A group of gunmen entered a Syrian coastal town inhabited by Sunni Moslems and killed an unknown number of civilians. The first link (Al Jazeera, an Islamic website) uses the term “ethnic cleansing” to describe what occurred and I have to say the facts support their statement. Estimates of the dead vary widely in media reports. Al Jazerra reported a lower total, but the second link reports that there may have been as many as 102 killed. It is not known who perpetrated this massacre. Was it Syrian loyalists devoted to Assad or was it done by Hezbollah or Iranian troops loyal to Iran? I don’t think anyone knows for sure.
However, the message that was sent was received by Sunni Moslems in this Syrian coastal region which is mostly inhabited by Alawite/Shiites loyal to Iran and to Assad. The second link reports that “thousands” of Sunnis were fleeing the mostly Alawite/Shiite region in order to save their lives. Confusion admittedly surrounds the situation, but it does remind me of the ethnic cleansing massacres that occurred as the former Yugoslavia broke up into separate ethnic/religious regions. The second link even reports an “exodus” was occurring.
In earlier posts, I have speculated that Assad may seek to remain in control of Coastal Syria, supported by Russians, Iranians and Hezbollah. That would provide an Iranian link to Hezbollah and the Russians would be able to keep their Syrian naval port access. The “ethnic cleansing” that is now occurring tends to support that possibility as these massacres will push the Sunnis out of the Alawite/Shiite region near coastal Syria.
Syria is a human tragedy. Upwards of 70,000 or more have been killed and almost one million people have been displaced as refugees, mostly into Turkey and Jordan. Given the fact that Turkey and Jordan are being overwhelmed with refugees, it would seem justified for Turkey to send its military to secure northern Syria so refugees on Turkish soil could return to Syria, and Jordanian troops (backed by Saudis) could send their forces into southern Syria to secure that region so refugees in Jordan could return to Syria. This would be a very good outcome for the West as Turkey and Jordan are western-oriented, Sunni nations. If their troops secured rebel-held Syrian regions, it would keep Al Queda from becoming dominant in those regions and it would avoid the chaos that has engulfed Libya after its civil war.
What we are seeing is the continuing process of the Mideast dividing into the regional alliances that will be allied with either the Gog-Magog alliance prophesied in Ezekiel 38 to include Russia, China and Iran or the western alliance led by the modern nations of the ten tribes of Israel (see my article, The USA in Biblical Prophecy, and listen to my free audio messages at my website on this subject or purchase my books on the subject for the most in-depth examination of the whereabouts of the modern ten tribes of Israel—prophesied in Genesis 49 and Revelation 7 to be present on the earth in the latter days). Sunni Arab governments in the region would like to entirely overthrow Assad, but it remains to be seen if that will occur. It is hard to visualize Putin-led Russia supinely accepting the loss of their naval base in Syria.
In a related action, the Israelis have conducted a series of air strikes on Syrian military bases close to Lebanon. Reports indicate that the Israelis are destroying stockpiles of larger and more-accurate Iranian missiles that would severely threaten Israel if they were transferred to Hezbollah control (see third link for an example of such reports).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/israeli-officials-confirm-airstrike-on-syria-say-it-targeted-shipment-of-advanced-missiles/2013/05/04/b4c97a48-b494-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.html
