Islam is getting ready for Conventional War – Israel is Not!
September 14, 2006
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
After reading Special Prophecy Update Number 135B, September 1, 2003, which immediately follows, please read the three excerpts from recent news articles following 135B. Israel and the world are desperate to stop Iran from getting a nuclear warh
ead for its Shihab missile series, but they should be more concerned about
Iran supplying sophisticated conventional weapons to Syria, Hizbollah, Hamas, and other t errori
st groups to knock out Israeli tanks and planes. Israel and most of the free world keeps on preparing primarily for a great nuclear war, not a conventional war, which is a big mistake. Israel and the United States both have a mindset that, based on wars with Arab nations in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, and the last two incursions into Lebanon, they can easily defeat the Arabs in a conventional war. If such a war broke out in 2006 and 2007 I would wholeheartedly agree. But at some point in time, between 2008 and 2012, as Iran pumps more and more high tech weaponry designed to shoot from the shoulder and destroy aircraft and tanks into Lebanon and Syria, I believe the pendulum will swing to the Arabs in preparedness, and Israel will be the loser in the conventional war that follows.
Since this century began I have watched the leaders of Israel turn from the possibility of a conventional ground war to a strategic air war over a wide section of the Middle East. I believe this is a serious tactical error. In many previous Blogs and Prophecy Updates, I have described in detail how I believe the movements of the armies, involved in the coming conflict, will juxtaposition throughout the initial attack, such that it will drive Israel into the Negev Wilderness
SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 135B
September 1, 2003
Bye! Bye! Conventional Merkava 4’s and 5’s
I was rather surprised by some armor decisions made recently by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is now the Treasury Minister in Ariel Sharon’s Cabinet. He believes Israel faces two threats – The Palestinian terrorist groups, and the weapons of mass destruction that are being developed by Arab states in the Middle East, notably headed by Iran. Of course, both of these are real threats, but I do not agree with his statement that followed. He does not believe the threat of an invasion by Arab states against Israel on the ground is a feasible reality and, because of this, favors the decommissioning of old war systems, like the Merkava tanks, at an accelerated rate. Netanyahu attributes great importance to the strategic view, which would provide answers to the Iranian nuclear threat and to other state’s weapons of mass destruction. He favors the continuation of the security fence to its completion, but desires to see the discontinuation of Merkava tank production. If Israel does follow this program, believing they are secure from an outside ground attack at the present, then once they finally get the Palestinians fenced in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, it will give them a sense of “peace and safety” as regards their being overrun from the north. Scripture indicates it will happen. Without the conventional old war systems, such as the Merkava 3 and the new Merkava 4 tanks, Israel would be much more vulnerable to a conventional attack like the one launched against them from Syria in the 1973 Yom Kipper War. The deterrent to non-conventional weapons, now being developed by the Arab states, lies in the Negev wilderness in the form of nuclear, chemical, and biological warheads on the hundreds of Jericho missiles found there. The mass destruction weapons possessed by Israel in the Negev are more than a sufficient deterrent to cause
the Arab states not to launch
theirs against Israel. When Israel truly believes it has attained peace and safety, then a conventional war attack will be launched against it from the north.
I Thessalonians 5:3,4 – For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
[4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
Begin Excerpt from Khaleej Times Onlign
Hezbollah’s New Battle — Rebuild in order to Survive
(AFP) Khaleej Times Online – Middle East News
14 September 2006
BEIRUT – Hezbollah is engaged in a new battle one month after the end of the war with Israel as it tries to quickly launch rebuilding efforts in Lebanon in a bid to maintain its power base.
Members of the Shia militant group have especially been active in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold repeatedly pounded by Israel during the 34-day conflict that ended August 14.
No sooner had the Israeli shelling stopped than militants of the group began clearing the rubble and handing out cash to residents to help them find temporary housing pending the rebuilding of the area.
A total 18,000 homes were destroyed or damaged in the suburbs, heavily populated by the Shia community and home to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
“Our aim today is to be able to repair the harm inflicted by Israel,” said Moustafa Dirani, a member of Hezbollah’s political council.
