STRATFOR – a private global intelligence firm has published an article showing that a Russian base has been attacked by ISIS in Syria.
In Ezekiel 38, God says to Gog (latter day Russia):
… I will put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet.
Hooks in Jaws: why did God choose to use a violent analogy?
The placing of ‘hooks in jaws’ was a brutal tradition conceived by the ancient neo-Assyrian’s.
The Assyrian’s typically put hooks in the jaws of defeated enemies, either for the purposes of humiliation or to deport them to other lands. This practices is often described in their annuls, and graphically depicted in their wall relief’s.
~ The IVP Bible Background Commentary
Why does God choose to use an ancient Assyrian practice to explain how he will drag Russia south to build a confederacy?
Perhaps because it would be an Assyrian like power – ISIS – that would provoke Russia to move South, and establish and guard a confederacy of nations.
Here is an article that deals briefly with some of the similarities between the Assyrian’s and ISIS:
Some similarities are listed here:
Both powers are known for executing absolute and excessive barbarity, and subsequently advertising it to their enemies. For example, enemies of the ancient Assyrian regime were beheaded in public, and the walls of their cities were lined with impaled men, women and children in order to send a message to their enemies. In the 21st century, ISIS use social media and other technologies to project their gruesome decapitations to the world.
The capital of the ancient Assyrian empire was located in Nineveh. Today, The Islamic States biggest city – Mosul – surrounds the ruins of Nineveh, and is the hometown of ISIS.
The Assyrian’s wiped out virtual all culture prior to them as do ISIS today.
Women were forced into slavery by the ancient Assyrian’s as they are today, under ISIS
So there are many indicators which show that ISIS bears many of the hallmarks of the ancient neo-Assyrian empire.
Is ISIS the Hooks in the Jaws that we are witnessing today?
Since a very public announcement from Putin a day ago, questions have been raised as to how true this announcement is.
Acute observers have made the point that Russia isn’t actually withdrawing much, and that fixed strategic assets like the S-400 – which just happens to be the most important military asset – will remain just where it was setup only a few months ago. The S-400 allows Russia to control much of Syrian and Israeli airspace, and it also gives Russia an dominant edge over any Turkish-Syrian conflict. Not even the US has anything that can combat the S-400.
A withdrawal? I don’t think so.
I made the comment earlier that while Russia seems to be reducing its active military operations, it is effectively leaving behind a highly scalable contingent meaning that wouldn’t be too hard for Russia to sweep down harder and faster at another time.
the door will remain open for a swift return, should Moscow deem it necessary.
Daniel and Ezekiel describe the Russian invasion as swift as a ‘whirlwind’, and a ‘storm’ – and we now see that the infrastructure is in place for such an invasion.
In an article entitled ‘Don’t trust the Russian pullback’, Bloomberg makes the point that Putin did the same thing during the Ukraine war; he said he would withdraw forces from Ukraine – and nothing happened.
Putin used a similar signaling method in June 2014, as talks were beginning to hammer out what became the first Minsk cease-fire for eastern Ukraine. Late that month, Putin asked his rubber-stamp upper house of parliament to withdraw permission for him to conduct military actions in Ukrainian territory. Russia never officially conducted any, though Russian troops, instructors and weapons were even then being sent to aid pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine. Nonetheless, Putin, according to his spokesman Dmitry Peskov, considered the announcement an appropriate gesture as negotiations between the rebels, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were beginning.
If you were in any doubt that Putin was employing the same strategy, hear it from the mouth of the Moscow Times;
The Russian Air Force will continue to conduct strikes on terrorist targets operating in Syria, the Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, one day after President Vladimir Putin announced a partial withdrawal of his forces from the war-torn republic.
Given the amount of speculation, it would be premature to simply believe either US or Russian propaganda, but in the mean time, Daniel 8:25 gives us an insight into the kind of king that will rule in the latter day – and it describes just the kind of behaviour that we see from Putin.
“And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.”
Finally, its also important to remember that while we tend to place much emphasis on Russia as a yardstick for the return of Christ, that Russia may not even invade until after Christ has returned. A more accurate sign of the imminent return of Christ is found in Revelation 16 – read more about that here.
Putin puts military on HIGH ALERT in South West (near Turkey)
European leaders meet in Rome to discuss their problems
Russia is ‘trying to draw Turkey into a fight’
Vladimir Putin puts Russian troops on high alert as part of massive military drills
Large-scale military drills across south-west Russia intended to test the troops’ readiness amid continuing tensions with the West
President Vladimir Putin has scrambled thousands of troops and hundreds of warplanes across southwestern Russia for large-scale military drills intended to test the troops’ readiness amid continuing tensions with the West.
Shoigu said the manoeuvres will also engage airborne troops and military transport aviation, as well as the navy. He noted that the drills are intended to check the troops’ ability to respond to extremist threats and other challenges.
