blog.Tribulationperiod.com

AN EXPOSITION OF CHAPTER 11 OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL – BLOG 7

July 22, 2011

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

(ARCHIVE BLOG 6 WAS ISSUED JULY 10, 2011)

God’s prophecies He has fulfilled in the past are assurance to each new generation He will perform those yet to be fulfilled.

Isaiah 41:18-23 – I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. [19] I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: [20] That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One

of Israel hath created it. [21] Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. [22] Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.

[23] Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.

BLOG 6 ENDED WITH AN EXPOSITION OF DANIEL 11:42

Rebellion is preparing the way for the rise of an Islamic Antichrist

To the North of Israel in What was once called ‘Greater Syria’

It is likely to start a Middle East War twixt 2013 and 2015

I have long been an admirer of the articles written by Daniel Pipes. I have long believed the bulk of the major forces involved in the Daniel 11:40 counterattack against Israel, would be Syria, Turkey, and Lebanon.

I believe Jordan will support these three AFTER the counterattack begins, which is one of the reasons Jordan is bypassed by Antichrist on his way to attack Egypt AFTER he drives Israel in

to the Negev Wilderness. Many other African and Middle East Islamic countries will very quickly announce their full support of his action when they see the success of his counterattack against an Israeli intrusion into Lebanon against Hizbullah.

THIS IS THE CONTINUATION OF THE ATTACK BY THE KING OF THE NORTH WITH THE MAJORITY OF HIS ATTACKING FORCE INITIALLY COMING FROM SYRIA, TURKEY, AND LEBANON. ONCE JORDAN SEES THE ANTICHRIST (KING OF THE NORTH) IS SUCCESSFUL IN PUSHING ISRAEL (KING OF THE SOUTH) TOWARD THE NEGEV, THE MAJORITY PALESTINIAN POPULATION WILL DEPOSE THEIR KING, AND SUPPORT THIS LEADER FROM GREATER SYRIA. IT IS ONE OF THE REASONS HE WILL BYPASS JORDAN, LEAVE ISRAEL CUT OFF IN THE NEGEV, AND HEAD STRAIGHT FOR CAIRO AND EGYPT TO GAIN CONTROL OF THE SUEZ CANAL. EGYPT WILL REMAIN NEUTRAL WHEN THE ANTICHRIST KING FROM GREATER SYRIA ATTACKS ISRAEL AND WILL BE SHOCKED WHEN HE HEADS ACROSS THE NORTHERN SINAI TO CONQUER SUEZ.

Daniel 11:40-42 – And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries,

and shall overflow and pass over. [41] He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. [42] He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

The shortest, most compact, and comprehensive definition of the term “Greater Syria” I have encountered, follows in an advertisement by Google eBook for Daniel Pipes’ Book, which immediately follows:

Begin Advertisement

Greater Syria:

The History of an Ambition (Google eBook)

Daniel Pipes

Oxford University Press US, 1992 – History – 256 pages

“[While for many years scholars and journalists have focused on the more obvious manifestations of political life in the Middle East, one major theme has been consistently neglected.

This is Pan-Syrian nationalism–the dream of creating a Greater Syria out of an area now governed by SYRIA, LEBANON, ISRAEL, JORDAN, AND TURKEY. Though not nearly as well

known as Arab or Palestinian nationalism and hardly studied in depth, Pan-Syrianism has had a profound effect on Middle Eastern politics since the end of World War I. In Greater Syria, the noted Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes provides the first comprehensive account of this intriguing, important, and little understood ideology.]”

End Advertisement

Begin Excerpt from REUTERS via THE JERUSALEM POST

Hundreds of thousands protest in Syria, 11 killed

By REUTERS

07/22/2011 17:48

Tanks deployed in Homs where five are killed overnight; six shot in Damascus suburb of Mleeha; police, militia beat Kurdish protesters in northeast.

AMMAN – Syrian forces shot dead at least 11 people and hundreds of thousands demanded an end to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s autocratic rule in widening protests on Friday, rights activists and witnesses said.

Five civilians were killed overnight in Homs, 165 km (100 miles) north of the capital Damascus, when tanks were deployed to halt protests in the besieged city, residents said.

RELATED:

Gunfire echos in Homs as Syria cracks down

Syria: Assad loyalists kill 10 in attacks in Homs

A further six were later shot dead in protests in the Damascus suburb of Mleeha, in Homs, and in the Idlib area in the northwest, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the National Organization for Human Rights said.

The four-month-old uprising is the biggest challenge to Assad’s authority since he succeeded his father 11 years ago and it is spreading.

Rights activists reported protests after Friday prayers in several places — the Medan district of Damascus, Latakia on the coast, Deraa in the south and Deir al-Zor in the east — as well as Homs, the latest focus of the armed crackdown on protesters.

“Tanks and armored vehicles have deployed in Homs thoroughfares, but in every street adjacent to them there are people in the streets,” a resident of Homs, who gave his name as Osama, said by telephone.

Once confined to outlying towns and rural regions, the uprising has now taken a firm hold in cities such as Homs and Hama, scene of a 1982 massacre by the military.

In the first such crackdown on Kurds since the uprising began, dozens of people were wounded when police and militia used batons

and teargas against protesters in the mainly Kurdish northeastern city of Qamishli, witnesses said.

The protesters demanded political freedoms and an end to state-endorsed discrimination against Syria’s 1 million Kurds, as well as voicing solidarity with the protesters elsewhere.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included in formation

for research and educational purposes.

For more detailed information go to:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.

You may use material originated by this site. However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.

TRIBULATION SHAKING MAKES DEAD SEA A FRESH WATER LAKE

NORTHEAST SECTION OF MILLENNIAL DEAD SEA REMAINS SALTY

AS I SAID IN 1976 ‘TECTONIC CHAOS’ AND TAUGHT IN LECTURES

MAKES THE FOLLOWING EXCERPTS COME ALIVE IN EZEKIEL 47:11

July 22, 2011

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Ezekiel 47:10,11 – And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the

fish of the great sea, exceeding many. [11] But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt.