Dirani was captured by Israeli soldiers in 1994 and spent 10 years in prison before being released as part of a prisoner swap that included the remains of Israeli soldiers and retired Israeli colonel Elhanan Tennenbaum.
“Hezbollah is close to the people, we are a party that cannot but stand with the people” he added.
But the challenge today for Hezbollah, which has built its reputation on its ability to move ahead of the government in meeting the needs of the country’s Shia community — traditionally the poorest — is to once again deliver on its promises.
That would enable the group, which is engaged in a power struggle with the pro-Western government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, to maintain its power base within the Shia community that represents about 40 percent of the country’s population of 3.5 million.
“The government wants to rob the people, not to help them,” said Ghassan Darwish, head of Hezbollah’s rebuilding campaign in the Beirut suburbs. “Government officials drop by, check out what we’re doing, congratulate us and then leave.”
He added Hezbollah was focussing on quickly rebuilding the suburbs in order to give hope to the local population.
In the meantime, each family whose home has been destroyed has been handed 12,000 dollars in crisp 100-dollar bills that many suspect came from Iran, Hezbollah’s backer. Those whose homes were damaged are given less.
The charm offensive seems to be paying off, at least for now, with most local residents still declaring loyalty to the group.
“I lost my house but I hold Israel rather than Hezbollah responsible because it launched this war just to recover two soldiers,” said Marwan Azzi, as he pocketed his cash compensation. He was referring to Hezbollah’s capture of two Israeli soldiers on July 12 which sparked the month-long war with Israel.
Not everyone in the Shia community, however, is as supportive of Hezbollah.
“It’s true that Hezbollah is doling out money,” said Isaaf Saleh, 65, who pocketed 8,000 dollars in compensation. “But when I look at this disaster, I tell myself that the people are the losers in this war and no one has the right to put us through this for political ends.”
Begin Ha’aretz Article
New “Mini-Iran” Emerging in Southern Lebanon
Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff
Ha’aretz News Service
August 18, 2006
While for the first time in 30 years the Lebanese Army deployed south of the Litani River on Thursday, the army has no plans to drive Hizballah out of the south or to confront it.
Lebanon’s president and commander in chief of the army, Emile Lahoud, made it clear on Wednesday that Hizballah would not be disarmed, not even in the area south of the Litani River. Hizballah men may not carry their arms openly, but they could rebuild their bunkers and fill them up with rockets in preparation for the next confrontation with Israel.
UN Security Council Resolution 1701, passed a week ago, is already on the path to becoming meaningless. While the Americans are declaring that the new forces in southern Lebanon will not allow Hizballah to resume their positions along the border, Nasrallah’s forces are patrolling without hindrance in the villages of southern Lebanon, recording Israel Defense Forces activities, and giving interviews, while armed, to Arab television stations.
Israel is not ready for a Broad Ground War!
September 14, 2006
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
Begin Excerpt from Haaretz Article
Wanted: A New Combat Doctrine
September 3, 2006
By Reuven Pedatzur
Does the Israel Defense Forces’ combat doctrine and structure have to change following the lessons of the Lebanon war? That question should be foremost in the minds of the army’s senior command, irrespective of the need to probe the senior officers’ management of the war. It would be a mistake to focus only on the army’s operational failures, which were indeed grave, while ignoring the basic military thinking formulated in recent years – on whose basis the IDF went to war in Lebanon.
The main problem is that the IDF is facing a broad spectrum of threats, from the strategic Iranian threat on one side to the threat of guerrillas and terror on the other. In recent years it built the force with an emphasis only on the strategic threat.
While the air force grew and acquired long-range operational capability, the ground forces degenerated, focusing on combating Palestinian terror. Reservists in the ground forces had not trained for a long time, and the assumption was that in any case the chances of a broad ground war were very low.
To a large extent, this is reminiscent of the concept the IDF developed between 1967 and 1973. The senior command believed then that the air force, which essentially defeated the Arab armies as the Six-Day War began, could answer almost single-handedly any threat from Egypt and Syria. The result was the neglect of the ground forces, along with the characteristic arrogance that disregarded the enemy’s military capabilities.
End Excerpt from Haaretz Article
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.