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The Rapidly Shifting Syrian Civil War And The ‘Burden Of Damascus’

By Amir Tsafarti for
Harbinger's Daily

This last week, Syria blew up. It has always been a powder keg with so many antagonistic groups living in the nation. So, while it wasn’t a surprise, it was important. I’m sure many are confused about who is who in Syria, and, even more so, how it all relates to Bible prophecy. I’ll explore a few of the details of the fighting below, but let me take a moment to back out to the big picture here.

Damascus is a city that the Bible predicts will be decimated (Isaiah 17:1). Widening out from the city itself, we can also see that Syria, which has been a bitter enemy of Israel since 1948, isn’t mentioned among the nations in the future war of Gog from the land of Magog described in Ezekiel 38. Ultimately, what we learn relating to the nation to Israel’s north is that Damascus must fall. This will contribute to Israel being strong, safe, and prosperous. It is then that the enemy will attack from the north.

For Israel to finally be safe and to prosper, we not only need a victory in our present wars against Hamas and Hezbollah, but we need a friendly US administration to expand the peace circle and stand strong against the axis of evil. This certainly seems to be the direction we are heading.

My friends, we are truly living in biblical times!

The Rapidly Shifting Syrian Civil War

Opposition forces (those against President Assad’s government) have launched a swift and unexpected offensive. Significant territories have been already captured, including the very important city of Aleppo. As their influence spreads, the strategic city of Hama is next on their list. In fact, some sources report that just this morning rebel forces have entered the city even as Assad’s leaders escape by helicopter..

Assad’s forces haven’t just been sitting by idly. They, with the help of Russia and Iran, have hit back hard, causing many casualties among the rebels. But it’s not just the government forces who are fighting the rebels. They are fighting each other. Rebel militias are fighting against Al Qaeda soldiers, while Al Qaeda soldiers are fighting with Kurdish rebels. It’s a mishmash of people who hate each other and who can’t seem to put their differences aside and unite in order to attack a common enemy. In Israel, we have our eyes on the Kurds, who at times have been our allies in the past. Ultimately, we aren’t rooting for any of the sides, because everyone except the Kurds wants to kill us. The last thing we want is to see Al Qaeda troops massing on our northern border.

Iran Mad at Turkey over Syria

Remember in the past when I’ve said that all of the Middle East is interconnected? The Islamic Regime in Iran is now angry at Turkey for the civil war in Syria. Tehran says that the rebel onslaught could not have happened without Turkish help. They aren’t the only ones with this opinion. The Kremlin lays the blame at Ankara’s feet, saying they also got help from Washington and London. Are they correct? Maybe. It wouldn’t be surprising. Meanwhile, Iran is putting teeth to their blame saying that if the Kurds turn around and attack Turkey, then President Erdoğan better not come running to Tehran for help.

Israel Forces Iranian Transport to Turn Back

While much attention in Syria has been focused on the ground, the skies above held some interesting action. An Iranian cargo plane lifted off Saturday night toward Syria. According to the manifest, it was loaded with humanitarian aid. This would have been true if it was headed to a region where the people primarily ate lead and gun powder. But, as that seemed unlikely, the Israel Defense Forces got involved. Fighter jets intercepted the cargo plane as it traversed Syria and informed them in no uncertain terms that there were two directions they could go. One was back and the other was straight down. Wisely, the Iranian pilots chose back. This is a huge demonstration of the power that Israel is gaining in the region.

Fighting Under the Ceasefire

Just because the ceasefire against Hezbollah has gone into effect, that doesn’t mean that the fighting has stopped. When Israel signed on to the agreement, they also reserved the right to destroy anything they found that could be used by the terrorist organization against them. That has led the IDF to continue to hit danger zones, including munitions storage and launch areas. Just yesterday, a drone was used to take out a Hezbollah rocket launcher in southern Lebanon’s Majdal Zoun. Meanwhile, Lebanese forces are just now finally deploying into areas from which the IDF withdrew, with the purpose of keeping Hezbollah out.

