39, as the “War of Gog & Magog.” Are these sudden and dramatic moves by Moscow and Tehran are simply coincidental, or have prophetic implications?

In the days ahead, I will examine the prophetic angle.

For now, let’s simply consider the magnitude of what Putin is doing.

“This is not only the Kremlin’s biggest military expedition outside the old Soviet Union since 1989, but the first Russian campaign in the Middle East since Moscow allied with Britain to invade Iran in 1941,” notes the UK Telegraph.

Putin is rapidly building two new Russian military bases in Syria, including a forward operating air base. He’s ordering Russian ground forces, tanks, heavy equipment into the Syrian theater. He’s ordered the Russian air force to launch bombing missions throughout Syria. He’s doing this in close coordination with the Iranian government and military. And today he signed orders to draft 150,000 more Russian men into the military.

As I wrote on September 16th, Putin is taking advantage of the geopolitical vacuum in the Middle East created by President Obama’s full-scale retreat from the region and appeasement of American enemies. And he’s not inching in — he’s going big and bold.

And the whole region is watching. Netanyahu was just in Moscow last week, holding an emergency meeting with Putin to discuss the dangers of this rapidly intensifying Russian-Iranian alliance.

Jordan, Egypt, the Saudis and the Gulf states are watching, too. They see America cutting them loose, and the Russian military surging into the region — not in advisory capacities as during the 1967 and 1973 Arab-Israeli wars, but in full combat mode.

• Top NATO general: Russia building anti-access bubble over Syria (Jerusalem Post) — “Russia is building advanced, long-range air defenses in its new air base on the Syrian coast, which could disrupt the military activities of the US and its allies in the sector, NATO’s top commander, Gen. Philip Breedlove, warned on Monday, according to a report that appeared in the Breaking Defense website…”

• Russia seen building up two more military facilities in Syria: Jane’s (Reuters)

• Pentagon: Russia building forward air base in Syria (Military Times) — “Satellite imagery suggests the activity includes reinforcing aircraft runways, building helicopter pads, installing mobile housing units, and constructing several new buildings including an air traffic control tower…”

• Iran troops to join Syria war, Russia bombs group trained by CIA (Reuters)
• Assad allies, including Iranians, prepare ground attack in Syria: sources (Reuters)

• What is the War of Gog and Magog? (my series of notes on Ezekiel 38-39)
• Read Epicenter, my non-fiction book that looks at Ezekiel 38-39 in more depth. 
• Read The Ezekiel Option, a novel about a Russian-Iranian attack on Israel

Russian Air Force Destroys ISIL Command Center, Training Camp in Syria

The Russian Air Force’s Su-34 Fullback strike fighters have destroyed an Islamic State command center and training camp, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Gen.-Maj. Igor Konashenkov said Friday.

“On October 1, Su-34s conducted strikes on an Islamic State training camp near the populated region of Mahdan-Jadid as well as against a covert command center near Qasert-Faraj to the southwest of Raqqa,” Konashenkov told journalists.

Russian Aerospace Forces jets carried out 18 sorties over the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, destroying a total of 12 targets in the past 24 hours, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Gen.-Maj. Igor Konashenkov said.

"Su-25 attack aircraft have struck an IS training camp in the vicinity of Maarat Numan in Idlib Province. They destroyed the terrorists’ bunkers, as well as arms and fuels depots," Konashenkov told reporters.

On Wednesday, Russia started carrying out pinpoint airstrikes on ISIL targets in Syria. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, during the first two days of the operation the country’s aircraft hit over 10 targets, among them an explosives factory, an arms depot and an IS coordination center. The targets were chosen based on intelligence, including air surveillance, gathered and verified by Russia and Syria.

Chinese warplanes to join Russian air strikes in Syria. Russia gains Iraqi air base

Russia’s military intervention in Syria has five additional participants: China, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Hizballah.

China sent word to Moscow Friday, Oct. 2, that J-15 fighter bombers would shortly join the Russian air campaign that was launched Wednesday, Sept. 30. Baghdad has moreover offered Moscow an air base for targeting the Islamic State now occupying large swathes of Iraqi territory

Thursday night, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi, made this comment on the Syrian crisis at a UN Security Council session in New York: “The world cannot afford to stand by and look on with folded arms, but must also not arbitrarily interfere (in the crisis).”