According to Shoigu, who spoke at a meeting with the top military brass, the war games would include redeployment of air force units to advance air bases and bombing runs at shooting ranges. The manoeuvres will test the troops’ mobility, with some being deployed to areas up to 3,000 kilometres (1,860 miles) away, the military said.
KOSTROMA REGION, RUSSIA. JANUARY 23, 2016. Servicemen of the 98th Guards Airborne Division of the Russian Airborne Troops descending with parachutes during military exercises.
Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov said in a statement that up to 8,500 troops, 900 ground weapons, 200 warplanes and about 50 warships will be involved in the drills.
KOSTROMA REGION, RUSSIA. JANUARY 23, 2016. Servicemen of the 98th Guards Airborne Division of the Russian Airborne Troops descending with parachutes during military exercises.
The exercises are the latest in a series of major drills intended to strengthen the military’s readiness. They have continued despite the nation’s economic downturn.
Even though a drop in global oil prices has drained the government’s coffers and helped drive the economy into recessions, the Kremlin has continued to spend big on the military, funding the purchase of hundreds of new aircraft, tanks and missiles.
ROME – The European Union faces “critical times” and all its members should set aside selfish interests to tackle problems such as immigration and terrorism, the bloc’s six founding nations said on Tuesday.
A week after the EU accepted that some members may never go further in sharing sovereignty, as part of the price for keeping Britain in the club, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg pledged to pursue “ever closer union” at a meeting in Rome, where they founded the bloc in 1957.
“We are concerned about the state of the European project,” the foreign ministers of the Six said in a statement after their talks. “Indeed, it appears to be facing very challenging times. It is in these critical times that we, as founding members, feel particularly called upon.”
The meeting was held against the backdrop of deep division in the 28-nation bloc over how to handle the flows of hundreds of thousands of migrants arriving in Europe fleeing war and failing states in the Middle East and North Africa.
It also came a week after Brussels agreed a draft deal with Britain Prime Minister David Cameron that, among other things, reaffirmed the limitations of a treaty commitment to pursue the “ever closer union” of the peoples of Europe, part of a package to help Cameron campaign before a referendum that the EU’s second biggest economy should continue its 43-year membership.
While acknowledging that the Union “allows for different paths of integration”, the original signatories of the Treaty of Rome declared: “We remain resolved to continue the process of creating an ever closer union among the people of Europe.”
Meeting in Italy, which has been in the frontline of a wave of migration to Europe across the Mediterranean, the ministers also stressed the need to overcome divisions on the EU response.
Hungary and Austria this week called for fences on the Macedonian and Bulgarian borders with Greece and between Austria and Slovenia, and several states have called into question the Schengen accord on free circulation inside the EU.
The statement called for better management of the Union’s external borders in order to make them more secure while preserving Schengen and not hampering freedom of movement.
It contained no concrete policy proposals, but said Europe “is successful when we overcome narrow self-interest in the spirit of solidarity”.
The Russian Ministry of Defence warned Turkey against launching a military incursion into Syria last week, announcing on Thursday that it had seen “growing signs” that Turkish forces were preparing to intervene to bolster rebel forces battling pro-regime troops in the north.
Some experts say, however, that Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be trying to bait Turkey into entering the Syrian battlefield in order to retaliate for Ankara’s decision to down a Russian warplane in November.
“Russia is trying to draw Turkey into a fight to avenge the downing of its jet. Putin is confident he can win,” retired Brig. Gen. Naim Baburoglu, an adviser to the Ankara-based National Security and Foreign Policy Research Center, told al-Monitor last week.
“He also needs this to counter domestic difficulties. Downing one or two Turkish F-16s will make him a hero at home,” Baburoglu added. “It will also be a serious embarrassment to Turkey and the Turkish air force.”
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan initially denied reports that Turkish forces were preparing to cross the border. But on Sunday, Erdogan signalled that Turkey would be prepared to intervene in Syria if asked by its coalition partners.
“We don’t want to fall into the same mistake in Syria as in Iraq,” Erdogan told reporters on Sunday, according to the Turkish daily newspaper Hurriyet. “If … Turkey was present in Iraq, the country would have never have fallen into its current situation.”
He added: “It’s important to see the horizon. What’s going on in Syria can only go on for so long. At some point it has to change.”
Erdogan, a staunch opponent of the Russian-backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was at least partly referring to the Syrian Kurds’ sustained expansion westward along the Turkish-Syrian border. That push has largely been facilitated by Russian airstrikes targeting Syrian rebel groups backed by Turkey, the US, and Saudi Arabia.
Signs of growing coordination between Moscow and the Kurds came to a head last week when Syria’s main Kurdish militia, the YPG, helped Russia and the Syrian army isolate Azaz — a strategically important city long used by Turkey to funnel aid and supplies to rebels in the city of Aleppo.
“I don’t think there is any doubt that the YPG and Russia are coordinating in the Azaz corridor,” Aaron Stein, an expert on Turkish affairs and Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, told Business Insider on Monday.
