Not long ago in this space, I talked about one of the most underreported facts of the Middle East — that the Lebanese terror group known as Hezbollah has a larger stockpile of missiles than all NATO countries (except the U.S.) combined. The terror group is reported to have approximately 150,000 missiles in the field, ready to go.
Hezbollah is the most powerful non-state military actor in the world. They have 20,000 active duty troops and another 25,000 reservists. They are known to have a vast number of deep and sophisticated tunnel and bunker complexes across southern Lebanon, and entering Israel under its northern border.
Where does a terrorist group get the weapons and money to build such an immense military machine? It primarily comes from their fellow Shiite Muslims in Iran.
Israeli Defense Forces Intelligence Chief, Maj.-Gen. Herzl Halevi, said, “We are seeing Hezbollah building a domestic military industry on Lebanese soil based on Iranian know-how. Hezbollah is producing weapons systems and transporting them to southern Lebanon…. Over the past year, Iran is working to establish infrastructure for the independent production of precision weapons in Lebanon and Yemen.”
In 2006, Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war. It ended with the Lebanese cabinet, Hezbollah’s strongman leader, and the Israeli Knesset agreeing to the terms of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. Among other things, that resolution provided for “the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon…. There will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese State.”
That should have been the end of an armed Hezbollah. But instead, they have had an explosion of military capability in the intervening years. In other words, Hezbollah’s promise isn’t worth the paper it’s written on, and the UN remains a toothless tiger.
The resolution also required Hezbollah to stay north of the Litani River. It runs about 18 miles north of and roughly parallel to Lebanon’s border with Israel. Most of their force remains north of the river, but they are building observation towers next to the border.
You might wonder how UN peacekeepers could overlook something so obvious. Before I tell you how Hezbollah gets away with it, go ahead and swallow any liquid you may be drinking — because this could definitely provoke choking. Hezbollah is able to work along the border because they made up their own environmental organization — “Green Without Borders.” They say they plan to plant a million trees. Oh, and they just happen to want to plant those trees in South Lebanon — near the border with Israel.
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) released photographs and video showing “Green Without Borders” building large observation towers along the border. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) issued a statement supposedly contradicting the IDF. It says its members have “not observed any unauthorized armed persons at the locations or found any basis to report a violation of resolution 1701.”
But Israel did not accuse Hezbollah of sending “armed persons” south of the Litani. They accused them of building observation towers. UNIFIL did not deny the basic accusation, nor did they explain why a group whose primary purpose is to plant trees, needs observation towers directly on the border.
UNIFIL was formed in 2006, not only to keep Hezbollah north of the Litani River, but to oversee Hezbollah’s disarmament. During the intervening years, Hezbollah’s military power has grown into something far greater than that of most nations. After a failure of such proportions, how does UNIFIL have any credibility left?
With ISIS, the world saw the danger, and nations have been cooperating to rein it in. But with Hezbollah, the nations of the world are turning a blind eye, despite the obvious and massive violations of UN resolutions.
Only Israel seems concerned about Hezbollah. And it should be. Look at a map of the region. With Damascus and other key Syrian assets in the hands of Iran and Russia, Iran has a direct pipeline to Hezbollah in Lebanon. And with Iran’s growing oil wealth, they can give Hezbollah all the assets it needs. In the early 1980s, Iran created Hezbollah. Now, the terror group has become an extension of Iran’s power in the region.
Hezbollah caused massive difficulties for Israel in 2006. At that time, they had 15,000 rockets. Now they have ten times that number. Plus, the 150,000 missiles they presently have are both more sophisticated and more destructive than the 15,000 from eleven years ago. The old ones didn’t have nearly the payload of the new ones, nor did they have the precision guidance systems of the new ones.
These weapons are not defensive, but offensive in nature. Hezbollah and Iran have made their intentions clear. They mean to destroy Israel from the face of the earth.
God promises to preserve Israel during and after the current regathering, but the nation will experience terrible days. With Hezbollah and so many other armies poised to strike their small nation, you can see why Israel will one day agree to a peace treaty with Antichrist. He will promise what they will crave most — peace and safety. And then he will deliver a reign of destruction.
In the end, however, all God’s promises to Israel will be kept. At the end of the book, they turn to the true Messiah. They win… as do all those who put their trust in Jesus.
