The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the East. Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for battle on the great day of God Almighty.
"Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed."
The they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
16 Revelation 12-16
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NOTE: Armageddon is today known as Megiddo- a small town in northern Israel that lies in the direct path of any southward Syrian invasion into modern-day Israel.
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Six-and-a-half years ago, in early-February 1991 when the Gulf War was underway, I had a mysterious vision of an NBC Special Report about a chemical SCUD missile attack taking place against Haifa, Israel. About a week after this, a friend and I heard an air-raid siren and nuclear explosion upon reading the Seventh Seal prophecy from the Bible's Book of Revelation (see "The Truth" article at- http://www.ucc.uconn.edu/~jpa94001/j03.html ).
Ever since those strange experiences in February of 1991, I have been seeking to explain what they meant. Is a war in the Middle East going to eventually erupt that will be followed by a global nuclear holocaust?
I have concluded the answer is a tragic yes and, what's more, the coming holocaust is something that is fully preventable. Unfortunately, however, this world is apparently not going to be saved because people aren't interested in facing the truth and diverting our civilization from self-destruction.
At the current juncture, the "false" peace in the Middle East is ostensibly breaking down and it appears that war may soon erupt in the region. It looks as if the initial, organized military action that will ignite a new Arab-Israeli conflict may be carried-out by Israel, possibly in the new Palestianian self-ruled areas, possibly in southern Lebanon or possibly in both.
As will become clear from reading the news articles below, Syria has been preparing to unleash a surprise attack against Israel that could begin with a chemical SCUD missile attack on the Jewish State-this being what I may have already foreseen. In order to create a pretext for this attack, Israel is being provoked into military action in Southern Lebanon and possible the Palestinian-ruled territories as well. In response to such Israeli action, or maybe even without it, I expect the rest of the world will soon see reports of a chemical SCUD missile attack on Haifa and probably other Israeli cities just like I witnessed six-and-a-half years ago.
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Agence France Presse, September 11, 1997 11:09 GMT "Iraq calls for jihad against Israel, slams US peace efforts"
Iraq urged Arab states on Thursday to mount a jihad, or Moslem holy war, against Israel and to reject a US-sponsored peace process which it says is biased toward the Jewish state.
"All the signs and historical facts show that the Arabs have no choice but to pursue the jihad against the (Israeli) occupier," said Ath-Thawra, organ of the ruling Baath Party.
It said US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's maiden tour of the Middle East that started in Israel on Wednesday was aimed solely at "guaranteeing the security of the (Israeli) aggressor which practises terrorism."
The peace process sponsored by Washington is "totally partial" toward Israel, it charged, adding that the US administration would "never accept the slightest pressure on the Zionist entity."
It slammed "Arab heads of state who think they can settle matters by negotiating with the enemy."
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BBC Summary of World Broadcasts September 13, 1997, Saturday "Labour leader Baraq says Syria 'will not dare'launch chemical attack" Source: Voice of Israel, Jerusalem, in Hebrew 0500 gmt 12 Sep 97 Text of report by Israel radio on 12th September
Labour leader Ehud Baraq believes Syria will not dare launch the missiles it has fitted with chemical warheads at Israel. In Baraq's view, the Syrians regard that as a poor man's response to their assessment that Israel has nuclear weapons. Baraq's remarks were made on Israel radio in response to today's 'Yediot Aharonot'report that Syria is capable of launching dozens of missiles with chemical warheads in a surprise attack.
On Mrs Albright's visit, Baraq said Labour is concerned about the deadlock and the fear that the situation is deteriorating into a superfluous war. The problem is the path taken by the Netanyahu's government, Baraq said.
The prime minister's spokesman voiced regret that Baraq ignored the Palestinians' responsibility for the deadlock, thereby not helping the government to confront terrorism.
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Agence France Presse September 12, 1997 12:07 GMT "Syria preparing option of surprise chemical attack on Israel: report"
Syria has begun preparations for a possible surprise attack on Israel using missiles armed with chemical warheads, the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot reported Friday.
