The necessity for brevity in Bible Update: Ezekiel 38-9 – Iran vs Israel – USA and Russia? meant I didn’t expand upon the parenthesis in my opening remark, ‘…news of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s threat to ‘open the gates of hell’ over the Zionist regime (not the first such threat)…’. Let me now explain:

Please don’t listen to critics’ claiming evangelical Christians support Israel just because they want to hasten the battle of Armageddon.  In fact the reality is this:

Shiite theology desires exactly that in order to bring about the return of their hidden 12th Imam, or Mahdi – and supposedly accompanied by the prophet Jesus!

Thus, the ultimate goal of Iran’s theocratic regime is the removal of the Jewish state of Israel, as I was stunned to see thirty years ago!

[Those who’ve read my Bio Info may recall that, whilst casually flicking through a new book I’d been given I noticed lots of references to the significance of Jerusalem, I also was watching a documentary on then raging Iraq-Iran war. Suddenly I heard a narrator on TV say what’s being shown is elite units from opposing forces rehearsing together an attack upon Jerusalem – that is, despite being at war with one another!!  Thus began my appreciation as a non-believer in the Bible’s prophetic value. The truth of this reality got confirmed in peculiar instances (‘God-incidents’) after I’d started blogging, especially around its fourth anniversary in November 2013 – see The Invisible Hand Reappears and Did My Triple Warning About Iran Affect WordPress Connections? and from 2015,  What’s Weird About Writing About Iran.]

So it comes as no surprise to see this headline in this morning’s Jerusalem Post: Israeli Defense Minister : Iran Declared War On Us Long Ago.: ‘Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Wednesday. “Iran declared war on us long ago. The highest echelons in Tehran want to erase the Zionist entity, they do not hide the fact that they want to wipe the State of Israel off the face of the earth” Liberman said at annual conference…“Iran is also fighting us through their proxies: Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and now Hamas and of course the Syrian regime.Therefore, it is a daily war not only in the military aspect but also in the realm of international terrorism and we do everything in order to preserve Israel’s security,” adding that Israel maintains absolute freedom of action and will do everything necessary to prevent Iran from consolidating themselves in Syria.

USA and Russia in Syria

Now news has emerged in the MSM of American forces blowing up a Russian-made tank in self-defence against an attack by Syrian troops loyal to Assad and backed by Russian mercenaries, here’s a list of linked-headlines US-Russia conflict I was unable to locate for the earlier post but which are now available:

• 1 Feb – Russia builds 4 new air bases, deploys another 6,000 troops in Syria
• 8 Feb – US artillery and air strike Hizballah and Iranian forces in East Syria
• 9 Feb – More on US strike: Russians who laid Euphrates bridge among targets
• 13 Feb – Upto 200 Russian ‘advisers’ killed in last week’s clash with US forces.

DEBKA also claims Israel’s downing of Iran’s drone is part of a larger scenario of US-Russian involvement (to be revealed in report to subscribers).