Hal Lindsey: After The Caliphate
In its heyday, ISIS conquered large swaths of territory. Al-Qaeda and other terror groups have controlled pockets of land here and there, but not like ISIS. For a couple of years, ISIS was building a country. More precisely, they were building a caliphate.
In 2014, ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, made the claim that his genealogy went back to Mohammed himself — a requirement for a true caliph. His followers began using the title “Caliph” to address and describe him. They called him, “Commander of the Believers.” They saw him as the leader of all Muslims. ISIS changed names. It became simply “The Islamic State.”
Thankfully, all that is disappearing now. ISIS controls territory in Syria and Iraq, but less every day. Their hope of a grand future is dying. Young people from all over the world came to Syria and Iraq, eager to join “a great cause.” Thousands of them now lie in mass graves.
Our military commanders correctly remind us that there is much to be done. But the fearsome ISIS war machine long ago lost momentum, then began to lose its lands. In July, Iraqi forces retook the ISIS stronghold of Mosul. A few days ago, a U.S.-backed group called the “Syrian Democratic Forces” took over Raqqa in Syria. That had been the defacto capital of ISIS.
War is always a grim business. But we should all be thankful to God and our military for the defeat of one of the cruelest, most barbaric groups in the last thousand years.
With these developments, we’re all asking what comes next? What will happen when ISIS has been driven from its territory in Iran and Syria? What will happen in the region, and the world? What will happen to terrorism?
First, what will happen to ISIS itself? President Obama often promised to “degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL.” During last year’s campaign, candidate Donald Trump vowed to “utterly destroy ISIS.”
Are we on the verge of that? They’ve been degraded as a power in the Middle East, but they are far from destroyed. Governments around the world now fight a kind of whack-a-mole war against them. There have been ISIS terror attacks on the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Canada, Australia, the United States, Kuwait, Denmark, Tunisia, Egypt, Russia, Libya, Turkey, Bangladesh, Spain, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Germany, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia.
While that’s not a complete list, it gives an idea of the width and breadth of the Islamic State’s reach. It goes well beyond their dying strongholds in Iraq and Syria. ISIS as a global entity will not soon disappear. In fact, it may become more active. The number of casualties from ISIS terror attacks has gone up each year since 2014.
ISIS carried out the October 4th ambush in Niger that killed four U.S. Green Berets. A small group of American Special Forces soldiers are in Niger to assist that nation in their battle with terrorists.
ISIS is not going away. It’s going everywhere.
From a prophetic standpoint, it is particularly intriguing to look at how all this may affect Israel. For instance, with its mission in Syria coming to an end, will Hezbollah now turn its attention back toward Israel? Hezbollah has 130,000 working missiles sitting just off Israel’s border. The Weekly Standard described it as “an offensive arsenal bigger than that of all Western Europe.”
Will Russia leave Syria? Will Iran? Will Iran-backed Shiite militias give up their power in Iraq? The answer to all those questions is, “No!”
The Russian economy is predicated on the sale of natural gas. They are Europe’s primary supplier. That allows Russia to overcharge Europe for fuel. But in the 2000s, Israel began to find natural gas. At first, the fields were small. Then, in 2010, they discovered the Leviathan field with an estimated 22 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. As of 2014, they had verified finds of 35 trillion cubic feet.
In April, Israel signed an agreement with Cyprus, Greece, and Italy that will allow it to pump natural gas to Europe. They plan to build a $7 billion pipeline beneath the Mediterranean. It will be the longest, deepest subsea pipeline on earth. They expect to have it in operation by 2025.
To Russia, that makes Israel a threat. The Russian economy is not diverse. It is built on the sale of natural gas to Europe. Israel’s pipeline threatens the Russian economy far more than sanctions. So, yes, expect Russia to remain on Israel’s doorstep.
The nuclear deal opened a massive flow of cash to Iran. Since then, they have been projecting their power everywhere they find their fellow Shiite Muslims — especially Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. As they gain greater control in those areas, expect them to focus increasingly on their most important goal, “Al-Quds” — known to most of us as “Jerusalem.”
Hamas is the one Sunni Muslim organization that Iran seems to back wholeheartedly. Their hatred for Israel exceeds internal Islamic rivalries. Over the last few days, Hamas leaders were in Iran for consultations. Iran reportedly told them that its continued support depends on Hamas continuing the “axis of resistance” against the “Zionist entity.”
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