TAKE A LOOK AT SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 188B WHICH FOLLOWS THE TWO EXCERPTS FROM YNET NEWS.

Begin Excerpt 1 Selected Paragraphs from Ynet News

Gov’t backs salt harvest to prevent Dead Sea flooding

Environmental Protection, Tourism ministries come together to foil threat looming over hotels on Dead Sea’s south bank. Eco groups laud ‘environmentally responsible’ solution

Yael Darel

Published 05.31.11, 18:20 / Israel News

The solution to the flooding looming over the south banks of the Dead Sea will be to harvest the salt which is causing water levels to rise, Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan and Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov announced recently.

The solution was formulated by a government committee tasked with outlining a perennial development plan for the Dead Sea area, which includes preserving the area’s unique environment while boosting its economic standing.

The decision coincides with a report by the Dead Sea Preservation Government Company (HELI), which has been trying to devise a solution to the rising water level, which threatens the area’s booming hotel industry.

Water levels on the Dead Sea’s south shore, where the hotel strip is located, rise about 20cm a year; while remaining relatively stable on the north shore, as a result of their use by Dead Sea Works industries.

HELI’s environmental report concluded that the salt accumulated on the south basin of the Dead Sea must be harvested in order to foil the threat of flooding.

This recommendation is a significant achievement for various environmental groups, including the Society for Protection of Nature in Israel and Israel’s Nature and National Parks Service, as well as for the Dead Sea Hotels Association, all of which backed the possibility of a salt harvest.

[——-]

‘A brave decision’
The various environmental groups rooting for the salt harvest hailed the recommendation, saying that the salt harvest was the preferable solution, as it is “environmentally responsible.”

A salt harvest, they said in a statement, is “the only solution that allows for the continuous, unhindered operation of both the hotels and salt industries; while leaving the area’s environmental balance unharmed.”

Minister Erdan added that ” while salt harvest also has an environmental impact, eventually there is no other way.

In the long run we would have had to pursue it anyway. It is also the only reversible solution – if a better solution presents itself in the future we can always stop the harvest.”

Attorney Amit Bracha, CEO of the Israel Union for Environmental Defense, called on the Environmental Protection Ministry to further explore ways to minimize the effects Dead Sea Works operations have on the northern basin, saying investing government funds in rehabilitating the area should take precedent to investing in tourist attractions.

MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz), who heads the Dead Sea Lobby in the Knesset, welcomed the decision as well: “From day one we stresses that a salt harvest is the only way to solve the south basin crisis. The government has to implement its decision sooner rather than later.

We have no more time to waste.”

Begin Excerpt 2 Selected Paragraphs from Associated Press via YNet News

Dead Sea faces shrinking, flooding

While water level of fabled salty lake dropping nearly 4 feet a year, part of it is actually overflowing – threatening one of Israel’s key tourism destinations

Associated Press

Published 07.03.11, 08:01 / Israel Activism

The Dead Sea is dying, goes the conventional wisdom: The water level of the fabled salty lake is dropping nearly 1.2 meters (4 feet) a year. Less well known: Part of the lake is actually overflowing, threatening one of Israel’s key tourism destinations.

Israel is feverishly campaigning to have the Dead Sea – the lowest point on earth and repository of precious minerals – named one of the natural wonders of the world. At the same time, it’s racing to stabilize what it calls “the world’s largest natural spa” so hotels on its southern end aren’t swamped and tourists can continue to soak in the lake’s therapeutic waters.

Without intervention, “in five to 10 years, (the water) would flood the hotel lobbies, no question,” said Alon Tal, one of the researchers the government has commissioned to find a solution.

The Dead Sea is divided into a northern and southern basin, which are located at different elevations, largely disconnected and miles (kilometers) apart. That means the rising waters of the southern basin cannot simply pour into the shrinking basin in the north.

Heavy industrialization is what’s causing the waters on the southern basin to rise. Chemical companies have built evaporation pools there to extract lucrative minerals from the lake.

Millions of tons of salt are left annually on the floor of these pools, causing the water to rise 20 centimeters (8 inches) a year.

Israel’s tourism and environmental protection ministers are endorsing Tal’s most expensive proposal: A complex $2 billion plan to chip off the salt buildup on the part of the lake that’s rising and send it by conveyor belt to the northern end that’s dropping.

They’re also demanding that Dead Sea Works Ltd.

– the multibillion-dollar Israeli industry that mines the mineral-rich waters – foot the bill.

“As the polluters, they should pay,” said Roee Elisha, associate director of the Dead Sea Preservation Government Company Ltd., a branch of Israel’s Tourism Ministry.

One of Israel’s top tourism draws

The Dead Sea, which is linked to the sites of the biblical Sodom and Gomorra, runs more than 60 miles (100 kilometers) through Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. Its minerals have been sought after since ancient times: The pharaohs were embalmed with the lake’s natural asphalt lumps, and Cleopatra is said to have used its skin-rejuvenating salts and mud.

Today, the lake is one of Israel’s top tourism draws. Half of the 3.45 million tourists to Israel paid a stop there in 2010. Almost 200,000 stayed in the 4,000 hotel rooms along the lake. Locals flock there too, with more than 630,000 – or almost one in 10 Israelis – spending time at Dead Sea hotels last year.

Dead Sea tourism revenue totaled some $300 million last year, propping up an industry that accounts for thousands of jobs in a part of the country that otherwise offers limited employment opportunities.

Current efforts to preserve the Dead Sea as a natural treasure shine a spotlight on how extensively the lake has been exploited by modern industry — and how it paradoxically also depends on industry for its survival.

Israel’s Dead Sea Works and Jordan’s Arab Potash mine Dead Sea waters for potash and other minerals, exporting them worldwide for use in fertilizers, cosmetics, cars and laptops.