Israel’s Magic Vaporizing Machine

For some time, Hamas has had difficulty explaining the disparity between their highly inflated casualty rates and the actual number of bodies they are able to produce. However, after careful investigation, the Palestinian Investigation Squad or some such body discovered the truth. It was the Israelis using their amazing body disappearing weapon that was causing all the dead to vaporize into thin air. It makes so much sense! I’ve long told you that Israel is on the cutting edge. Here’s proof! Even our imaginary technology is mind-blowing!

A Tale of Two Presidents


The 45th and soon-to-be 47th president of the United States wrote in a post on Truth Social that if the hostages are not released prior to his swearing in, there will be “ALL HELL TO PAY” in the Middle East. In response, Hamas has threatened to kill all the hostages. That would be a horrific mistake on their part. Meanwhile, the 46th president took time out from his very busy schedule to pardon his son, Hunter, who was facing sentencing for gun crimes and tax evasion. Also waiting on the Hunter Biden dance card were federal prosecutors anxious for a little jig to the Ukrainian folk tune “Burisma”. Joe Biden promised months ago that he would not bail his son out with a pardon. The Right didn’t believe him, the Left pretended to believe him, but deep down everyone knew that this day would come.

South Korea’s Brief Implosion
Late night Tuesday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol went on television and declared martial law, shocking the nation. Mayhem ensued. Military personnel entered the National Assembly building and were met by politicians and staffers armed with fire extinguishers. Scuffles ensued, windows were broken, but the military never made it into the main assembly hall. A little more than three hours after martial law was declared, 190 of the 300 members of the National Assembly voted unanimously to void the declaration. There has been constant fallout ever since. The heads of the departments of Yoon’s cabinet, as well as the senior secretaries, all resigned. The Assembly called for Yoon to resign, too, and when he refused to do so, articles of impeachment were filed against him. A vote on his removal could come as soon as tomorrow. South Korean politics have also been sketchy waters to swim in. It will be interesting to watch how this plays out.

France Dissolves Its Government
Not wanting to be outdone in the political craziness department, the French National Assembly passed a no-confidence motion against the government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier. This is the first no-confidence vote to pass in France since 1962, and Barnier will go down as the shortest serving prime minister in the Modern Republic. President Emmanuel Macron, for his part, stepped over Barnier’s lifeless political body, declared that he would remain until the end of his 2027 term, and promised to name a replacement.

United Nations being the United Nations
With the Syrian Civil War rekindled, the war between Russia and Ukraine threatening to go nuclear, and South Korea doing whatever it was that South Korea just did, the United Nations decided they would tackle the most pressing issue of the day. In a vote of 97 pro, 8 con, and 64 abstentions, the UN adopted a resolution calling for Israel to withdraw to pre-1967 lines. Good job focusing on what’s most important in the world. Just the United Nations being the United Nations.

Amir Tsarfati is a fmr Deputy Governor of Jericho, Israeli tour guide, author, and the Founder and President of Behold Israel.

 
Yeah I agree @Amethyst It's just another shift in the geopolitics over there that will lead to Damascus destruction, and or Gog Magog eventually. It's NOT the destruction of Damascus right now though.

By saying that I don't mean it's insignificant.

I've often wondered what Syria would want to steal from Israel and the answer keeps coming up, LAND. Specifically the Golan Heights and any other chunk of territory they hold that used to belong to Syria. It belongs to Israel- the Golan was ancient Danite territory and if Syria loses a chunk of border zone with Israel beyond the Golan which is being talked of, then I could see some future Syrian govt out of Damascus wanted to start something to take it back.

And that would fulfill this part of Isaiah 17:14

In the evening, sudden terror!
Before the morning, they are gone!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
the lot of those who plunder us
.

Which suggests that the whole thing starts over something that Syria tries to plunder from Israel. But whenever that goes down we will see it happen overnight. By morning it's over.

The fact that Russian, Iranian and Turkish backed Rebels are fighting Assad's regime and each other in Syria is weakening the Ezek 38 alliances which is what should happen if Gog Magog isn't right around the corner.

