It is no falsehood to say that ‘Everyone was taken by surprise, at the speed at which the Syrian government fell’.
A Reuters report even had the sub headline, “ARAB WORLD STUNNED”.
Not only the Arab world, ‘whole world’ has been STUNNED.
YET Prophet Amos who lived in the 8th century BC, 2700 years back Prophesied these events:
Amos 1:3-5 State how Syria will be punished because of its transgressions.
Verse 5 states the plight of the “inhabitants in the valley of Aven (wickedness)”, which fits Hezbollah and goes onto state “The one who holds the scepter (that means the ruler) will be cut off from the house of pleasure [Eden]”.
Media showed the luxurious palaces that Assad and his family lived in, before they had to flee, which beautifully fits in with the latter part of the above Verse which mentions ‘house of pleasure’.
Regarding the present times, as this toppling of the Assad regime was carried out by a ‘joint force’ of many rebel groups, some even wonder “Who was behind the coordination of these groups?” Many assume it is Turkey.
For the time being the leader seems to be Abu Mohammed Al- Golani\Jawlani, who is the leader of the HTS (Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham) group. He has made a statement over Syria’s state TV and declared “The future is ours”.
Give below a quote from a “Reuters Report”, in which I have highlighted the opening line of the second para for greater emphasis.
BEIRUT, Dec 8 (Reuters) – “As the commander of al Qaeda’s franchise in the Syrian civil war, Abu Mohammed al-Golani was a shadowy figure who kept out of the public eye, even when his group became the most powerful faction fighting to topple Bashar al-Assad.
Today, he is the most recognizable of Syria’s triumphant rebels, having gradually stepped into the limelight since severing ties to al Qaeda in 2016, rebranding his group and leading the rebels who ousted Assad after 13 years of civil war”. (End Quote)
One common theme expressed by practically all the world leaders is “The situation is fragile”.
That may be because of what used to happen in Syria until the Assad family took control.
Here’s a brief history about Syria.
During the early iron age, it was known by both names “Syro Hittite” and “Luwian Aramean”.
Maybe that is why in the Bible it is referred to by both names “Syria” and “Aram”.
Later on it also became known as “Levant”.
Damascus was an important city even before the Roman empire became established, as the ‘trade routes’ of the ancient world passed through it. The main one being “Via Maris” (Latin for ‘Way of the Sea’), which started from Cairo and went along the Mediterranean coast until the Jezreel Valley and then turned east towards Damascus and passed through Anatolia and ended up in Mesopotamia.
In the Septuagint, Isaiah 9:1 has the Greek name of that route, where in English we read “By the Way of the Sea”.
In AD 135, when Caesar Hadrian banished all the Jewish People from what they called “Judea” (Ioudea), he re-named it “Syria Palestina”, joining the two names of the ‘age old enemies of Israel’ together with the ‘recognized geographical country’ of the area.
From 1517 onwards the Ottoman Turkish empire controlled whole of the “Middle East” until 1917. Consequently, most of the countries including Syria, that we are familiar with today in the M. E. did NOT exist as separate states, during those 400 years,
As Turkey joined Germany and the Austro-Hungarian empire in WW 1, it was defeated by the Allied Forces led by the British General Edmund Allenby.
Even before their defeat, two representatives from London and Paris met in Beirut to carve out the M. E. between their two countries and that pact came to be known as the “Sykes – Picot Agreement”.
Since most of those countries came back into existence after WW 1, some take it as a Fulfillment of Christ’s Statement, “When the fig tree and all the trees sprout, that will be an indication that The kingdom of GODF is near” (Luke 21:29-31).
As per history, the post WW 1 Syria got divided as follows:
First Syrian Republic – From 1930 onwards it came under the “French Mandate”, along with Lebanon. Though a “Treaty of Independence” was agreed upon in 1936, the French Parliament refused to recognize it.
A “Proclamation of Independence” was made in 1944, though the UN recognized the ‘Syrian Republic’ only in October 1945 and the French troops withdrew on 17th April 1946.
When the present “State of Israel” was Established on the 14th of May 1948, five Arab countries led by Egypt attacked it the very next day (15th). Shukri al-Quwati, who was the leader of the ‘First Syrian Republic’ at the time, sent his troops which were reported to have included former Nazi German soldiers and notorious SS personnel to attack Israel, with the order ‘destroy the Zionists’. But what happened is history now.
Second Syrian Republic – Came into existence with the adoption of a ‘New Constitution’ on 5th September 1950. BUT it was suspended when Syria joined Egypt and together with Abdul Gamal Nasser formed the “United Arab Republic” in 1958. In 1961 Syria withdrew from that ‘Union’ and resumed the Second Syrian Republic. Subsequent to the ‘Suez Crisis’, Syria also entered into a ‘Pact’ with Soviet Russia in 1956, which was one of the reasons why Russia supported Assad, though Russia had its own reasons like having a foothold in the M.E.
But throughout its history, since 1930, coup d’tat after coup d’tat took place resulting in many leaders coming into power, even for brief periods of time. This may be why, currently the world leaders are wary.
In 1963 a coup led by the military officers of the ‘Ba-athist party’ took control of Syria. In 1970, Hafez al-Assad, who was the then Minister of Defense ousted Salah Jadid and ruled the country until his death in 2000.
He was an Alawite, which is a splinter group of Shia, who rules Iran. He was succeeded by his son Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted last Sunday (8th) by the current rebellion.
During their tenure, Assads made sure that NO internal coup could take place by eliminating even the very hint of any threats, by very harsh means.
The question now seems to be, “How long will the ‘unity’ of these rebel groups last?”
Not only there are many factions, they also belong to various ‘Tribes’ and throughout the M.E. ‘Tribal Loyalties’ often lead to many conflicts.
For those who are interested in the “End Time Picture in the Bible”, the events taking place throughout the world and mainly in the Middle East seem to suggest that many Prophecies would be Fulfilled quite soon.
One of them is what is recorded in Isaiah 17:1, “Damascus will be a heap of ruins”.
At present all the rebel groups seemed to be ‘united’. But the track record of these amalgamations throughout history has NOT been so good. Ultimately they end up fighting for supremacy.
Once that happens, just like some other cities in the M. E., Damascus could be destroyed and the above mentioned Prophecy will be Fulfilled.
In the past many thought, self included, the ruin of Damascus could take place due to an Israeli strike on Iranian arm shipments or buildings where arms and ammunition are stored catching fire or even by U S attacking rebel groups like ISIS. Though any of those possibilities still remain, it could simply happen by these groups fighting one another.
Another fact worth mentioning is this. Psalms 83 Records how a ‘confederate of nations’ will attack Israel, giving the ancient names of those countries or ethnic groups. It is interesting to note that neither the word ‘Aram’ nor the word ‘Syria’ is stated among them.
May be these rebel groups will demarcate various areas as ‘their own’ in the near future, so that Syria no longer will be considered a country and hence the absence of its name in Psalms 83.