The southern basin now in danger of flooding nearly dried up before the chemical companies intervened. In the 1960s, Dead Sea Works dug a 16-kilometer (10-mile) canal to pump saltwater from the lake’s northern basin into its nearly parched southern end, turning it into a network of evaporation pools.

That pool is where the bulk of the Israeli hotels lie, and where tourists bob in filmy water so heavy with salt and minerals that they float.

But as the water rises, it encroaches on hotel beaches, where blobs of salt stick out near the shores and the salty floor sparkles in the turquoise waters. At one beach, stairs leading to the lake have become half-submerged, and a sun umbrella permanently affixed to the edge is now deep in the water.

‘Winning contest could help revive lake’

Dead Sea Works says it will foot some of the bill to dredge the salt from the evaporation pools and send it north, but is negotiating its share with the government, said Noam Goldstein, the company’s vice president of infrastructure.

Environmentalists accuse the company of profiting at the expense of the ecology. Its factory of smokestacks, pipes and levers looms at the tip of the lake, and its tractors sit high atop snow-white piles of potash.

The company counters that without it, tourists in Israeli hotels would have nothing to swim in – the hotels sit on the banks of their evaporation pools.

The salt dredging proposal still awaits a final government approval.

It’s the exact opposite problem at the Dead Sea’s northern basin, where the water level is dropping and a barren, pockmarked moonscape has replaced sandy beaches.

Old boardwalks that once led into the lake now stand in the middle of empty land. At one beach, bathers must ride a trolley to the lake’s edge.

Israel, Jordan and Syria are responsible for the northern Dead Sea’s dramatic shrinkage: They have redirected the Jordan River and its tributaries for drinking water, drastically reducing the amount that used to flow into the Dead Sea. The Israeli and Jordanian industries also pump out water from the sea for their evaporation pools.

[——-]

END 2 EXCERPTS FROM YNET NEWS

SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 188B

September 8, 2004

Tectonic Chaos was my first book published in the late seventies

Tectonic Chaos – Chapter 11 – Salty Sea to a Fresh Water Lake!

Figure 47 is a general summarization in a pictorial format of what has been presented thus far by a narrative discourse. It shows the area as I believe it will appear during the Millennium. Please note that the Dead Sea is forecast to become a living sea. At the present time, the Dead Sea is so saturated with salt and other solids that aquatic life forms cannot be supported. Fish that enter the Dead Sea from its tributaries perish shortly after their entrance. For centuries the elevated Arabah Fault to the south of the Dead Sea has prevented the waters of the Jordan River from reaching the Gulf of Aqaba (Eilat). Consequently, by a process of evaporation, more and more salt has been continuously added to the land-locked body of water Zechariah identifies as the former (eastern) Sea (See Archive Birth Pang Figure 47).

Zechariah 14:8 – And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

When God splits the Arabah Fault, during the tribulation period, a natural graben river valley will be formed between the blocking section of the fault structure, and the Jordan’s waters will finally be able to flow from the Dead Sea into the Red Sea by way of the Gulf of Aqaba. This will eventually clean most of the salt out of the Dead Sea, but the shallow northeastern sections will continue to have salt in coastline marsh areas. (See Archive Birth Pang Figures 47 and 48).

Ezekiel 47:6-12 – And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river. [7] Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. [8] Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. [9] And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. [10] And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. [11] But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt. [12] And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.

(See Archive Birth Pang Figures 47 and 48).

As we begin with verse six, we have just walked eastward a little over a mile (4,000 cubits) from the utter gate of the Jerusalem Millennial Temple, and have arrived at the brink of the diverted Jordan River. During our walk, we passed directly through the graben valley created during the tribulation period when the Mount of Olives divided into two sections, one moving to the north, and one moving to the south. The stream along which we walked developed after the Israelites fled to the Negev by way of the valley of the mountains. The area, through which the entire stream and Jordan River Complex is prophesied to flow, is one of the most fertile soul profiles in Israel. But no matter how fertile and perfectly zoned a soil profile is, unless there is water, no vegetation will spring up.

This has been the problem in this dry, arid region for centuries, but God is going to change all that. Trees, and all types of vegetation, will flourish along the length of these two living water rivers as they flow toward the Mediterranean and Dead Seas, and the remnant of Israel will use this new source of water to irrigate the desert lands of Judah and most of southern Israel. I am convinced Israel will become the breadbasket of the Middle East. When Judah’s water shed, to the west of

the line from Geba to Rimmon, lifts up as a fault block ridge, it will increase subterranean water flow into the spring that still flows under Jerusalem. The lifting along the Tyropoean Valley fault, just behind the Temple Mount Complex, will cause the spring to surface on the Temple platform just north of the Dome of the Rock, and it will flow eastward as a stream for a thousand years. As westerly winds being the moist Mediterranean air up the gentle slope of the uplifted western Judean watershed block complex, adiabatic cooling of the moist sea air, coupled with convective heating of the plain, will produce frequent periods of orographic and convective precipitation. Some of this rain will drift off the higher central watershed and fall on what are now arid sections of eastern and southern Judea. I also believe that more frontal activity will affect all Israel by increasing precipitation totals. Increased precipitation will not only water the soil profile directly, but increased occurrence to the west of Jerusalem will keep the water table supplied with ample water to feed Ezekiel’s temple spring continuously through the entire 1000 year reign of Christ. God will so structure the land and the climate that lack of water will no longer be a problem to the east of the line from Geba to Rimmon.

As verse 8 indicates, a part of this fresh water flows into “the east country” (east of the Mount of Olives), then “down (southward) into the desert” (desert of Judah and Arabah), then finally “into the sea” (Dead Sea). Once they are brought forth into the Dead Sea they cause water now there “to be healed” (the salt content is reduced sufficiently to start supporting aquatic life). This is all made possible by the opening of

the Arabah Fault into a channel that will allow the Dead Sea to drain most of its salt content into the Red Sea via the Gulf of Aqaba.

