Many readers are, no doubt, aware that there was a shooting incident between the Israeli and Lebanese armies at the Israeli-Lebanese border. This blog is to give you “the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey used to say. The two links [first, second] below reveal that this was not an accidental exchange of fire nor was it a case of shared blame. It was entirely provoked by the Shiites who control southern Lebanon in behalf of Iran.
The Israelis were engaged in a routine tree-cutting operation in the demilitarized zone between the two nations. [I understand what this fence and demilitarized zone looks like as I stood at this DMZ with Israeli friends in August, 2000 and looked across the border into Lebanon.] The Israelis had given proper notice to the UN “peacekeepers” about this routine matter, and the UN shared this information with the local Lebanese army (which is all but controlled by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon). The Lebanese army arranged an ambush for the Israelis during which skilled snipers identified and shot the top Israeli officers. As an aside, I wonder if those snipers were Iranians, given Hezbollah’s status as an Iranian proxy and the Lebanese army’s Shiite-controlled elements at that location.
The second link states the Israeli government did not believe Hezbollah was involved, but that the attack was solely caused by elements within the Lebanese army. However, that statement may have been made for diplomatic purposes only. The fact that the Lebanese army at that location is Shiite and allied to Hezbollah and Iran is very significant. It means this incident, in my judgment, may have been ordered by Tehran. Perhaps Tehran wanted this incident to provoke a wider war in which the Iranians could strike first. This cannot be known, but it is a possibility. The Israelis reacted without any air strikes, showing restraint. This may have kept the incident from developing into a major Mideast War. It also shows just how close we could be to a major conflict in the Mideast. Eventually a small spark could start a wider war.
While Ezekiel 38-39 prophesy that a great age-ending war will occur in the latter days when Russia, China, Iran, and their allies attack the nations of the West, that does not preclude the possibility of lesser wars occurring prior to World War III involving various nations within the Gog-Magog alliance and the western alliance. Indeed, at some point, the top war-planners in Russia and China will likely want a “proxy” war in which their lesser allies (like Iran) could “road-test” the Gog-Magog alliance’s new weaponry against the latest western military equipment. The Israelis are, literally, right on the front lines where the Gog-Magog alliance faces an opportunity to use its latest equipment against western military equipment and tactics. Iran is spoiling for a fight. That fight seems ever more likely to come at some point.
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2010/me_terror0743_08_04.asp
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/138938