God may well be using this to restrain the evil in all 3, hold it back a little while yet. The Restrainer.

And the rest of the nations being weird, well that's normal.

Korea is being it's usual strange self whether we are talking the dumpling of doom in the North, or the south which seems to have flirted awfully close to a dictatorship down there.

France, what can we say, every time they meddle in the Middle East it bites them but they don't learn. France AND Germany have been a pain in the backside for Israel and now they have better things to worry about.
 
And that would fulfill this part of Isaiah 17:14

In the evening, sudden terror!
Before the morning, they are gone!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
the lot of those who plunder us
.

Which suggests that the whole thing starts over something that Syria tries to plunder from Israel. But whenever that goes down we will see it happen overnight. By morning it's over.
Without limiting it to one specific country such as Syria, I find this sentence in Isaiah 17:14 very interesting-- "In the evening, sudden terror! Before the morning, they are gone!" I find it interesting because when this was written warfare was a daytime affair. Armies fought until night. Even up until the second World War most decisive actions took place during the day. But Israel often fights at night, specifically using its formidable Air Force. When Israel decides to strike, the news gives us pictures and sound of the alarm and fear in the country being attacked by Israel. They show air raid warnings in the other country, the anti-aircraft fire, and often explosions. We know something's happening, but not exactly what. Then morning light comes, And we can see that the enemy facilities that Israel had targeted are no more. It happens like the description in Isaiah 17:14. I just find it interesting that in reference to the enemies of Israel, the Bible foresaw this 2,700 years ago!
 
I woke up to headlines that the Assad regime has fallen. Wonder what that’s going to mean for the situation over there?

Assad was a long time ally of Russia and Iran. If Russia is unable to keep it's naval and air force base in Syria, it'll be a serious strategic setback for Russia.

With Syria in the hands of enemies of Iran, it's unlikely that weapons flow from Iran to Hezbollah can continue overland.

Iran's world is crumbling fast.

Of course, we don't know who the new rulers of Syria will ally with.
 
Seems like you can get news from places like X and Telegram about 12-24 hours sooner than the lamestream media manages to publish it.
If the lame stream media ever publishes it.

But the problem with trust remains in both places. When the mainstream media was in fact made up of legitimate news operations, they would curate the information to try and determine what was correct before passing it on to the consumer. Since the MSM has become a propaganda arm controlled by globalists and leftists (which more and more have become the same thing) you cannot trust what they tell you or believe you're getting all of the information available. But, on the other hand, since there is no real control of the information on social media sites such as X and Telegram, you have no idea how what you see has been curated. Therefore not only are you getting rumors, opinions and raw information, but information that may not be true, and information that is being carefully selected to suit somebody's agenda without knowing there is an agenda or what that agenda is. At least with the traditional news media when it was operating ethically, you knew.

It's a wild, wild world out there these days! And information consumers no longer have a sheriff in town.
 
But, on the other hand, since there is no real control of the information on social media sites such as X and Telegram, you have no idea how what you see has been curated.
I understand, but with minimal discernment a user of X can select reliable sources. For Israel I follow Carolyn Glick, IDF, Joel Rosenberg, Dr. Eli David, Mosab Hassan Yousef (aka Son of Hamas) and three former Israeli spokesmen. For breaking news on any military action there is a resource who goes by OSINT and I began following him due to Elon Musk who recommended a handful of citizen journalists reporting on Oct. 7, ‘23 accurately. For USA news, including antisemitism, I follow Libs of Tik-tok, Riley Gaines, Megyn Kelly, Jesse Watters, Joe Rogan, Bill Ackman (non-news billionaire who is Jewish), etc. In general news sources citizen journalists, are Andy Ngo, Barri Weiss, Ian Miles Cheong, Michael Shellenberger, and two citizen journalists from Europe: Peter Sweden, Oli London, plus Eva Vlaardingerbroek, Nigel Farage, and Rebel News; legal stuff: Aaron Siri, Judicial Watch, Jordan Sekulow, etc., and medical stuff Frontline Doctors, RFK Jr., Highwire Del Bigtree, Dr. Peter Mccoughlif (sp), Chief Nerd, etc., political stuff, The Daily Wire, Dinesh D’Souza, Cat Turd, Mike Benz, James Lindsay, Victor Davis Hanson, Jim Jordan, Steve Scalise, etc.