In a report that coincided with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's scheduled departure from Israel for Damascus, the newspaper published a Russian satellite photo purportedly showing an array of SCUD missile launch sites near the city of Hama.
Edward Howe, an arms expert with the British defense weekly Jane's, told the newspaper the satellite photo is proof that Syria has put in place the means to launch a surprise missile attack on Israel that could involve "dozens" of chemical warheads.
Israeli military officials in recent months have expressed mounting concern over Syria's efforts to develop new forms of chemical weapons, including a lethal kind of nerve gas.
But a former commander of the Israeli air force, Avihu Binun, told Israel radio Friday that the Yediot report "contains nothing new" and that Syria "would not dare fire missiles at Israel."
Ehud Barak, the leader of the opposition Labor Part and a former army chief of staff, agreed.
"Syria wouldn't risk a surprise chemical attack against Israel because they are afraid of the nuclear weapons they think we hold," he said.
Israel has never publicly admitted having a nuclear arsenal, but foreign military experts believe the Jewish state had between 100 and 200 nuclear warheads which could be placed on the army's Jericho medium and long-range missiles.
Israeli-Syrian peace negotiations have been on hold since February 1996.
Albright and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed ways of renewing the Syrian track of the peace process late Thursday but neither made any public declarations about their talks.
The US secretary of state was scheduled to meet Syrian
President Hafez al-Assad late Friday in Damascus.
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Financial Times (London) September 13, 1997, Saturday "Hizbollah chief expects new round of proxy war" By David Gardner in Beirut
Hizbollah, the Lebanese Shia Islamist movement fighting Israeli occupation of south Lebanon, is bracing itself for reprisals from Israel after the ambush last week of an elite Israeli commando unit deep inside Lebanese territory which left 12 Israelis dead.
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah's leader, said he was expecting another Israeli aggression at any time, in spite of US and international mediation to prevent the low-intensity war in south Lebanon from escalating into a new trial of strength between Israel and Syria, which controls Lebanon and licenses Hizbollah attacks.
Interviewed at a safe-house in the Hizbollah stronghold of Beirut's teeming southern suburbs, Sheikh Nasrallah said: "I believe Israel will be obliged to respond to the loss of morale in their armed forces, and the punctures we have made in their aura of invincibility."
Israel has lost 32 elite troops so far this year in Lebanon, on top of 73 killed in February when two helicopters collided on their way to the self-proclaimed "security zone" it maintains in the south.
The security zone, encompassing 12 per cent of Lebanon, is more tinder-box than buffer, providing the arena for a proxy war between Israel and Syria, which has 40,000 troops in Lebanon. Hizbollah pressure on the zone serves Syria as a reminder to Israel that there will be no peace in the region without the return to Syria of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's hardline prime minister, has ruled out returning the Golan, although his Labour predecessors had agreed to hand back the strategic plateau in exchange for full peace with Syria. Madeleine Albright, the US secretary of state, on her first peace mission to the Middle East, was last night due to meet Syrian President Hafez al-Assad to explore ways of reviving negotiations.
Sheikh Nasrallah, himself just back from consultations in Damascus, argues that the US has "given the green light to the Israelis" to attack in Lebanon, just as they did in April last year when Israel bombarded the country from land, air and sea for 17 days, killing over 200 civilians. But, he says, Israel has "limited options". The black- turbaned Hizbollah chief lists five.
"They may try to kill or abduct our leaders - but they will always do that any time they have the opportunity." Sheikh Nasrallah's predecessor as Hizbollah secretary general, Sheikh Abbas Musawi, was killed with his family in 1992 in an Israeli helicopter ambush.
"There are no longer any Hizbollah training camps for them to attack," the Islamist sheikh says, adding with a hint of satisfaction that "it will be a high-risk adventure for them to launch more commando raids" beyond the security zone in an attempt to stop Hizbollah infiltration.