Verse 9 gives a clear prophecy that the Jordan River system, from its northern tip to its entry into the Gulf of Aqaba, will be filled with all sorts of aquatic life, this being made possible because the Dead Sea has been healed from its extremely high, life taking, salt content.

Verse 10 reveals that fishermen will fish for a great, exceeding variety of fish along the Dead Sea western shoreline from Engedi to Eneglaim (See Archive Birth Pang Figure 48). This entire shoreline is now barren of all aquatic life forms.

Verse 11 tells us that the northeastern zone of the Dead Sea will exist as a salt marsh because it will be out of the direct fresh water trajectory flowing into the western shoreline (See Archive Birth Pang Figure 48).

Verse 12 is a picture of a vast aggregate of all types of fruit producing trees. The fruit of the trees will be a part of the “meat” supply of the nation of Israel, and various extracts from the trees will be used for medicinal purposes. Ezekiel’s vision of great fertility in the wilderness of Judea is echoed by many of the prophets, in terms similar to those put forward by Isaiah, as he describes the effects the new hydrological changes will produce in the desolate zones of Israel.

Isaiah 35:1,2,6,7 –The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. [2] It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the Excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the Excellency of our God. [6] Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. [7] And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons (jackals), where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

The day is soon coming when God will so geologically reconstruct the topography of his Holy Land by a massive shifting of his tectonic plates, that the deserts and wildernesses of Judah shall be thoroughly irrigated with waters from a reorganized Jordan River tributary system. Where only jackals (dragons) now dwell, men and women will leap for joy like a hart, and Jewish tongues will sing praise to God for his great blessings of fertility. A vast green paradise will exist where only arid wasteland once appeared. One of these changes involved in the many that will be wrought by God, is the opening of a valley in the Arabah Fault block, which will allow the contents of the present Dead Sea to flush through it on the way to the Red Sea’s Gulf of Aqaba. At the present time there are convective currents of magma that flow upward into the lower sections on both sides of the Red Sea, which is causing the sea floor to spread apart at the rate of several centimeters per year. This same lake of magma underlies the entire length of the Jordan Valley, but, at the present time, the faults on both sides of it are locked, or “frozen” in place above the magma, and its upward convective currents are much more passive here than under the Red Sea (See Archive Birth Pang Figures 23, 24, 25, 27, and 38). However, when the present Red Sea floor spreading of the fault finally reaches its critical limits, at that time the northern, or “locked” portion, of the fault will suddenly burst open on both sides for a distance of about 185 miles from the Port of Aqaba (Eilat) northward, to become a raging inferno of volcanic smoke, pitch, and brimstone. The greatest restructuring will occur in that section or the fault block between the southern tip of the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. That section was known as Edom or Idumea during the time of most of the prophets (See Archive Birth Pang Figure 23). Isaiah writes of this catastrophic tribulation period ripping transformation of that land, which will form a new river channel to drain the Dead Sea.

Isaiah 34:4-10 – And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree. [5] For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.

[6] The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the Lord h ath

a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. [7] And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. [8] For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. [9] And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. [10] It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

This is a classic description of what geologists label as a “flood basalt plain,” and verse 10 indicates that some degree of volcanic activity will occur there off and on throughout the Millennium. The activity would appear to be such that only wild animals would live there during that period.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107

of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

For more detailed information go to:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.

You may use material originated by this site. However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.

Can the West come up with another killer Virus,

To avoid an attack by Israel on Iranian Nuke Sites,

By once again setting back Iranian Nuclear Program?

July 21, 2011

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The Iranians have been scurrying around like a group of beavers trying to patch a break in one of their dams. At the same time the West has been running to and fro frantically trying to create a new virus which will once again penetrate the Iranian nuclear dam, and produce another delay in its nuclear program. If the West creates such a virus it would likely delay an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The Three Following July Excerpts from the DEBKAfile, Jerusalem Post, and Ynet News discuss the fallout generated by Stuxnet virus on the Iranian nuclear program.

Hopefully, the West can develop another deadly virus to slip into the Iranian nuke program

Begin Excerpt from DEBKAfile

Stuxnet returns to bedevil Iran’s nuclear systems

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

July 20, 2011, 4:35 PM (GMT+02:00)

DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report that the Stuxnet malworm which played havoc with Iran’s nuclear program for eleven months was not purged after all. Tehran never did overcome the disruptions caused by Stuxnet or restore its centrifuges to smooth and normal operation as was claimed. Indeed, Iran finally resorted to the only sure-fire cure, scrapping all the tainted machines and replacing them with new ones.Iran provided confirmation of this Tuesday, July 19 in an announcement

that improved and faster centrifuge models were being installed.

Iran would clearly not have undertaken the major and costly project of replacing all its 5,000-6,000 centrifuges with new ones if they were indeed functioning smoothly.

The announcement was made by the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman at a press briefing although no one present had raised the nuclear issue. He said: “The installation of new centrifuges with better quality and speed is ongoing… this is another confirmation of the Islamic republic’s successful strides in its nuclear activities.”

Britain and France immediately condemned the announcement. It proved, official spokesmen commented, that Iran plans to triple the amount

of uranium it enriches in contravention of six UN Security Council Resolutions and defiance of ten International Atomic Energy Agency decisions in Vienna. The announcement also “confirmed suspicions that the Iranian nuclear program had no credible civilian application.”

In recent months, Iran has taken advantage of the West’s preoccupation with the Arab revolt to quietly forge ahead unnoticed with its weapons program. So if everything was moving smoothly forward why did Tehran suddenly decide to raise the touchy subject again?

Indeed, by doing so, the official spokesman placed in doubt the three major strides Iran was generally presumed to have made while the West was otherwise engaged:

1. The dramatic speeding-up of uranium enrichment and expansion of the quantities produced.

The West has no credible information, whether from intelligence, research, or nuclear watchdog inspections, as to how much enriched uranium Iran has produced and how much it has in stock.

