As many readers know, the Mideast is famous for murky politics and shifting alliances. Things are getting even murkier and stranger as Iran approaches the completion of its nuclear weapons program.
The first link reports that the Sunni Arab states of the Mideast, including Saudi Arabia, are urgently pushing the USA to launch a preemptive strike against Iran to stop it from becoming a nuclear power. However, former UN Ambassador, John Bolton, opines that it may already be too late to stop the activation of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear facility, its first known operational nuclear facility. As my August 19th blog related, I think that there is a strong possibility that the above-ground Bushehr plant, built by the Iranians in a location that is very easy to attack, may not actually be a part of Iran’s nuclear weapons program. It may be a “decoy” plant designed to attract an Israeli and/or American attack when that plant is really designed only for civilian electrical generation.
If that is the case, any attack on it will allow Iran to call in international investigators to see it had no weapons capacity and claim that Iran is the victim of American/Israeli aggression. The real Iranian nuclear weapons program is going on in the nuclear facilities at Qom and perhaps ten other hidden locations (also discussed in my August 19th blog) which are buried deep underground or underneath mountains. It may be impossible to determine how far along Iran’s plutonium enrichment efforts have advanced at those secret plants,and it may also be impossible to disable those underground nuclear plants without the use of tactical nuclear weaponry. It may be possible to disable them with successive waves of “bunker buster” bombs, but even that is problematic. Iran has sited its nuclear facilities with great foresight and skill, and I suspect they had considerable help from Chinese and North Korean engineers who helped them locate their secret nuclear facilities deep underground where American reconnaissance satellites cannot see them. However, the fact that the Sunni Arab nations are pushing for an attack indicates that they are growing steadily more fearful of Iran’s nuclear status. If the Bushehr plant is a decoy and it is becoming fully functional in a nuclear capacity, it infers that Iran’s real nuclear weapons plants may also be coming on line as well.
The second link describes efforts by Saudi Arabia and the USA to detach Syria from its long-time alliance with Iran. This effort also involves the internal politics of Lebanon and Iraq, and it is very murky in its details. It is assumed that Hezbollah will submit to Syria’s control if Syria detaches from its alliance with Iran; however, that is by no means certain. Hezbollah is sworn to destroy Israel as is Iran, so Hezbollah may remain loyal to Iran and see Syria as a traitor if it switches sides. Indeed, the second link hints that Assad, Syria’s leader, is “playing a dangerous game” in these machinations. If he does switch sides, he may find himself personally targeted for elimination by a vengeful Iran which has spent much time and money strengthening Syria to be its ally. Syria’s position is also greatly complicated by Turkey’s recent approachment toward Iran. If Turkey joins Iran in an alliance, Syria is almost certain to stay in Iran’s orbit. Otherwise, Syria could find itself attacked and dismembered by a simultaneous attack by Iran, Hezbollah and Turkey.
If Syria can be drawn away from its alliance with Iran, it will want concessions from the West. The concession it will demand is the restoration of the Golan Heights to Syrian control. Israel would have to be crazy to submit to such a demand no matter what pressures the Obama administration puts on it. I’ve stood at the base of the Golan Heights and looked up at them from northern Israeli territory, and I realize how strategic these Heights really are to Israeli security. The only way that I could see any Israeli government returning the Golan Heights to Syria would be if two conditions were acknowledged by all parties. These conditions would be (A) no one will object to the immediate use of Israeli nuclear weapons against Damascus and Syria if it attacks Israel in the future, and (B) the consent of all parties that the Israelis will be given the right to build a Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Those two conditions might pacify the resistance of the Israeli political right-wing and religious parties to such a concession to Syria.
There are a number of biblical possibilities in such a scenario. It seems evident that some kind of agreement or treaty will be necessary to create a situation where the daily sacrifices at a Third Temple site are begun in order for them to be later stopped by a beast power. Daniel 8:11-14 contains a prophecy about the stopping of the daily sacrifices, and while verses 1-10 argue for a ancient fulfillment of this prophecy, verse 17, 19, and 23 clearly state that this prophecy will have a latter-day fulfillment as well. Ominously, Isaiah 17 contains a prophecy that Damascus will become “a ruinous heap” (verse 1), and verses 4 and 7 indicate that this will occur in the latter days. Damascus could be turned into a “ruinous heap” by the Israelis if the Syrians betray a future agreement, but Damascus could also be turned into a “ruinous heap” by a vengeful and betrayed Iran (how hard would it be to have Iranian and/or Hezbollah suicide bombers ignite a small nuke in Damascus if Syria betrays Iran?). Syria is really in the hot seat in current Mideast politics. If I owned property in Damascus, I’d sell it….soon.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/139207
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5920256,00.html