He added: “The YPG have taken advantage of the airstrikes to advance in areas south of Azaz, in what looks like a strategy to connect the Efrin canton with Kobane and Jazira. The PYD have consistently made clear, both in private and in public, that they can reach a common understanding with local groups in the area, and install a governing council inside the city.”
As Turkish-Russian relations continue to deteriorate, Russia’s military and political ties to the Kurds are getting stronger. Russia is reportedly looking to open a second air field in the Kurdish-held Syrian city of Qamishli, and the Kurds have said they will open their first “representation office” in Moscow later this week.
“The PYD’s office in Moscow has been months in the making,” Stein said. “The PYD — and by extension, the PKK — are eager to escape from international isolation. Any country willing to de-facto recognise them as a legitimate political group, and not a foreign terrorist organisation, is a net positive for the group.”
Fabrice Balanche, a leading expert on Syria and visiting fellow at the Washington Institute, broached the limits of the US’ political support for the Kurds in an analysis last week.
“Unlike the United States, Russia does not want to antagonize the Kurds by prohibiting their deeply held goal of territorial unification,” he wrote.
“Vladimir Putin wants to put pressure on Turkey’s entire frontier with Syria,” Balanche added. Indeed, “it is one of the main regional goals of the Russian intervention.”
That the Kurds are now closer than ever to linking their territories east of the Euphrates with the Kurdish-controlled city of Efrin in the west — a move that would cross Turkey’s “red line” and allow the Kurds to consolidate their de-facto state of Rojava along Turkey’s southern border — may be enough to draw Turkey into the war.
“The Turkish army is very conservative and risk averse,” Jeff White, a defence analyst focusing on the security fairs of the Levant at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Business Insider in an email.
“So while willing to protect its borders, I doubt we will see any large scale operations in Syria — with one possible exception: unification of the Kurdish enclaves/Rojava.”
If the Kurds were to unify their cantons, Turkey might be compelled to intervene to prevent them from forming a statelet along the Turkish border, White noted. And that would be a game-changer.
“The Turkish army could defeat any opponents in its chosen areas of operation,” White said. “Direct Turkish intervention, if on a substantial scale, could dramatically change the situation.”
Incidentally, rumours of a Turkish military intervention began circulating days after Saudi Arabia declared that it would be prepared to send ground troops to Syria to fight the Islamic State “if asked” by its allies.
As such, “Turkey is no longer acting alone,” Middle East analyst Elijah Magnier noted on Twitter last week. Though it remains “highly unlikely” that Turkey will invade Syria, Magnier said that if it did, “Russia would celebrate.”
At this point, the Russian Foreign minister has indicated that Russia “does not want to go to war with Turkey”.
HOWEVER, the crisis is far from over – Russia is beginning to hurt Turkey in other ways:
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has urged the country’s citizens to defer all travel to Turkey and advised all Russians currently in Turkey to depart as soon as possible.
Russia immediately deployed advanced air defence in Syria, placing herself in a far better defensive position from which to launch an invasion in future.
Instinctively, Russia begun bombarding Turkmen insurgents, who have ethnic ties to Turkey — ignoring demands made by Turkey over the past week to end its military operations close to the Turkish border.
Russia is planning and executing a range of economic sanctions against Turkey.
Russia is denying entry to Turkish citizens.
The Kremlin has arrested a number of Turkish businessmen in Russia.
Russian no longer considers Turkey to be an ally.
Its hard for anyone to see how this situation might de-escalate in the long term especially as this incident seems to be a symptom of a broader historical problem between the Russians and Turks.
Given the trail of prophetic fulfillment over the last few months who knows what might happen next. We await in anticipation!
Here is a summary of events over the last few days.
Russia sent guided missiles from warships in the Caspian sea over Iran & Iraq into Syria.
Russia has launched at least 26 cruise missiles against ISIS from the Caspian sea, this means that they would’ve gone through Iraq & Iran airspace before hitting ISIS in Syria.
Live footage provided by the Russian Military:
Huge oil discovery on the Golan Heights.
The Elohim are ratcheting up the tension between Israel & Russia.
Now that Russia is in Syria, multiple sources confirm that Israel has found another HUGE discovery, this time its an oil discovery in an area of land that Russia is watching very closely – the Golan Heights.
Russian media has been very quick to note that ownership of the heights is strongly contested between Syria & Israel.
“and thou shalt think an evil thought” – Ezek 38
Reports that Putin is sending elite forces into Syria
UNVERIFIED reports continue to allege that Putin is sending elite special forces into Syria.
The Express & Mirror have also been reporting that Putin has conscripted 150,000 standard troops for the task.
This remains unverified and contradicts Putin’s official statement on the issue so far.
Russian jets cross the Turkish border scrambling a reaction from NATO.
When it happened the first time, Turkey summed Russias ambassador who apologized for the ‘accident’.
When it happened the second time, Russia denied it, NATO confirmed it, and Turkey threatened to not be so congenial next time.
Bible Prophecy & Current Events 