As DEBKAfile reported previously, for the past six months, Iran managed to keep the full scope of its enrichment activities hidden from IAEA inspections. Although inspectors were allowed to visit Iran’s acknowledged enrichment facility at Natanz, they were unable to gauge how many active centrifuges were present and how many removed to unknown site or sites. The sophisticated cameras supposed to monitor the Natanz facility were unable to record all of Iran’s enrichment activities because key production sites were moved out of range.

2. The glitches bedeviling their centrifuge machines were overcome and all 5,000 were spinning away without interruption. After expunging the Stuxnet virus

which first struck in June 2010, all their nuclear program’s control systems and installations, including Natanz and the Russian-built Bushehr reactor, were functioning perfectly. It took Iranian and Russian computer and cyber-terrorism experts a year to cleanse the system. This gave security agencies their first indicator of the time it takes to overcome a large-scale, sophisticated cyber attack.

On July 5, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, head of Israeli military intelligence, said that Iran is currently running 5,000 active centrifuges and aiming for 8,000.

He made no reference to their replacement with newer and faster machines – which the Iranian spokesman disclosed suddenly last Tuesday.

3. The Iranians are engaged in the relocation of the centrifuges spinning 20-percent grade enriched uranium to a new underground facility at Fordo, 100 kilometers away near Qom. Tehran has rejected every European and IAEA demand to install monitoring and inspection equipment at the new facility which is therefore functioning without international oversight.

Those presumptions are now largely suspect.

Western intelligence sources tell DEBKAfile that until recently, the Iranians believed they had a clear road for enriching large quantities of high-grade uranium after solving technical obstructions and beating back the cyber attack.

But then, they were stunned to discover that the Stuxnet virus, far from being eradicated, was back with a vengeance and on the offensive against their centrifuges. Iran was forced to adopt a course it had avoided last year, namely to destroy the entire plant of approximately 5,000 working centrifuges and replace them all with new machines.

This decision led to the foreign ministry spokesman’s one-sentence announcement. He delivered it to pre-empt Iran’s enemies from picking up on the installation of the new centrifuges and making it public with the real reason for dumping the “smoothly” operating ones.

Begin Excerpt 2 from THE JERUSALEM POST

‘Stuxnet virus set back Iran’s nuclear program by 2 years’

By YAAKOV KATZ

12/15/2010 05:15

Top German computer consultant tells ‘Post’ virus was as effective as military strike, a huge success; expert speculates IDF creator of virus.

The Stuxnet virus, which has attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities and which Israel is suspected of creating, has set back the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program by two years, a top German computer consultant who was one of the first experts to analyze the program’s code told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

“It will take two years for Iran to get back on track,” Langer said in a telephone interview from his office in Hamburg, Germany. “This was nearly as effective as a military strike, but even better since there are no fatalities and no full-blown war. From a military perspective, this was a huge success.”

RELATED:

Ahmadinejad admits centrifuges damaged by virus

Iran nuke enrichment stopped; Stuxnet worm suspected

‘Stuxnet specifically targeted Iranian nuclear program’

Langer spoke to the Post amid news reports that the virus was still infecting Iran’s computer systems at its main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz and its reactor at Bushehr.

Last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog, said that Iran had suspended work at its nuclear-field production facilities, likely a result of the Stuxnet virus.

According to Langer, Iran’s best move would be to throw out all of the computers that have been infected by the worm, which he said was the most “advanced and aggressive malware in history.” But, he said, even once all of the computers were thrown out, Iran would have to ensure that computers used by outside contractors were also clean of Stuxnet.

“It is extremely difficult to clean up installations from Stuxnet, and we know that Iran is no good in IT [information technology] security, and they are just beginning to learn what this all means,” he said. “Just to get their systems running again they have to get rid of the virus, and this will take time, and then they need to replace the equipment, and they have to rebuild the centrifuges at Natanz and possibly buy a new turbine for Bushehr.”

Widespread speculation has named Israel’s Military Intelligence Unit 8200, known for its advanced Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) capabilities, as the possible creator of the software, as well as the United States.

Langer said that in his opinion at least two countries – possibly Israel and the United States – were behind Stuxnet.

Israel has traditionally declined comment on its suspected involvement in the Stuxnet virus, but senior IDF officers recently confirmed that Iran had encountered significant technological difficulties with its centrifuges at the Natanz enrichment facility.

“We can say that it must have taken several years to develop, and we arrived at this conclusion through code analysis, since the code on the control systems is 15,000 lines of code, and this is a huge amount,” Langer said.

“This piece of evidence led us to conclude that this is not by a hacker,” he continued. “It had to be a country, and we can also conclude that even one nation-state would not have been able to do this on its own.”

Eric Byres, a computer security expert who runs a website called Tofino Security, which provides solutions for industrial companies with Stuxnet-related problems, told the Post on Tuesday that the number of Iranians visiting his site had jumped tremendously in recent weeks – a likely indication that the virus is still causing great disarray at Iranian nuclear facilities.

“What caught our attention was that last year we maybe had one or two people from Iran trying to access the secure areas on our site,” Byres said. “Iran was never on the map for us, and all of a sudden we are now getting massive numbers of people going to our website, and people who we can identify as being from Iran.” Byres said that some people openly identified themselves as Iranian when asking for permission to log onto his website, while others were impersonating employees of industries with which he frequently works.

“There are a large number of people trying to access the secure areas directly from Iran and other people who are putting together fake identities,” he said. “We are talking about hundreds. It could be people who are curious about what is going on, but we are such a specialized site that it would only make sense that these are people who are involved in control systems.”

Begin Excerpt 3 from Ynet News

Report: Iran moving nuclear program to bunker

Telegraph reports Fowdrow facility, located inside mountain near Qom, can withstand airstrikes

News Agencies

Published 07.14.11, 10:14/ Israel News

Iran is moving its nuclear program into a mountain facility able to withstand air and missile strikes, the Telegraph reported Thursday, citing recent intelligence reports.

