This week, Putin said this about ISIS:

“We will search for them everywhere, wherever they are hiding. We will find them in any spot on the planet, and we will punish them”

A few weeks ago, we reflected on Deuteronomy 28 where God said to Israel that if they neglected his ways, that God would punish them by sending a nation against them, a nation with a fierce countenance. Russia is exhibiting a fierce countenance and while it doesn’t yet have its eye on Israel, it is being dragged down into the Middle East.

We also had a brief look at three distinct and well documented characteristics about Putin which are very similar to what we might expect Gog to show. One of these characteristics – his tendency to quickly resort to overpowering violence –  manifested in a key event which catapulted Putin into the seat of Presidential power; the decisive crushing of the Chechen military.

Chechnya is made up of a strong Islamic population so in many respects Putin comes to the Syrian war table with much experience handling Islamic ‘terrorists’.

Incidentally, while 16,000 militants were killed in the Chechen war, up to 80,000 civilians died demonstrating that Putin has little care for collateral and this is perhaps the deciding factor that will turn the fortunes that ISIS have experienced up till now.

So far in Syria, Putin’s military has exhibited nothing short of a ‘fierce’ intensity. For example, when comparing Russian and US bombing in Syria, the numbers speak for themselves:

Syria comparison: US vs Russia

	United States	Russia
Time in Syria	14 Months	48 Days
Sorties (Bombing flights)	2642	2450

This week alone, the Russians have

• Doubled the number of war-planes based in Syria to 69 (Not including their long range strategic bombers)
• Launched 101 air and sea based cruise missiles
• Launched a further 1400 tons of air bombs for a different purpose

Terrorist groups like ISIS are suffering significant losses – over 600 militants were killed by one cruise missile strike made against one of facilities near Deir ez-Zor.

As the Russian military begins to throw its weight against the Islamic State, we consider the question: Are ISIS the ‘Hooks in the Jaws’ Spoken of by Ezekiel?

The following videos were taken and published this week by the Russian Ministry of Defence:

Pilots and technicians of Hmeymim airbase have sent by ‘priority airmail’ their message to terrorists: “This is for Paris”

Massive strike with cruise missiles Kalibr-NK was made from the water zone of the Caspian Sea against terrorist objects in Raqqah, Idlib and Aleppo provinces.

Combat sorties of the Long-range aviation of the Russian Air Force against terrorists in Syria:

Su-30SM fighters met and escorted Tu-160s, which launched cruise missiles over the Mediterranean:

 

Related Posts:

• The Symbol of a Nation of Fierce Countenance
• 3 Similarities between Putin & Gog
• Russia’s occupation of Syria & Iraq in the prophets
• Are ISIS the ‘Hooks in the Jaws’ Spoken of by Ezekiel?