Israel & Middle East war dynamics

Israel is bordered by Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria, which separates it from Iran

PRAYER WATCH: The Muslim nations surrounding Israel are growing ever more hostile. God promises if we bless Israel, we too will be blessed (Gen. 12:3). Every week, almost every day, we hear of much moving and shaking in the region. Our periodic prayer alerts must turn into an ongoing prayer watch:

IRAQ—On December 15, 2011 the US officially marked the end of the nine-year war in Iraq. The US is not leaving any troops to enforce the fragile peace.—There will be no troops for counter-terrorism, securing Iraq’s airspace, collecting intelligence, or training Iraq’s still weak armed forces. The US and Israel’s arch-enemy Iran is poised to step into the power vacuum. They want to sway the Shiite majority to support its campaign against Israel and the West.

EGYPT—From November through January, Egyptians are voting for their new Parliament. So far the radical Muslim Brotherhood has 37% of the vote. The even more extreme Islamic Salafist party has 24%. The military, which is trying to retain some basic powers, claims it will be a moderating force in the expected Islamic regime. But even the military has massacred Christian protesters, and turned the other way as Muslims have burned churches, broken into homes to behead Christians. It also ransacked Israel’s embassy in Cairo. Last February the military allowed two Iranian warships into the Mediterranean Sea. Since then it has developed closer ties with Iran. It has even let Iran train al-Qaeda elements in Egypt how to mount large-scale attacks on Israel.

SYRIA, LEBANON & GAZA—Experts say Syrian President Hafez Assad may decide to wage war against Israel in order to divert attention from his brutal regime. Ready to support such an attack are Syria’s ally Iran and its terrorist proxies. Hezbollah has more than 1000 armed bunkers near Israel’s border with Lebanon. Hamas is constantly firing rocketsagainst targets in Israel from Gaza. In August, Iran trained Hezbollah and Hamas in coordinating missile onslaughts aimed at blanketing Israel. Assad said if NATO attacked Syria as it did Libya, he could within six hours provide Hezbollah with hundreds of missiles to fire at Israel. In that same six hours, he said “Iran will attack the U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf and the U.S. and European interests will be targeted simultaneously.”

IRAN—Iran makes no secret of its intent to destroy Israel and the US. President Ahmadinejad says this will hasten the coming of the Shiite Muslim messiah. The UN is trying to slow Iran’s nuclear weapons development with sanctions. The US sent more drones to spy on Iran. One was recently captured, making this advanced technology available to Iran. In early November the cabinet of Israel reportedly started discussing preemptive strikes against Iran’s nuclear program. Here is what followed:

November 12: Explosions hit an Iranian military base which was arming missiles with nuclear warheads to use against Israel. 100+ military personnel were killed. They included the chief architect of Iran’s missile program. Iran’s media gave conflicting reports of the blasts.

November 13: Iran admitted that a mysterious virus is believed to have destroyed about 1,000 centrifuges in its uranium-enrichment program.

November 19: Defense Minister Ehud Barak of Israel said that it was a matter of months, not years, before it would be too late to stop Iran’s aggressive nuclear program.

November 28: An explosion hit Isfahan, Iran, home of a nuclear facility involved in processing uranium. Again, Iranian media reports have been contradictory.

December 14: Iran stated that, “If circumstances require it, the uranium enrichment facilities will be relocated to safer places.” The US is negotiating with Saudi Arabia to place bunker-busting bombs that could penetrate into any “safe” location.

Some say the recent explosions show a covert war has already begun. Others say they were accidents. Still others say they were acts of God against the enemies of Israel. They compare similar situations in Ex. 14, 1 Sam. 7, 2 Sam. 5, 2 Kings 19 and many other passages.

AGREE IN PRAYER WITH US: Father, we turn to You who has all wisdom and might. Establish Your kingdom on earth. You see how Muslim nations are arising to establish their own oppressive kingdom. You see how they are persecuting Christians in their midst. You see how these nations are raging against Israel. Yet You chose Israel to bless all people on earth. Your people are weak, Lord. But You are all-powerful. Frustrate the plans of Your enemies to annihilate Israel and subjugate Christians. Do not let their weapons prosper. Disable their nuclear programs and let their boastful words against Israel fall to the ground. Release dreams, visions, miracles and testimonies of Jesus Christ to Muslims. They have been denied opportunities to know Him. Let Your plans for an increase of Your peace and Your government be made known to those nations. Let the full number of the Gentiles come in, so that the time of hardening of Israel may end. Let the last-days destiny of Israel be fulfilled, as You promised through the prophets and in Romans 11. Sow seeds for a great harvest where great destruction was planned. In Jesus’ name, amen.

For more on this subject, click:

Affirming Israel’s border: Scripture and history