Submitted by: M Mullukin
Socotra figures in multiple threats to Israel following UAE, Bahraini pacts
September 18, 2020
Two radical forces are gunning for Israel’s interests in the Gulf region since they were formalized in pacts with the UAE and Bahrain on Tuesday, September 15.
Middle East sources claim that the United Arab Emirates and Israel are setting up spy bases on the Yemeni island of Socotra which the Emirates took over in 2017. The same sources disclose that the UAE and Israel have deployed espionage equipment on the island for monitoring the Houthi insurgents on the Yemeni mainland, 350km away, as well as Iranian naval movements in the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz.
The Yemeni government has called the takeover an act of aggression and Al Qaeda’s Yemen branch (AQAP) threatens to attack the putative UAE-Israeli intelligence base on Socotra. AQAP warned that if Israel set foot in Socotra “you and your Emirati partners will be targets for our fire, our commando attackers and our martyrdom bombers.”
This Socotra archipelago sits athwart the Red Sea shipping routes from the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean and is therefore a major strategic asset, especially if Iran were to block the Strait of Hormuz.
In Yemen, Al Qaeda is on the run from Houthi rebels and in decline in other places; its leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has not been seen for many months. Nonetheless, nineteen years after 9/11, jihadist experts are not yet ready to write al Qaeda off as a spent force.
At the other end of radical extremism, are Iran-backed Shiite terrorist groups in Bahrain.
With close operational links to the Lebanese Hizballah, they proclaim their intention of opposing the Gulf kingdom’s pact with Israel. The Saraya Wa’ad Allah, the first group out with a statement, says it has set up a new specialized sub-unit for attacking Israeli interests.
The group strongly denounced “this false normalisation with the Zionist enemy…” calling it “a cancerous gland on the body of the Ummah.”
This Saraya Wa’ad Allah has named its new sub-unit the “Martyrs of Jerusalem Company,” its purpose is to target Israeli interests on the island-kingdom and is calling for recruits. This group claims to be part of the pro-Iran “Islamic resistance” and maintains links to other like-minded radical Shiite terrorist groups as well as the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards.
Most of these groups’ operations are confined to bloodcurdling media threats, including widely distributed video clips, rather than actual bombings. No terrorist attack inside Bahrain has been recorded since 2017.
Despite the preponderance of threats to Israeli nationals and interests in Bahrain, it remains to be seen how many materialise.
Their effectiveness for action has been substantially stymied by arrests, heavy-handed tactics and weapons seizures by the Bahraini – plus Saudi – security forces for quelling Iran’s insurgency-fomenting tactics against the throne.
However, the pact with Israel may rouse Tehran and those groups into actually making good on their threats and soon make the “puppet regime” of King Hamad al-Khalifa “taste his pursuit” for associating with the “Zionist enemy.”
We’ll see – developing......
Amir Tsarfati’s Weekly Round-Up......
18 September 2020
Shalom from southern California!
I’m glad to report that I arrived safely in California on Friday, September 11th. I’ve had some time to rest, get over jet lag, and make the final preparations for my three messages I’ll be teaching in the next week.
In my time in California, I’ve been able to partake in several events. On Monday, my good friend, Pastor Barry Stagner, helped co-host my Middle East Update, wherein we covered a wide range of topics.
On Tuesday, Pastor Barry and I hosted another Prophecy Roundtable with our dear friend, Jan Markell, from Olive Tree Ministries. And yesterday, I joined Pastor Jack Hibbs at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills for his Happening Now series.
We covered several different events taking place around the world including the circumstances in Lebanon, Coronavirus, and the historic peace agreement between Israel and two Gulf States.
I may have left the Middle East, but the activity in the region is as busy as ever.
Following two Israeli strikes in Syria last week, satellite images released by a private Israeli security firm revealed that the damage done near Aleppo is nothing short of significant. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) targeted a missile production facility belonging to Hezbollah, and in so doing, they destroyed one building while heavily damaging another.
Near the end of last week, Israel carried out another series of strikes in Al-Bukamal, Syria, which is a high-traffic area for Iran and its interests. Nearly a dozen Iranian-sponsored fighters were killed.
Iran is continuing down its own path of hostility, which is being displayed on all fronts.
The regime had the country’s young, successful professional wrestler, Navid Afkari, executed. Afkari was sentenced to death after an alleged fatal confrontation with Iranian security forces back in 2018.
However, Iranian security forces were and remain notorious for the violence they inflict on unarmed civilians both domestically and internationally. Furthermore, the regime is believed to be planning to assassinate a US ambassador in retaliation to the US killing of former general Qassem Soleimani earlier this year.
If that’s not enough, this caused Israeli and US embassies around the world to go on high alert, and President Trump took no shortcuts in issuing a strong warning to Iran should they harm any US personnel.
The radical Iranian regime has another mutiny on its hands as the Rial continues to hit rock bottom and then some. The rial is now valued at 271,000 rial/1 dollar. And while the people of Iran suffer, the ayatollahs do as they feel necessary to accomplish their agenda. Turkey is facing a similar problem as the lira continues to crumble.
Undoubtedly, the most significant development to take place that concerns the Middle East is the agreement ceremony that took place in Washington D.C. on Tuesday celebrating the newfound relationship(s) between Israel, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Officially, this new deal is called the Abraham Accords, and representatives from each country were all present at the White House to celebrate this new agreement. These are the first two Gulf States to ever normalise their ties with Israel.