Unlike major networks, on X you can openly question these experts and decide for yourself. Many network news celebrities can not handle the comments they get on X so they shut off comments or leave X. The elites can’t handle any questions that cast doubt on how superior their truth is.

Yes @mattfivefour we need to exercise caution with all news. I’ve found X to be the most quickly vetted and reliable.
 
Political commentator from X, Mosab Hassan Yousef:

“The sudden collapse of Assad's regime will most likely lead the Middle East region from bad to worse. Al Julani may have succeeded in conquering Damascus, but serious adversaries with great blood feuds surround him:
  • Hizbullah in Lebanon (Shi'i)
  • Muqtada Al Sadr in Iraq (Shi'i),
  • Kurds in the north (Sunni),
  • Israel in the southeast (Jewish),
  • king of Jordan in the south (Sunni).
  • Other Islamic groups in Syria (Alawi and Sunni)
Conquering Damascus and the sudden power shift will only increase the bloodlust of Sunni, Shii, and Alawi Muslims as other religious and ethnic minorities (Israel, Kurds, Druze, Yazidis, and Christians) brace for impact.

The blood feud between the conflicted groups, Suni vs. Suni, Sunni vs. Shi'i, and Muslim vs. Non-Muslim, is as old as the ancient city of Damascus, and I don't see how the opposing forces can reconcile their differences peacefully, especially with the ambition of the new ruler of Damascus who want to establish A Sunni Islamic state throughout the region. The rise of this new Islamic force is a Direct threat to the king of Jordan, Israel, and the Arab oil dictatorships, and the absence of a dominant force will most likely lead to a long conflict and instability in the entire region. Taken Damascus was a defeat to Russia, China, and the Islamic Republic in Tehran, who had been relying on Assad's brutal dictatorship to keep foot in the oil region. In a clever posture, the terrorist leader, Al Julani, has been posing as a pragmatic leader to gain regional and international recognition; a few regional powers may support him (Turkey, for example) at the expense of religious and ethnic minorities, enabling him to gain more power, which might have devastating consequences on the long term. This significant and sudden change came amid the war between Israel and the Islamic Republic and its proxies, which may develop for the worse in the next few months. The Middle East is moving into the unknown, and a military-ethnic-religious war is inevitable.”
 
For Israel I follow Carolyn Glick, IDF, Joel Rosenberg, Dr. Eli David, Mosab Hassan Yousef (aka Son of Hamas) and three former Israeli spokesmen. For breaking news on any military action there is a resource who goes by OSINT and I began following him due to Elon Musk who recommended a handful of citizen journalists reporting on Oct. 7, ‘23 accurately. For USA news, including antisemitism, I follow Libs of Tik-tok, Riley Gaines, Megyn Kelly, Jesse Watters, Joe Rogan, Bill Ackman (non-news billionaire who is Jewish), etc. In general news sources citizen journalists, are Andy Ngo, Barri Weiss, Ian Miles Cheong, Michael Shellenberger, and two citizen journalists from Europe: Peter Sweden, Oli London, plus Eva Vlaardingerbroek, Nigel Farage, and Rebel News; legal stuff: Aaron Siri, Judicial Watch, Jordan Sekulow, etc., and medical stuff Frontline Doctors, RFK Jr., Highwire Del Bigtree, Dr. Peter Mccoughlif (sp), Chief Nerd, etc., political stuff, The Daily Wire, Dinesh D’Souza, Cat Turd, Mike Benz, James Lindsay, Victor Davis Hanson, Jim Jordan, Steve Scalise, etc
That's a really good list, Hol!
 
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