A no less significant development occurred at about the same time when Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, speaking to the US PBS NewsHour, said he would welcome a deployment of Russian troops to Iraq to fight ISIS forces in his country too. As an added incentive, he noted that this would also give Moscow the chance to deal with the 2,500 Chechen Muslims whom, he said, are fighting with ISIS in Iraq.  

Al-Abadi’s words came against the backdrop of two events closely related to Russia’s expanding role in the war arena:

1.  A joint Russian-Iranian-Syrian-Iraqi war room has been working since last week out of the Iraqi Defense Ministry and military staff headquarters in Baghdad to coordinate the passage of Russian and Iranian airlifts to Syria and also Russian air raids. This command center is also organizing the transfer of Iranian and pro-Iranian Shiite forces into Syria.

2.  Baghdad and Moscow have just concluded a deal for the Russian air force to start using the Al Taqaddum Air Base at Habbaniyah, 74 km west of Baghdad, both as a way station for the Russian air corridor to Syria and as a launching-pad for bombing missions against ISIS forces and infrastructure in northern Iraq and northern Syria.

Russia has thus gained a military enclave in Iraq, just as it has in Syria, where it has taken over a base outside Latakia on the western coast of Syria. At the same time, the Habbaniyah air base also serves US forces operating in Iraq, which number an estimated 5,000.

Saudi Criticism of Russian Strikes in Syria Highlights Grand Hypocrisy

Speaking at UN headquarters in New York, Abdallah al-Mouallimi called on Moscow to stop its bombing campaign of anti-government targets in Syria, claiming that innocent victims were being targeted.

"The delegation of my country expresses its profound concern regarding the military operations which Russian forces have carried out in Homs and Hama — places where ISIS [ISIL] forces are not present.

The criticism comes as Russian officials confirmed that a number of "well known" militant groups, including ISIL, would be targeted as part of its bombing campaign in Syria, carried out upon the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Russian Presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said:

"These organizations are well-known and the targets are chosen in coordination with the armed forces of Syria."

Moscow also denied accusations that it was responsible for the deaths of 33 civilians in an airstrike in the town of Rastan, with Russian President Vladimir Putin saying that reports of Russian-caused civilian casualties had surfaced "even before our planes got in the air."

As the war of words continues, the Saudi accusations that Russia should stop its bombing campaign due to civilian casualties raises questions of double standards.

Saudi Arabia — through its cooperation in the US-led coalition against ISIL — has been taking part in airstrikes against strategic ISIL targets in Syria since September 2014, while also working with various "moderate" Islamist groups opposed to Assad's government.

Officially, the US-led coalition has taken responsibility for only two civilian deaths as a result of the airstrikes, with the bombing campaign described as the "the most precise and disciplined in the history of aerial warfare" by US Lt Gen John Hesterman.

However, many questions remain over the precision of such figures, with the Airwars project — a campaign undertaken by a team of independent journalists — claiming that there was credible evidence linking the US-led strikes to 591 civilian deaths in Syria and Iraq over the past 12 and a half months.

This was backed up by a report in the Guardian newspaper, which cited a US Central Command (CENTCOM) figure, as saying civilians may have been killed in up to 71 separate attacks.

Meanwhile, Russia has maintained that it has consistently followed international law over the Syrian crisis, only taking part in airstrikes, following an official request from the Syrian government.

On top of reports of the heavy civilian impact of the US-led anti-ISIL coalition in Iraq and Syria, there has been international condemnation of Saudi Arabia's actions in Yemen. 

Just as Saudi Arabia demanded Russia halt its airstrikes in Syria, the UN called on Riyadh to stop its own campaign in Yemen, revealing that an estimated 2,300 civilians had been killed and a further 4,800 wounded in the country since March.

A recent report released by the UN high commissioner's office found that close to two-thirds of reported civilian deaths "had allegedly been caused by [Saudi-led] coalition airstrikes, which were also responsible for almost two-thirds of damaged or destroyed civilian public buildings."

Also see:

Russian Jets Strike IS Command Centre In Syria

Israeli mother and father shot dead in West Bank terror attack | The Times of Israel

PM slams Abbas's 'deafening silence' after terror attack | The Times of Israel

Top U.S. physicist claims global warming is a “scam”

Final countdown to World War III

"They're Hopping Mad In The US And Saudi Arabia": Russian Strikes In Syria Spark Epic Western Media Propaganda Blitz | Zero Hedge