Israel could, he says, launch a new bombardment from the air, which would primarily hit civilians, and "this would not go unpunished".
Finally, he said, Israel could try to broaden the conflict to include Syria. "Any new action against Lebanon would not just target the Lebanese or Hizbollah but also Syrian forces, to try to change the whole Lebanese political equation and separate Syria from Lebanon" in order to "impose a separate treaty on Lebanon" as Israel tried and failed to do in the early 1980s, at the height of the Lebanese civil war.
Sheikh Nasrallah judged the latter option to be ill-advised since, as Mrs Albright's visit to the region this week showed, "the top priority for America and Israel at the moment is the Palestinian issue".
But he repeated the remarks he made during the April 1996 bombardment, that "the Israelis control the skies, but we control the ground." Asked if he would send suicide bombers against Israel - the tactic first used by Hizbollah to drive US and French forces out of Lebanon and Israel back to the security zone after its 1982 invasion - Sheikh Nasrallah said: "If they start a new incursion, or a new bombardment, we will resort to any measure, to any action required to defend Lebanon and defend ourselves."
But the
Hizbollah leader denied that his organisation had anything to do with
the recent suicide attacks in Jerusalem which killed 20 Israelis, as
Yassir Arafat, the Palestinian leader, has suggested. "My direct answer
to your direct question is No," Sheikh Nasrallah said. "Arafat has to a
certain extent lost his mental balance. He is trying to save his own
skin by pointing the finger at Palestinians outside Israel and at
Hizbollah. He should produce evidence for these claims."
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Financial Times (London) September 12, 1997, Friday "US steps in to halt further Lebanon fighting" By David Gardner in Beirut
The US has intervened to stop further escalation in the fighting in southern Lebanon between Israeli occupation forces and Lebanese Islamist guerrillas, according to Lebanese officials.
The mediation effort is a response to fears that Israel would retaliate heavily against Lebanon and its Syrian overlord after losing 12 elite commandos in a bungled raid in southern Lebanon last Friday.
It is understood that Lebanon, Israel and Syria have been in touch through the US to calm down the last active Arab-Israeli war front. The intervention comes after Israel suffered six weeks of mounting losses in its attempts to defend the "security zone" it occupies in south Lebanon against the Syrian-licensed Hizbollah, the Shi'a Moslem fundamentalist militia recognised in Lebanon as a national resistance movement.
So far this year, 32 Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon, while a further 73 were killed in February when their helicopters collided en route to an operation similar to last week's botched attack. Higher Israeli casualties follow the near collapse of the mercenary South Lebanon Army that Israel uses to defend the security zone. This has compromised its intelligence and pushed Israeli troops to the front- line and deeper into Lebanon to stop Hizbollah infiltration, bringing Israel into conflict with other Shi'a forces and the Lebanese army.
In April last year, Israel bombarded south Lebanon and south Beirut for 17 days in a fruitless attempt to force Lebanon and Syria to rein in Hizbollah, killing more than 200 civilians and damaging infrastructure recently replaced after Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war. Fears of a new large-scale incursion had risen after last Friday's disastrous Israeli raid.
So far, however, south Lebanon has gone quiet, and Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's hardline prime minister, is under pressure from across the political spectrum to pull out of Lebanon.
Rafiq al-Hariri, Lebanon's prime minister, dismissed Israeli agonising over withdrawal as "an internal political game". He said: "I don't think they are serious. Every time they have a disaster they talk about withdrawal." He warned that peace and security were indivisible and that Israel would not obtain security for its people without returning all occupied Arab land. "They are trying to divide the undivideable," Mr Hariri said, in a way "which will not guarantee the security of anyone".
Although he would not confirm behind-the-scenes mediation by Mrs Albright, when asked whether he now expected heavy Israeli reprisals, Mr Hariri said: "I have reason to believe No."