The report says Iran disclosed the Fowrdow facility’s location, inside a mountain near Qom, after Western intelligence sources reported of its existence

Experts fear that Tehran’s decision to begin moving some 3,000 centrifuges to Fowdrow could signal its final push for a nuclear weapon.

“We see Iran moving in the direction of becoming a nuclear weapons capable state,” Olli Heinonen, a former head of UN nuclear inspections worldwide, told the Telegraph.

The International Atomic Energy Agency expressed concern over the move, though it had reported that no centrifuges had been moved to the facility by May 21.

The IAEA’s May report said Iran was conducting tests involving materials that could only be explained by a desire to produce a nuclear warhead – specifically explosives and a ballistic missile cone.

But Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi continued to insist this week that Iran is not interested in nuclear weapons.

“Our Supreme Leader has explained that the production and use of atomic weapons is wrong, not only in terms of foreign policy but on religious grounds,” he told a Vienna conference on nuclear power.

Tehran said earlier this month that it will triple 20% enriched uranium production in order to fuel a medical research facility

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.

You may use material originated by this site. However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.

Egyptian Instability Makes It A Target For Islamic Antichrist Jihad Conquest!

Public unity pot is stirred with ugly stick between army and Revolutionaries

Egypt is largest Army in the Middle East but internal strife is weakening It,

This Will Make It Easier for the Antichrist to Conquer it During Tribulation.

July 20, 2011

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Daniel 11:42 – He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

The political, geophysical, and military positioning of Syria, Iran, and Iraq, from a prospective of having world influence, literally stinks. But the position of Egypt’s Suez Canal, and Cairo, her capital, is outstanding. The antichrist is supposed to be a man of genius in all areas. That being the case, he would be worse than a military academy dropout were he not to take the Suez Canal, and then make Cairo his empire’s capital.

Daniel 11:43 – But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

The three most “precious things” in Egypt are: the Suez Canal, the Nile River and its Delta, and Cairo, its capital. He will conquer the Suez Canal zone and all of Egypt. So just what is Egypt? Many are inclined to establish it as the land bordered on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, on the west by Libya, on the south by Sudan, on the southeast by the Red Sea, and on the northeast by its Sinai border with Gaza and Israel’s Negev. And, geographically, that is quite correct. However, in reality, that is not Egypt. The real Egypt, where her people live, is much, much, smaller. Egypt is the land along her north and east coastlines up to about two miles inland, the Nile Delta, and the land along the Nile River extending about fifteen miles either side of its banks.

The antichrist will send messages to leaders of two of the original 10 nations confederated with him, namely Libya and Sudan, requesting them to mass their troops along the northern coastal border with Libya, and along the border where the Nile enters Egypt from Sudan. This will cause the diversion of some Egyptian troops away from Cairo and the Suez Canal in order to protect their western and southern borders. And this will allow the antichrist to rapidly push across the Suez Canal into Cairo and along her western

and eastern coastlines, then to quickly progress southward down the Nile with little resistance.

I believe he will control Egypt within two weeks after he reaches the Suez Canal.

Once he has conquered Egypt, he will make an assessment of his geopolitical position. After having done so, he would be a military fool to return to his home country.

He will establish his capital at Cairo, and will remain there for more than three years. After three years he will receive news that causes him to quickly return to Jerusalem. If a military leader plans to put down his roots for a while, what would be one of his major concerns? The relationship he has with the rulers of the nations that are on his immediate borders.

That is, how sure he is they will not pull a surprise attack on him. So, through the prestigious position he has gained in the eyes of the Islamic world by this time, it will allow him to use the terrorist groups, already in Sudan and Libya, to overthrow their leaders, and in their place to install two of his stooges, where they will remain in control for some three years. He will already have plucked up the ruler of Lebanon, and replaced him with a stooge. It will surprise me if Lebanon, Sudan, and Libya are not the countries from which his stooges will rule.

Begin Excerpt from DEBKAfile

Hosni Mubarak may be dying but his military regime lives on

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

July 17, 2011,11:06 PM (GMT+02:00)

“The former president Hosni Mubarak is in a full coma after his health suddenly deteriorated,” Egyptian state TV reported Sunday night, July 17, shortly after a cabinet reshuffle was carried out in Cairo to placate rising dissent five months since his overthrow.

But the reports of his state of health are conflicting: Lawyers say he went into a coma after a stroke, while the director of the Sharm el Sheikh hospital denies this.
Aged 83 and suffering from cancer, Mubarak has been confined to a Sharm el-Sheikh hospital since April when he suffered a heart attack during questioning. He and his s ons face trial

on August 3 on charges of corruption and murder.
The cabinet reshuffle came as Egypt sank ever more deeply into lawlessness and economic st agn

ation.

City streets are plagued by robbers and outlaws. Many districts have set up vigilante militias to protect life and property. Tens of thousands continue to rally in Tahrir Square against the new rulers, the Supreme Council of Revolutionary Forces’ (SCAF) – and not only in Cairo, but in Suez, Ismailia and Alexandria. They say they are staging what they call “the second Egyptian revolution” – this one against the 25 generals led by Field Marshall Muhammad Tantawi, whom they accuse of stealing the revolution from the Egyptian people and putting the Mubarak regime back in place.

Whether or not the ousted president survives the next few hours is immaterial for the Egyptian street. DEBKAfile’s Egyptian sources report that the demonstrators of Tahrir Square no longer believe the military junta can save the country. They suspect the generals are deliberately letting the situation deteriorate, said one opposition source, “to generate anarchy as the pretext for postponing the promised general and presidential elections, already put off once from September to November,”

“The junta wants to be sure of winning the election before it fixes on the date,” he said.

