Not a Question of IF, but a Question of WHEN!
July 28, 2007
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
Before the wars in 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973 there was, as there is now, a flooding of weapons into the Middle East by foreign nations.
If that was the only indicator I had that a war MUST come out of the current military buildup by Hizbullah, Hamas, Syria, and Iran, then I would be willing to say we might see an end to this conflict between Abraham’ s off
spring, that has raged for centuries between the descendants of his son Isaac by Sarah, his son Ishmael by Hagar, and his last six sons by Keturah.
But that is not the case, and I know a final Major Conflict will terminate the present Age of the Gentiles at the final great battle known as Armageddon. Why? Simply because the Scriptures indicate that will be the case!
As a teenager I remember preachers saying over an over again that Hitler had to be the Antichrist and the Pope was the False Prophet. A few claimed that Mussolini was the Antichrist, and one or two said the Antichrist was the Japanese Emperor. But even as a teenager I knew we were a long way from the final war of this age, and felt sure I would be able to live most of my three-score and ten years or maybe fourscore if God allowed it. But in 1948 when I turned 16, Israel became a nation, and from that day forward my question has been WHEN will the final battle of this age begin? I knew the final war would not begin until the nation of Israel was in place in its God-given homeland.
Even a 16 year old kid could tell that from Ezekiel 37 and many other Scriptures which made that point quite clear. The WHEN I believed was also contingent upon the Old City of Jerusalem and its Temple Mount being in Jewish possession before God would let such a war break out. So, in 1967, as I listened to electronic intercept of its capture in June, I knew it was just a question of time before the final war of wars began in the Middle East.
Since it had been 40 years, a generation, from the time that Jesus said the temple would be leveled, until it actually happed, I speculated perhaps a 40 year period could pass before it fell again, beginning from the time it was recaptured by the Israelis, and I speculated the most likely time of an attack would be near the end of the 40 year period.
Well, it has been 40 years now since the Jews recaptured
the Temple Mount, and still no attack. But it has never been a question of IF –it has always been a question of WHEN! The time is certainly ripe for it, and all the ingredients and circumstances are now in place. From the time that the Temple was besieged by Titus in 70 AD until the fall of the last Jewish fortress at Masada in the Judean Wilderness by the Dead Sea, about three years passed. Perhaps the next three years will see the attack begin. In any case, the time frame of 2008 to the end of 2012 seems to be the best guess based on the existing Middle East scenario.
The three articles which follow, the first from DEBKAfile, the second from the UK Times, and the third from YNet News, describe the latest flood of trainers, personnel, and high tech offensive aircraft and missile defensive hardware into the turbulent Middle East.
It is not a question of IF these military offensive and defensive weapons will be used – It is a question of WHEN they will be used!
Begin DEBKAfile Report
DEBKA Reports: Iran buys 250 long-distance Sukhoi fighter-bombers, 20 fuel tankers, from Russia
July 27, 2007, 7:15 PM (GMT+02:00)
Tehran and the Russian Rosoboronexport arms group are about to sign a mammoth arms deal running into tens of billions of dollars for the sale to Tehran of 250 Su-30MKM warplanes and 20 IL-78 MKI fuel tankers. DEBKAfile’s military sources report Iran has stipulated delivery of the first aircraft before the end of 2007.
The transaction, Russia’s largest arms deal in 30 years, will endow Iran with a long-range aerial assault capability.
The Sukhoi can sustain a four-and-a-half hour raid at its maximum range of 3,000 km against long-distance, marine and low-lying ground targets across the Persian Gulf and Middle East, including Israel and Lebanon.
The fuel tankers extends the Su-30MKM’s assault sustainability to 10 hours and its range to 8,000 km at altitudes of 11-13 km. The closest comparable plane in the West is the American F-15E fighter bomber.
Iran’s acquisition of an exceptionally large fleet
of the Russian fighter-bomber will elevate its air force to one of the two largest and most advanced in the region, alongside the Israeli Air Force.
Iranian air crews are already training on the new Sukhoi aircraft, ready to start flying them early next year with only a short delay after delivery. DEBKAfile’s sources report that Moscow is selling Tehran the same Sukhoi model as India received earlier this year. The Iranians leaned hard on New Delhi to let them have the Israeli avionics and electronics the Indian Air Force had installed in the Russian craft. India refused.
Russia began delivering the same craft in June to Malaysia, which also sought Israeli avionics without success.
The Su-20MKM has won the nickname of “Islamic Version of Sukhoi.”
Its two-member crew shares the workload. The first pilot flies the aircraft, controls weapons and maneuvers the plane in a dogfight.
The co-pilot employs BVR air-to-air and air-to-ground guided weapons in long-range engagements, sweeps the arena for enemy craft or missiles and performs as command-and-control in group missions.
Some of the plane’s systems are products of the French Thales Airborne Systems company. Moscow’s contract with Tehran for the sale of the Su-30MKM must therefore be cleared with Paris.
There is no decision in Jerusalem about asking Paris to withhold its consent to a deal which would substantially upgrade the long-range air assault capabilities of the Islamic Republic whose leaders want to wipe Israel off the map. However, President Nicolas Sarkozy is in mid-momentum of a diplomatic drive in the Arab and Muslim world and unlikely to be receptive to an Israeli approach.
The only chance of aborting the Russian sale would be to route the approach through Washington.
Begin Times UK Article
Hamas Building an Army in Gaza
James Hider (Times-UK)
Hamas is now organizing its guerrilla forces into a regular army, training its men in various specializations and preparing to defend its newly won fiefdom from an Israeli invasion that many feel is never far away.
Among the footsoldiers who materialize only a few hundred meters from the Israeli border is an expert sapper who places explosives in the likely tracks of raiding tanks, then removes them again in the morning when his unit leaves.
Another is a sniper, while the man with the rocket-propelled grenade launcher is in charge of hitting armored vehicles. Each unit has its own paramedic.
There are scores of these cells of six to eight men dotted along the fence with Israel.
Part of the recalibration of Hamas is a change in philosophy, with less emphasis on a martyr’s death and more on achieving military goals
and returning alive.
“Our men know now it’s more important to keep fighting and not to become a martyr,” said Abu Ahmed, a 40-year-old commander in the armed wing of Hamas, the Iz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. “Our motto is ‘victory or death,’ but victory comes first.”
The new attitude had allowed Hamas to reduce its casualties and build a more experienced force, he said.
Some of the acquired skills can seem surprisingly high-tech.
Abu Bakr, another commander in Gaza City, claims to have hacked into unmanned drones that fly over Gaza with cameras, allowing them to see what the Israelis see.
Begin YNet News Article
U.S. to Fund Anti-Missile Systems for Israel
Yitzhak Benhorin (Ynet News)
On Thursday the House Appropriations Committee voted to give Israel $150 million in defense aid, $70 million beyond the $80 million requested by the administration, to either independently develop or purchase existing defense systems to counter possible ballistic rocket attacks.
The new systems would be in addition to Israel’s existing Arrow system, a project the U.S. continues to fund.
These funds are not part of the regular U.S. defense aid budget for Israel, which stands at $2.4 billion.
The funding will support Arrow missile co-production and integration, the purchase of a Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) fire unit, and a U.S.-Israeli short-range missile defense system dubbed “David’s Sling.”
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