The most significant EVENT that is to take place NEXT in the Middle East was written by the Hebrew Prophet Isaiah who lived more than 2700 years ago, “Damascus will be a heap of ruins and will CEASE to be a CITY”. For the record ‘Damascus’ is the capital of Syria and its President is Bashar Al Assad.
After the ‘Re-establishment of Israel’ in 1948, in ALL the wars they had to face, the ‘Leadership of Arab Forces’ was taken by Egypt, especially under its Second President Gamal Abdul Nasser. The ‘First’ to become President after king Farouk was forced to abdicate in 1952 was General Neguib, who was only a ‘figure head’, until Nasser took over in 1954.
Israel has fought 4 wars so far. Once “Resolution 181” was passed in the UN on 29th of November 1947, making the way for the “Re-Establishment of Israel”, ALL the Arab nations wanted to prevent it being implemented. The very night the Resolution was passed, it is on record that the Saudi Arabian delegate said, “We’ll drown them in the Mediterranean sea”. The then US President Harry Truman has sent a special official to tell David Ben Gurion, “Not to be in a hurry to declare the Establishment of the New State”. General Bernard Montgomery, who was in charge of the ‘Allied Forces’ in the Middle East during WW II had said, “I will give Israel only 2 weeks”. In spite of all these statements, the First PM of Modern Israel David Ben Gurion MADE “The Declaration of Independence” from Tel Aviv, standing under a photograph of Theodore Herzl, on the 14th of May 1948. The very next day, 5 Arab armies attacked this ‘One Day Old’ Nation.
David Ben Gurion making the “Declaration of Independence”
Though Israeli agents had managed to procure weapons, mainly from Czechoslovakia, they could NOT get them into the country because of the blockade imposed by the British, who controlled the area prior to that day. So Israel is reputed to have possessed only one tank and 3 cannons as heavy weapons on that day. YET they survived and that war is called “War of Independence”.
Once he consolidated his power, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, which was jointly owned by Britain and France. Nasser did that in order to prevent Israel from doing any trade via the Mediterranean Sea. Since it was surrounded by hostile Arab nations, there was no way for Israel to get ANY supplies over land and so started the 2nd war on the 29th of October 1956. Subsequently Britain and France also joined in. Due to the political pressure imposed by the US, USSR and the UN, hostilities ceased by the 7th of November.
But by then 40 ships had been sunk in the canal, apart from many mines and it took a long time for it to be safely navigational.
The most “Dramatic War”, that even astounded the rest of the world took place in June 1967, when within 6 days Israel captured the Sinai Area and the Gaza Strip from the Egyptians, Golan Heights in the north from the Syrians and ‘Judea and Samaria’ in the east from the Jordanians.
During the 1st war, king Abdullah of Jordon, the great grandfather of the present king Abdullah, captured the area called in the Bible “Judea and Samaria”. In 1950 he annexed that area as ‘part of Jordon’ and called it the ‘West Bank’, as that geographical area is ‘on the west’ of the Jordanian River. On the 7th of June 1967 Israel captured that area, which also included EAST JERUSALEM.
Though over 20,000 soldiers of the 3 Arab countries died, casualties of the Israeli forces were even less than a 1000, which also was considered outstanding. It became famous as “The Six Day War” and the situation and outlook in Israel completely changed.
The 6th FEAST of GOD ALMIGHTY is stated in Leviticus 23:27-32, [the 3rd Book of the Bible] and is considered as the “Holiest Day in Israel”. As GOD Says in Verse 30 there that “Anyone who does ANY work ON THAT DAY, HE WILL destroy” and in Verse 31 that it is to be an “Ordinance for ALL Generations”, the WHOE country comes to a ‘STANDSTILL’. NO cinema, TV and Radio programs or any traffic on the streets and every adult fasts, except for the sick and elderly. NO telephone calls either. Most in the Armed Forces and the Police are also sent on leave.