The prime minister, who with Syrian backing has for the past five years been the force behind Lebanon's attempts to rebuild itself into the thriving financial and services entrepot it was before the civil war, said he believed the recent fighting was an opportunity for "everyone to come back to the table" and "continue the negotiations".
He reiterated the word "continue" to reflect Syria's demands that its negotiations with Israel on the return of the Golan Heights - captured by Israel in the 1967 six day war - should resume where they broke off shortly before Mr Netanyahu's election victory. Those talks had reached the point where Yitzhak Rabin, the former Israeli premier, had agreed to return the Golan in exchange for full peace.
Amid persistent reports of renewed Israeli-Syrian
talks at a secret location in Europe - believed to be Geneva - Mr
Hariri said a peace deal involving Syria, Lebanon and Israel "can be
agreed in three months, but only if Israel wants it".
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The Washington Times July 5, 1997, Saturday, Final Edition "Syrian moves worry Israelis; Buildup includes troops, missiles" By Andrew Borowiec
NICOSIA, Cyprus - Concentrations of Syrian troops at strategic points near Israel are compounding the tension caused by the aralyzed peace process and the resulting rioting in Israeli-held parts of the West Bank.
The Syrian moves, reported by Western and Arab diplomats, are said to be accompanied by an intensified buildup of Syria's offensive missiles targeting densely populated areas of Israel.
Talks at solving the dispute between Israel and Syria have been stalled since February 1996. The election of conservative Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in May 1996 seems to have precluded further contacts in the foreseeable future.
Syria has been demanding unconditional Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, seized by Israel in 1967 and considered crucial to the Jewish state's defenses. After the 1973 war in which Syria and Egypt simultaneously attacked Israel on two distant fronts, Israel returned a slice of the Golan but kept the area dominating its heavily populated Galilee valley.
Although Israel maintains definite air and technical superiority over Syria, the possibility of conflict is taken seriously.
It was confirmed in a recent statement by Lt. Gen. Amnon Shahak, Israel's chief of staff, who painted a grim scenario similar to the surprise Syrian attack over the Golan Heights in 1973. This time, he indicated, such a thrust would be accompanied by missile attacks.
"We have a number of sensors and we know that not only the Syrian leaders are talking about the possibility of war with Israel," he told Israeli journalists. "What we know is that they are talking about a surprise attack."
According to Western reports, Syria has redeployed some of its elite units closer to the border.
This includes the 14th Special Forces Division now poised in the foothills of Mount Hermon, and the 51st Division, moved east of Lebanon's Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley. In the Golan Heights, a narrow strip of land partly held by Israel, Syria has an estimated three to four army divisions.
Damascus has described the deployment as defensive, and some diplomats are playing down the possibility of a new conflict, mainly because the collapse of the Soviet Union has deprived Syria of its major source of weapons.
Looking for other sources of weapons has turned out to be costly and difficult. Apparently because of strong U.S. pressure, Syria has been unable to purchase a highly sophisticated Tiger fire-control system from South Africa.
Israeli forces have been steadily beefed up by state-of-the-art U.S. weapons, confirming them as the most modern and technically superior fighting machine in the region. Some diplomats say Israel has been receiving more than the officially earmarked $1.8 billion a year in military subsidies.
According to a French diplomatic report weighing the prospect of renewed fighting between Israel and Syria, a conflict could be triggered if Yasser Arafat resorted to force or if his Palestinian Authority collapsed and Israel reoccupied the self-ruled areas.
Such a blueprint apparently exists and recently the Israelis conducted maneuvers in the West Bank to test its feasibility.
While the Israeli air force is equipped to maintain round-the- clock fighting capability in the event of conflict with Syria, Israel is seriously concerned about Syria's missile development program.
The Syrian program was heightened,
according to some Israeli reports, by Israel's plans to deploy an
anti-missile system known as Arrow 2, which would cover about 85
percent of populated areas. But some Western sources say Syria has been
unable to develop effective chemical and bacteriological weapons.