Weekly update: Iran gears up for major confrontation against Israel
This report is based on an article published by Dutch foreign affairs journalist and Middle East expert Jan van Benthem in Nederlands Dagblad on 24th July.
Van Benthem reports that while the Brits and Europeans are staring at the Iranian provocations in the Strait of Hormuz, it would appear that Iran is preparing its proxies Hamas and Hezbollah for a major attack on Israel – from the south and north.
Hamas
To the south of Israel, Iran is busy equipping Hamas and Islamic Jihad to use high-performance weapons against Israel, to destroy the “Zionists entity” (ie. Israel).
The ayatollah – alias the leader of the Islamic Revolution – Seyed Ali Khamenei, received a Hamas delegation this week in Tehran. The Hamas representative, Saleh al-Arouri, handed the Ayatollah a letter from the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. They agreed: ‘Hamas is at the core of the fight against Israel’.
According to the Ayatollah: “Not so many years ago, the Palestinians were fighting using stones. But today, instead of stones, they are equipped with precision missiles, and this is feeling advancement.” Those rockets are supplied by Iran.
After presenting the Leader of the Islamic Revolution with regards and well wishes of Mr. Ismail Haniyeh and the people of Palestine, Mr. Saleh al-Arouri, Deputy Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau maintained: “As you pointed out, we believe that based on the divine promise, Qods, and Palestine will be freed from the tyranny of the Zionists, and all of the fighters of God, and the Muslim Ummah will perform prayers at the Al-Aqsa mosque.”
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According to the The Arab Weekly, ‘Israeli fighter jets have attacked trucks, said to be carrying Iranian weapons from Sinai to the Gaza Strip, from last November and through May 2019. The trucks carried missiles, weapons and explosives from Libya on the road to Gaza, Israeli media said. One of the trucks allegedly held Iranian missiles meant for Islamic Jihad, a militant faction in Gaza, Palestinian sources told the Israeli website i24NEWS.’
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Hezbollah
The other front that Iran is building is in Lebanon and the Syrian border with Israel. Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday accused Iran of exploiting civilian companies and maritime channels to smuggle weapons manufacturing equipment to its Lebanese proxy group, Hezbollah.
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Journalist Jesse Rosenfeld reports on The Daily Beast: ‘Hezbollah’s forces, battle-hardened in the Syrian civil war, have begun redeploying toward the Israeli border, not only in Lebanon, but in Syria opposite the Israeli-occupied side of the Golan Heights. Hezbollah fighters who spoke to The Daily Beast say their organization is hurting from sanctions and ready to initiate hostilities—if and when Tehran deems that necessary.’
Iraq
Iran is also working in Iraq to prepare for war against Israel. According to Middle East expert Michael Pregent in Al Arabiya, ‘Iran opened a new front in its regional war, exploiting American weakness in Iraq to use the country as a base to target the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and threaten US interests in the region.’
This includes possible war against Israel. Pregent writes that Kata’ib Hezbollah, the Iraqi militia and designated terrorist group created, funded, and directed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards – Quds Force (IRGC-QF), ‘has been trained by the IRGC-QF and Lebanese Hezbollah to fire advanced guided missiles from Southern Syria to Israel’.
Read article..
Iran’s plans for conflict
According to van Benthem, these are all signs that Iran is deliberately preparing for an attack on Israel. ‘This huge conflict that Iran is preparing is barely noticed in the media. Through Iran’s supply of weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah, the next conflict will be far more devastating than the previous conflicts with Gaza (2014) and Lebanon (2006). Western leaders should not be too distracted by the capture of the British tanker. That is insignificant compared with what Iran has prepared, and is preparing, for the next huge conflict. And that is not in the Strait of Hormuz.’
Let us pray at this time for the protection of Israel. Pray for the leaders of the nations, that they will have wisdom in deciding how to manage the Iranian threats. Especially for new UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the leaders of EU member states, and US President Donald Trump.
Pray for the leaders and people of Iran – Biblical Persia – that they will turn from their hatred of the Jewish people. And for the people of Iran, that they will be freed of a dictatorial leadership, and enter into the friendship with Israel that the Bible promises.
Further reading/viewing:
- Click here to go to the article by Jan van Benthem (Dutch language)
- Rev. Willem Glashouwer on The Signs of the Times:
Scriptures for the week:
The word of the Lord came to me:“Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshek and Tubal; prophesy against him and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshek and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army—your horses, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords. Persia, Cush and Put will be with them, all with shields and helmets, also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops—the many nations with you.
“‘Get ready; be prepared, you and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them. After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.
“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land.” Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all her villages will say to you, “Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?”’
“Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In that day, when my people Israel are living in safety, will you not take notice of it? You will come from your place in the far north, you and many nations with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army. You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud that covers the land. In days to come, Gog, I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me when I am proved holy through you before their eyes.’
(Ezekiel 38:1-16)
In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”
(Isaiah 19:23-25)
Andrew Tucker
Editor-in-Chief – Israel & Christians Today
The goal of Israel & Christians Today is to help Christians to take God’s Word seriously, and study current events in the world in the context of the Bible.
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