And why? Because they understand the benefits of a working relationship with us as much as they see the hypocrisy and stubbornness of the [Arab] Palestinians – and they’re tired of it.
For some reason, many believers have been very quick to criticize this agreement. I understand and respect the desire to protect the land that God has given to Israel, but it’s important that we don’t go so far that we misunderstand what the Scriptures are saying.
And it’s also important that we don’t categorize this agreement as something it’s not. Let me remind you that Israel has only gained sovereignty from the time of the unveiling of the Trump Peace Plan to the signing of the Abraham Accords. The deal is an exchange of peace for peace, not land for peace. We’re not giving up any land!
Iran issued an immediate threat to Bahrain following its announcement to work with Israel, just as they did to the UAE. These bullies in the Middle East are being exposed for exactly what they are.
And adding insult to injury for Iran and Turkey, a Saudi source has reported that Israel could very well establish a NATO-like defence alliance with several countries in the region in order to combat the destabilising nature of the two countries.
Sadly, but not surprisingly, as soon as PM Benjamin Netanyahu began his speech on Tuesday, Hamas began launching rockets from Gaza into southern Israel in conjunction with its threats.
Here we are making peace with countries in the region, and instead of trying to align themselves in a similar fashion, they choose to launch rockets at us. We’re seeking peace while they’re looking for a war. Perhaps the Psalmist said it best:
Psalm 120:5-7
Woe is me, that I dwell in Meshech,
That I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
My soul has dwelt too long
With one who hates peace.
I am for peace;
But when I speak, they are for war.
The Israeli Air Force responded by striking multiple military facilities in Gaza.
I’m sad to say that Israel is facing a three-week shutdown due to increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases. And for the first time ever, synagogues are to be limited to no more than 20 people during the traditional fall feasts; Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles).
No Way Out / Happening Now with Jack Hibbs & Amir Tsarfati - 17 September 2020
Assad loses part of his ground forces in Syria, Hezbollah withdraws.
18 September 2020
DAMASCUS, Lebanese politicians have now predicted the imminent departure of the Shiite military-political organization Hezbollah from Syria, where it has been fighting since 2012 on the side of President Bashar al-Assad.
In particular, this was stated by the head of the Free Patriotic Movement (SPD) of Lebanon, Gibran Basil, who in the past served as foreign minister. He announced his supporters’ support for the idea of Lebanese neutrality in international conflicts and called on ordinary citizens to support the decision of the “party of Allah”.
It follows from Basil’s statement that the corresponding decision is on the table with the Hezbollah leadership. “Certainly [Hezbollah] has an idea of returning from Syria, and we, the Lebanese, must accept and support such a decision,” the former minister said.
He expressed confidence that Lebanon has enough of the problems that the neighbouring countries have experienced, and that it is necessary to deal with domestic political concerns. Representatives of the “party of Allah” did not officially comment on the statements of the head of the SPD, however, sources of Asharq al-Awsat, close to the military-political organization, said that “so far there was nothing serious that should have been announced regarding the presence in Syria.”
“Over the past two years, the role of the “party of Allah” in Syria has changed dramatically due to the reduction of military operations. As for the idea of withdrawal, it is related to the process of the withdrawal of all foreign armed forces, and this should happen within two years”, explained the source of Asharq al-Awsat.
In fact, on the eve of the leaders of Hezbollah promised retribution to those who diplomatically approached Israel at the initiative of the United States. So, in the statement of the “party of Allah” the rulers of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were condemned.
“Resistance forces will respond to the betrayal of the regimes that stabbed the Palestinian people in the back and went to reconciliation with Israel”, the official statement said.
According to Hezbollah, such a step has no justification, because “the free Arab and Islamic peoples support the Palestinian right to liberate their land and reject normalisation and cooperation with Israel.”
In many ways, the statement of the “party of Allah” repeated what has already been said about the Arab-Israeli normalisation by the leadership of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is considered the direct patron of the Shiite organization in Lebanon.
Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (Britain), said in a conversation with the Arab press that Hezbollah’s mission in Syria to this day is to compensate for the inability of the Syrian government forces to control all its territories. Shiite militants have long played a decisive role in Assad’s ground forces.
The decision to withdraw supporters of the “party of Allah” can only be taken by Iran, which is deeply integrated into the Syrian processes, the head of the monitoring group emphasizes.
Hezbollah has played an important role in the Syrian civil conflict since 2012. She sent thousands of militants there to support official Damascus.
Only in July of this year, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah announced that the organization was reducing its presence in Syria, pointing to a “decrease in the intensity of hostilities” in the Syrian theatre.
However, in reality, Nasrallah’s statement could be nothing more than a manipulation in order to weaken the attention of regional opponents in the person of Israel to a number of areas where the concentration of Shiite irregular formations is high.
It is possible that Basil’s statements pursue exactly the same goals. The withdrawal of Iranian and pro-Iranian formations from Syria at this stage will mean surrender and the transfer of this arena to Russia’s sphere of influence.
And Tehran would not like to make such a gesture under any circumstances.
“None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand”. [Daniel 12;10]
No comments:
Post a Comment