Grievances are rife: SCAF heads are accused of having 10,000 political activists detained in the last two months and subjecting some to torture – “just like in the old days.” The protesters don’t believe the Mubaraks will ever be put on trial and allege that to officials of the former regime are given derisory sentences for corruption and the authorities refrain from confiscating their ill-gotten property.

“The revolution triumphed, Mubarak was toppled, but the machinery of his regime lives on,” said another protester.

The World Bank estimates that GDP growth, running at close to 5.5 percent on Mubarak’s watch in 2010, plummeted 4.5 percent after the uprising that ousted him due to loss of tourism, industry and trade.

Egypt will be lucky to reach one percent this year.

Unemployment is rife and jobs pay a wretched wage of $50-115 a month – nowhere near enough to generate a consumer drive. Economic stagnation is a major cause of dissent.

Another red flag is the name of Egyptian multi-billionaire Hussein Salem, 76, a former intelligence agent and close friend and business associate of the Mubarak family. The military rulers are accused of turning a blind eye to his escape to Spain aboard his private jet in the early days of the uprising.

Salem is said to have been part and parcel of the former regime’s conspiracy to plunder of the national treasury. He was, for instance, awarded prize real estate on the Sharm el-Sharm Red Sea coast for building luxury hotels and the presidential palace from which Mubarak ruled the country. Salem is also accused of setting up the Egyptian-Israel natural gas transaction and raking off revenue for himself and the Mubarak family – a charge which further fans anti-Israel anger on the Egyptian street.

Egyptians are unforgiving of the cordial relations Israeli leaders maintained with the discredited president and claim that they collaborated in Hosni Mubarak’s alleged misappropriation of national funds.

The opposition believes that thanks to skullduggery by the generals Salem has been able to evade extradition despite Interpol warrants and stay safely under house arrests in Spain.

Laying hands on the absconding tycoon

they are sure would also lead to the recovery of some of the plundered money.

DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources confirm the accusation by the opposition that from the day it took over government in Cairo, the military junta SCAF has sat on its hands let the country go to rack and ruin.

Only this week, when the situation became unendurable, was a cabinet reshuffle ordered and the ministers for foreign affairs, finance and trade and industry sacked as a means of unlocking frozen aid funds to get the economy moving.

Hazem El Beblawi, an economist who works as an adviser for the Arab Monetary Fund in the United Arab Emirates, was appointed finance minister and deputy prime minister.

The UAE has pledged $3 billion, Saudi Arabia $4 billion, and Qatar $500 million in aid. Additionally, the United States has offered $2 billion.

But the Gulf emirates have set three conditions for making these sums available:

1. The Supreme Council in Cairo must stop working with Obama administration.

2. The generals must inaugurate ties full security cooperation with the Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC), meaning they must adopt an anti-Iran stance and be willing to make troops available to GCC nations in a potential war with Iran.

3. The military rulers of Egypt must bring closure to the revolution, use the army and security forces to restore law and order and put a stop to the popular demonstrations.

The heads of the junta have not yet decided how to respond to this proposition.

If they accept, they will confirm the worst forebodings of the second wave of Egyptian revolutionaries who fear they are being stuck for the foreseeable future with a military junta instead of the democratically-elected government they dreamed of and fought for.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by

the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.

You may use material originated by this site.

However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.

Hizballah CALLS Itself “The Army OF God!”

It is indeed the army of the false god Allah.

It has spread its Tentacles around the Earth.

When the final War of the Age of the Gentiles

Begins in the Middle East twixt Jews and Arabs

The Hizballah Tentacles will Activate Worldwide

To strike terror across the surface of the Planet

July 20, 2011

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

There are several acceptable spellings for the terrorist organization Hizbullah. It is referred to as the Party or Army of God.

The following are excerpt paragraphs from U.S. Security Sources

Hizballah / Hizbollah / Hizbullah / Hezbollah (Party of God)

Islamic Jihad

Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine

Organization of the Oppressed on Earth

Revolutionary Justice Organization

Hizballah is an Islamic movement founded after the Israeli military seizure of Lebanon in 1982, which resulted in the formation of Islamic resistance units committed to the liberation of the occupied territories and the ejection of Israeli forces. Hizbollah was established in 1982 during the Lebanon War when a group of Lebanese Shi’ite Muslims declared themselves to be the “Party of God” (Hizb Allah, which is clear in Hizbollah but progressively less so in Hizbollah / Hizbullah / Hezbollah). Upon the realization that the IDF was entrenching itself in south Lebanon, and influenced and assisted by 1,500 Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon, Hizballah cells began developing with the immediate desire to resist the Israeli invasion. Hizbollah began establishing its base in Lebanon in 1982 and has expanded and strengthened ever since, primarily due to its wave of suicide bombings and foreign support by Iran and Syria.

Description

Formed in 1982 in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, this Lebanon-based radical Shia group takes its ideological inspiration from the Iranian revolution and the teachings of the late Ayatollah Khomeini.

The Majlis al-Shura, or Consultative Council, is the group’s highest governing body and is led by Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah. Hizballah is dedicated to liberating Jerusalem and eliminating Israel, and has formally advocated ultimate establishment of Islamic rule in Lebanon. Nonetheless, Hizballah has actively participated in Lebanon’s political system since 1992.

This radical Shia is dedicated to creation of Iranian-style Islamic republic in Lebanon and removal of all non-Islamic influences from area. It is strongly anti-Western and anti-Israeli.

A very important factor that developed Hizballah was the establishment of the Islamic Revolution in Iran that was led by the Imam Khomeini. This revolution consolidated new concepts in the field of Islamic thought mainly the concept of Willayat Al-Faqih.