Taking advantage of that, on the 6th of October 1973, the Arab forces under the twin leadership of Egypt and Syria attacked Israel again. On the 6th, naturally they managed to gain ground as neither the Israeli Forces near the Suez Canal nor the ones guarding the Golan Heights, could inform the HQs that they were being attacked. But the next day, they mobilized their forces and counter attacked and by the 25th, drove ALL the Arab armies BACK. The irony of it was that NOT ONLY was IT the “Holiest Day” in their calendar, but also happened to be the “Day of Ramadan” in that year, according to Islam too.
After the death of Nasser in 1970, Anwar Sadat became the third President of Egypt.
Though Menachem Begin was the Founder\Leader of “Herut” and subsequently of “Gahal”, in 1977 he became 6th PM of Israel, Leading the Likud Party, which ultimately ended 3 decades of “Labour Party” dominance in Israeli politics.
“Secret talks” between these Two Leaders were conducted for 12 days at Camp David, the country retreat of US Presidents, with the then President Jimmy Carter also in attendance. The result was the “Peace Treaty” of 1979, for which Begin and Sadat became Joint Holders of the “Nobel Prize for Peace”.
As stated at the beginning, it was Egypt that always gave leadership to Arab Forces in their war efforts. Once this Peace Treaty was signed ‘wars against Israel’ CEASED, though guerilla or terrorist attacks continued and also uprisings that are termed ‘Intifadas’.
The 11th PM of Israel, Ariel Sharon unilaterally dismantled ‘21 Israeli settlements’ in the Gaza Strip and even forcefully evacuated the Jewish Settlers and withdrew the Israeli army from inside the Gaza Strip, during August and September of 2005. This was a unilateral decision of the Israeli Government, without coming into ANY agreement with the Palestinian Leadership.
‘Hamas’ won the election conducted there in 2006 and subsequently drove out the PLO officials from their office and became the sole power in the entire area in 2007.
Since then, the CITIES in the south of Israel near the Gaza strip have been under constant ‘rocket attacks’. There are other terror groups such as ‘Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade’ and ‘Fatah’ that also operate from there.
Hezbollah, meaning ‘Party of Allah’, is a Lebanese Shia Islamist militant group, led by Hassan Nasrallah, since 1992. Just like Iran, they also have publicly vowed to ‘wipe out Israel’. It is common knowledge THAT is the motive of ALL these groups that some countries have recognized as ‘Terrorists’. Though there are Sunni groups like Hamas, ALL these groups receive weapons, finances and at times also training, mainly from Iran.
In 2011 civil uprisings began against Assad in Syria. As it was said there were Nuclear Weapons there, IAEA sent its workers to Damascus to investigate, as the world media showed then. Subsequently they said it was ‘Nuclear Free’, but the uprisings continued, with Kurds also joining in. Russia supports Assad.
From time to time, U S and Turkey have launched attacks within Syria. Turkey though mainly attacks Kurdish strongholds. Because of all this, cities such as Homs and Aleppo are mostly destroyed, BUT Damascus is STILL intact.
Hezbollah continuously receives arms from Iran via Syria. Consequently Israeli Air Force continues to bomb their arms storages in Lebanon. They also attack the convoys that bring arms through Syria and at times, quite close to the airport IN Damascus.
With all these activities going on at a regular basis, Isaiah’s Prophecy of “Damascus becoming a heap of ruins and ceasing to exist”, could be Fulfilled, in the VERY NEAR FUTURE.
The moment THAT happens, despite the “Peace Treaties” that have been signed, ALL the Arab countries surrounding Israel, WILL ATTACK IT.
THAT SCENARIO IS RECORDED IN PSALM 83. The ancient names of those countries are stated in that Psalm in Verses 6-8, but the name ‘Aram’ by which Syria was called then or even the word ‘Levant’, is missing. That may be because, together with its capital Damascus, the country itself could be destroyed.
