As the great powers outside the Syrian region (the USA, Russia, the UN, Iran, etc.) continue to try and influence the outcome of whether Syria will remain in the Russian-Iranian alliance or be transferred to the Saudi-Sunni orbit, the situation inside Syria is becoming so bizarre that it seems like an episode of the old TV show, the “Twilight Zone.” Consider the following contradictory information.
Al Qaida, the radical Sunni organization which is the source of many anti-American and anti-western terrorists, is assuming a more prominent role among the factions of the Syrian rebels fighting the Assad government. The first link documents that Al Qaida is prominent among more than one of the Syrian rebel factions and that sometimes they even fight each other. It also details that the Kurdish militia (no doubt backed by weapons and assistance from the strong Kurdish Peshmerga forces controlling northern Iraq) are fighting one of the Al-Queda supported factions. The second link reports that Al Qaida is also reducing the exports of oil from the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk to Turkey by attacks on an oil pipeline in the region. However, if you look at the link’s map, that pipeline doesn’t seem to run through Syria at all. It seems to transport oil only through northern Iraq and Turkey. This report then infers that Al Qaida forces based in Syria are attacking an oil pipeline on either northern Iraqi (i.e. Kurdish) or Turkish soil. This gives further justification to Turkey or the Kurdish Autonomous Government in northern Iraq to intervene in Syria and attack Al Qaida forces and the Syrian rebels.
The third link has a report that, if true, reveals a very dark and evil side of radical Islamists affiliated with Al Qaida-linked factions among the Syrian rebels. It claims that young Tunisian women (some as young as 13) are essentially being kidnapped in Tunisia and trafficked to Syria to be used by many men among the Syrian rebels. It indicates that even radical, Al-Qaida affiliated Moslem “clerics” are approving this sex-trafficking!
Now consider that it is these sex-trafficking, Al-Qaida affiliated factions of the Syrian rebels who will be benefited if the Obama administration launches cruise missiles against the Assad regime which is battling the Al Qaida-linked rebels. This makes the Obama administration’s policy in the Mideast utterly schizophrenic in my view. The USA has been fighting Al Qaida in Afghanistan and Yemen, but it (and NATO) powerfully helped the Al Qaida factions in Libya by bombing Khaddafy’s forces. Currently, the Obama administration keeps making threats to launch cruise missiles against the Assad regime forces, which will strengthen and cheer the Al Qaida-linked, sex-trafficking factions of the Syrian rebels. This seeming schizophrenia re: Al Qaida within the US government is bi-partisan. Sen. John McCain of the GOP and his constant sidekick, Sen. Graham, also have been pushing for the USA government to attack Assad and, thereby, inevitably help the sicko terrorists of Al Qaida-linked factions among the Syrian rebels.
It gets even stranger. The fourth link builds on a report I noted in a recent post—that Christian militias are starting to give up their neutrality in the Syrian civil war and fight on the side of Assad’s forces since Assad governed in a secular way which respected the rights of Syrian Christians and other minorities. Christian militias have previously supported Assad’s troops in a strategic city north of Damascus named Maaloula, and now have reportedly sent a 300 man unit to join forces with Assad’s troops to defeat the rebels in a battle near the town. The article notes that there are 2,000,000 Christians in Syria—a number far higher than I realized. If the Christians unitedly take up arms to support Assad, it will give a huge lift to Assad. The article also notes that the Syrian rebels being fought by the Christian militia were Al Qaida linked rebels who were “kidnapping girls and destroying churches.” Other sources report churches are not being destroyed, but the report of Syrian rebels “kidnapping girls” supports the assertion in the third link that the Syrian rebels are actively engaged in sex-trafficking crimes.
Put yourself in the position of a Syrian Christian. You cannot much longer stay neutral. Are you going to be passive and be killed and have your women raped by the Syrian rebels if they win or are you going to fight on the side of the Assad forces because Assad has traditionally respected Christian rights and churches? The choice is obvious, isn’t it?
So this leaves us with a situation where the USA, arguably the nation with the strongest history of being a Christian nation, is threatening to attack the Assad regime, the only faction in the Syrian war that respects the rights of Christians. This further makes the situation more bizarre as the Syrian civil war could result in the Syrian Christians fighting alongside Hezbollah, Russia and Iranian forces to keep Assad in power while the USA, a Christian nation, may intervene on the side of Al Qaida-backed Islamic radical factions involved in the global sex trafficking—which the USA is pledged to oppose. Can anyone make sense of this situation? The Mideast can create some of the strangest sets of shifting alliances.
If the USA launches any cruise missiles, Syria and Russia may launch the new Russian supersonic missiles based on the Syrian coast at the US warships that launch any cruise missiles at Syria. A massive Mideast conflagration is a risk if these events happen.
Let’s close with a bit of good news. There is a nation where the Islamic radicals are being powerfully crushed. That nation is the very strategic nation of Egypt. Egypt’s ruling military is on an all-out mission to ensure that the radical Muslim Brotherhood never again has access to the reins of power in Egypt. Egypt’s military is strongly allied to the Egyptian court system which has just ruled that the Muslim Brotherhood and its organizations are to be banned and that all their funds and frozen assets are to be seized (fifth link). This is very good news for regional stability.
Lastly, let’s look at the situation from the Israeli point of view. Israel has to be greatly reassured by the Egyptian military’s action to wrest control of Egypt away from the Moslem Brotherhood. Since radical Islamists allied to Hamas are waging a terror war against Egyptian security forces in the Sinai Peninsula, Hamas is left very isolated with Egypt being very disinclined to allow any more supplies to reach Hamas via tunnels between Egypt and Gaza. So on Israel’s southern border, Israeli and Egyptian interests have converged. However, the northern situation is looking grim. If the USA, Israel’s long-time ally, attacks the Assad regime, it could possibly result in the fall of the Assad government, which could lead to a Syria in a state of anarchy between fighting radical factions or a Syrian government even more strongly allied to radicals in Iran and to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel, under nuclear threat from Iran, also has to be worried by President Obama’s policy of seeking to cozy up to the new Iranian president.
In terms of biblical prophecy, it is still unclear whether Syria (or parts of it) will remain in the Gog-Magog alliance led by Russia, China and Iran. The best possible outcome for the Syrian people in the short term would be a Syria which is divided into different zones. Assad would rule a coastal region along the Mediterranean Sea and remain in power in Damascus [this would satisfy a Russian “red-line” that Assad stay in power and that Russia keep its port access in a Syrian port city]. Eastern Syria could be divided into zones that would be Turkish, Jordanian-Saudi and Kurdish “protectorates” which would provide military security in each zone—allowing the million+ Syrian refugees to return home. All the parties would agree to suppress the Al Qaida terrorists and sex-traffickers. However, that might be a “best case” scenario. The entire region could still slide into a horrific war which could see the fulfillment of Isaiah 17:1’s prophecy that the city of Damascus will someday be reduced to a “ruinous heap.” I am the first to say that I cannot predict the outcome, but we all need to watch these events closely.
- http://www.worldtribune.com/2013/09/24/rival-al-qaida-militias-kurdish-fighters-battle-for-control-of-n-syria/
- http://www.worldtribune.com/2013/09/23/al-qaida-attacks-on-pipeline-crippling-iraq-oil-exports-to-turkey/
- http://www.worldtribune.com/2013/09/23/jihad-sex-in-syria-al-qaida-clerics-approved-recruitment-of-tunisian-women/
- http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/09/21/syria-christians/2843139/
- http://forward.com/articles/184412/egyptian-court-bans-muslim-brotherhood-orders-asse/