The revolution also generalized Islamic expressions against the west such as arrogance, the great Satan, hypocrites and the oppressed. Due to that it was only normal for the ideological doctrine in Iran to take root in Lebanon. This tie was very quickly translated on the ground by direct support from the Islamic Republic of Iran through its revolutionary guards and then to Hizballah that was resisting the Israeli occupation. This religious and ideological tie between Hizballah and Iran following the revolution with its stance towards the Zionist entity had a great effect on releasing vital material and moral support to Hizballah. Hizballah’s ideological ideals sees no legitimacy for the existence of Israel, a matter that elevates the contradictions to the level of existence. And the conflict becomes one of legitimacy that is based on religious ideals.

The seed of resistance is also deep in the ideological beliefs of Hizballah, a belief that found its way for expression against the occupation of Lebanon.

Activities

Once established as a militia, Hizbollah received acclaim and legitimacy in Lebanon and throughout the Muslim world by fighting against IDF and SLA troops. In fact, since 1988 Hizbollah replaced Amal (the other prominent Shi’ite organization in Lebanon) as the predominant force due to its activity against Israel.

Over the years Hizbollah military operations have grown to include attacking IDF and SLA outposts, ambushing convoys, laying explosive devices booby-trapping cars, and launching long range mortar shells and Katyusha rockets at IDF outposts and into Israel proper.

Between the spring of 1983 to the summer of 1985 the Hizballah launched an unprecedented wave of suicide bombings which included an attack on the US embassy and at a US Marine base in Beirut. Known or suspected to have been involved in numerous anti-US terrorist attacks, including the suicide truck bombing of the US Embassy and US Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1983 and the US Embassy Annex in Beirut in September 1984. Elements of the group were responsible for the kidnapping and detention of US and other Western hostages in Lebanon. The group also attacked the Israeli Embassy in Argent

ina in 1992.

Location/Area of Operation

Operates in the Al Biqa’ (Bekaa Valley), the southern suburbs of Beirut, and

southern Lebanon. Has established cells in Europe, Africa, South America, North America, and elsewhere. Its training bases are mostly in the previously Syrian-controlled Biqa Valley, and its headquarters and offices are in southern Beirut and in Ba’albek.

External Aid

Hizballah was established by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards who came to Lebanon during the 1982 “Peace for Galilee” war, as part of the policy of exporting the Islamic revolution.

It receives substantial amounts of financial, training, weapons, explosives, political, diplomatic, and organizational aid from Iran and Syria. Published reports that Iran provides hundreds million dollars of aid annually are probably exaggerated. Iran probably provides financial assistance and military assistance worth about $25-50 million.

Hizballah is closely allied with, and often directed by, Iran but has the capability and willingness to act independently. Closely allied with, and often directed by Iran, it may have conducted operations that were not approved by Tehran. Though Hizballah does not share the Syrian regime’s secular orientation, the group has been a strong ally in helping Syria advance its political objectives in the region.

Begin Excerpt from DEBKAfile

Hizballah rides high in Lebanon, installs member as security chief

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

July 16, 2011, 1:00 PM (GMT+02:00)

On the fifth anniversary of Israel’s second Lebanon war this week, as former IDF generals and military experts hailed its outcome as the winning deterrent keeping the Shiite terrorist Hizballah at bay every since, Hassan Nasrallah quietly completed the organization’s takeover of Lebanon’s security and intelligence agencies and took delivery of advanced ballistic missiles from Syria.

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report that the Lebanese cabinet will Monday, July 18, go through the motions of endorsing the key appointment dictated by Hizballah promoting Brig. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim’s from Deputy Director of Lebanese Military Intelligence to General Security Director.

This a sensitive all-powerful post never before been held by a member of the Shiite community. It puts him – and Hizballah – in charge domestic surveillance, espionage, counterintelligence and all of Lebanon’s clandestine branches.

The post was formerly held by a Maronite Christian and passed to a Sunni Muslim in 1998.

The Christian president Michel Suleiman tried hard to prevent this appointment because it jeopardizes the delicate inter-communal power-sharing balance which has guarded Lebanon against civil strife in recent years. He even asked rivals in the opposition – former prime minister and Sunni leader Saad Hariri and the head of the Christian Phalangist Samir Geagea to back him up.

But they turned him down, reminding him how as president he helped Hizballah install the puppet government headed by Najib Miqati. Now, they said, Suleiman must bear responsibility for the Shiite organization’s expanding control of the country’s military and security agencies.

After that rebuff, President Suleiman went back to Hizballah and extracted for his relative Brig. Gen. Walid Suleiman the job of Army Chief of Staff, a position comparable to Head of Operations in most Middle East armies.

DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources note that this step opened the door for Hizballah to take a hand for the first time in making top military appointments. Its oversight of domestic security will now spill over to the armed forces and military control of Lebanon’s borders with Israel and Syria.

Also on the agenda of the Lebanese cabinet meeting Monday, barring last-minute changes, are the extension of Said Mirza’s term as Prosecutor General as well as the appointments of Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi as Internal Security Forces chief; and Col. Wissam Hassan, as head of the Intelligence Bureau.

All three are pro-Syrian and pro-Hizballah figures from northern Lebanon and personal loyalists of Prime Minister Miqati.

They have been put in place as a roadblock against the warrants the International Lebanese Tribunal is due to issue this month for the arrest and extradition of four Hizballah leaders on suspicion of complicity in the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005.

Saturday, July 16, The Times of London confirmed from intelligence sources that Syria had accelerated its deliveries to Hizballah of high-tech weapons, including M600 – the Syrian version of the Scud D ballistic missile – whose 700-kilometer range puts much of Israel, Jordan and parts of Turkey within Hizballah’s reach.

These developments show how far from reality were the self-congratulatory comments broadcast this week by Israeli generals and pundits and their view that the uprising threatening Syrian President Bashar Assad had weakened his ally Hizballah. Just the reverse: Even with his back to the wall, the Syrian ruler has clearly assigned top priority to continuing to upgrade Hizballah’s war arsenal.
And in Beirut, its leader Hassan Nasrallah, though still sheltering in his bunker, has never had it so good.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.

You may use material originated by this site.

However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.