Steven Collins
September 15, 2007
A few days ago, the Israeli Air Force struck unknown targets inside Syrian territory north of Lebanon. At first, media reports indicated the Israeli jets merely made an “incursion” into Syrian territory. Later reports confirmed it was a military raid against important Syrian installations. I believe two purposes for this raid can be gleaned from available public reports.
Today’s Minneapolis Star-Tribune ran an article (“Syria on nuclear watch list for ‘secret supplier’ contact,” page A5) which discussed part of an interview with Andrew Semmel, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy, in which he revealed that North Korea was secretly aiding a nuclear program by the Syrians. The article cited a Washington Post story which related that “…Israel had gathered satellite imagery showing possible North Korean cooperation with Syria on a nuclear facility.” It is well-known that North Korea has a nuclear weapons program which the USA has been trying to shut down. While North Korea has “promised” (once again) to shut it down, North Korea’s nuclear weapons expertise may simply have been transferred to Syria.
The Star-Tribune article also reported that “Neither side has explained what exactly happened, but a U.S. government official said Israeli warplanes were targeting weapons from Iran and destined for Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.” The article concluded by citing Israel has imposed military censorship on all reporters regarding the incident until the end of this month. That alone all but assures that the Israeli raid had an important military purpose. It seems very likely that the Israeli warplanes targeted and destroyed a Syrian nuclear weapons site, a storage facility holding advanced missiles intended for Hezbollah’s use or both of the above. This alone would be very understandable reasons for an Israeli strike at these unspecified Syrian targets. However, there may have been another reason for the raid. That second reason has major strategic implications.
Many media stories have speculated that either an American or an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear weapons sites may be imminent. Other media stories have documented that Russia has shipped its most advanced anti-aircraft missile system to Iran to protect its nuclear sites from American or Israeli air attacks. This latest Russian anti-aircraft system sent to Iran is called the Pantsyr-S1E system. However, Russia has also shipped this same Pantsyr anti-aircraft system to Syria. A report at www.debka.com reveals that ten of the advanced Pantsyr systems have been shipped to Syria and that at least one such system was guarding the sites targeted by the Israeli war planes. According to the Debka article, “the Pantsyr-S1E missiles…failed to down the Israeli jets” due to “superior electronics for jamming the Russian missile systems.” Since Russia thought their anti-aircraft system had “absolute jamming immunity,” the ability of the Israeli jets to defeat the Pantsyr’s electronic systems is a huge embarrassment for Russia. More importantly, this Israeli raid has given the American and Israeli Air Forces tactical knowledge about how to attack any targets protected by Russia’s Pantsyr air defense system.
This is critically important because the same Russian Pantsyr systems defend Iran’s strategic nuclear sites which would be targeted by any American or Israeli air strike. The success of the Israeli mission makes it more likely that an attack against Iran’s facilities will be deemed feasible by US or Israeli war planners. Indeed, the Israeli raid’s main purpose may have been to test a new jamming technology’s ability to defeat the new Russian anti-aircraft system. If this is so, it is logical that US and/or Israeli war planners will want to strike Iran as soon as possible before Russia can analyze the Israeli jamming tactics and devise a counter strategy. The entire Debka story is worth reading at the link below.
It is also known that Russia and China have been helping Iran’s nuclear program and its advanced weapons programs. Russia, China and Iran are all key players in the alliance identified in Ezekiel 38 to attack the nations of the western world (and the Israelis) at the very end of our age. North Korea and Syria are clearly in that alliance as well. Their cooperation against Israel, the USA and the West were all prophesied to occur in our “latter day” period of time [see my article “Are We Living in the Biblical Latter Days” available elsewhere at this website]. If Israeli or American war planes strike the Iranian strategic sites and the Russian Pantsyr defensive systems protecting them, it is almost certain that Russian technicians or soldiers will die in the attack. If so, the USA and Israel will likely pretend they didn’t know Russians were there and the Russians will likely pretend their people weren’t there.
If this attack against Iran occurs, it will surely drive Iran even deeper into the embrace of Russia and China, and it will give Russian and Chinese war planners first-hand tactical experience with the latest capabilities of American and Israeli military forces. Whether the USA and Israel attack Iran or not, the alliance of Russia, China and Iran will steadily grow stronger. A successful American or Israeli attack against Iran would buy time for the West; however, and it would also serve as a warning to Russia’s “Gog-Magog” alliance that the West is not as weak as they thought.
http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1301
UPDATE ON ISRAELI RAID INTO SYRIA
Steven Collins
September 16, 2007
Yesterday I posted a blog entry about the purposes behind an Israeli air raid into Syrian territory. The link below from the London Times offers additional information confirming that the raid knocked out a joint Syrian-North Korean nuclear facility in Northern Syria. Not only was the raid a great success, it also revealed a high degree of nuclear cooperation between North Korea and Syria. This certainly leads to a conclusion that North Korea’s offer to “dismantle its nuclear facilities” was a ruse to dupe the Bush Administration in the same manner that the Clinton Administration was duped by phony North Korean promises. It seems that North Korea was simply going to hide its key nuclear components and technology in Syria until the ever-gullible US State Department was convinced North Korea had “kept its promises.” Later, the North Korean nuclear technology would have been shipped right back to North Korea (after Syria had been given access to all the nuclear technology).
The daring Israeli raid (A) wiped out a dangerous nuclear weapons program in Syria, (B) apparently destroyed North Korea’s relocated nuclear weapons technology, (C) demonstrated that Russia’s latest air-defense system can be beaten, and (D) proved North Korea was lying all along about “dismantling its nuclear program.” The entire Western world owes the Israelis a debt of gratitude! Since Israeli Prime Minister displayed no military skill in his botched war against Hezbollah last year, I think the credit for this spectacular Israeli success likely goes to the new Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article2461421.ece
