According to the Times of Israel online this week it was reported; “Last week Syrian rebels, led by the jihadist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, surprised the Bashar Assad regime as well as observers when they launched an offensive that saw them capture the city of Aleppo, the city, second only to the capital Damascus in population, an attack successful within 72 hours, after years of strategic stalemate. This was a great victory for Sunni Islam.”

In the Middle East the Sunnis far outnumber the Shiites. In fact this is the case around the world. Iran’s support of the Assad regime in Syria has been greatly weakened because Iran is Shiite and also because Iran sees that there is the real possibility that the Assad regime may well be toppled which would affect Iranian weapons being channelled through Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah bills itself as a Shia resistance movement. Its ideology is focused on expelling western powers from the Middle East and on rejecting Israel’s right to exist. Iran is also Shia, not Sunni.

According to the report in the Times of Israel “the primary reason for the success of the rebel offensive and the collapse of the Assad regime forces is the effectiveness of Israel’s military operations against Hezbollah and Iran since October 8, 2023. Some Hezbollah and Iran-backed Shiite militia fighters were moved from Syria to contend with the Israeli ground invasion in Lebanon in October. Thousands more were killed and wounded by Israeli air raids, ground forces, and special operations like the stunning attacks in September in which thousands of Hezbollah pagers exploded on their owners...

“…Iran itself is in a defensive crouch, having lost its two most effective deterrent threats against Israel in Hamas and Hezbollah, and after suffering significant damages in the October 26 Israeli air raid on Iran, itself a response to the regime’s second ballistic missile attack on the Jewish state on October 1. To make matters worse for Assad’s government, while Hezbollah is diminished, so is Russia. Its focus has been on the long Ukraine fight for almost 3 years, with fewer troops and assets in Syria. What’s more, with the Donald Trump administration set to take office in a matter of weeks, Iran will likely face increased sanctions and stepped-up pressure on its battered economy.”

Seeing the Assad regime toppled would be an unexpected boon for Israel in that Iran would be greatly hindered and not have the clout to replenish Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, with the main supply of arms Hezbollah needs coming through Syria to keep Hezbollah fighting against Israel. Of course Iran is Shia whereas the Syrian rebels are Sunni.  Another matter to consider is that while Russia supports the Assad regime the Russians have their hands full with the war with Ukraine. It has been reported today that Russia and Iran are rushing forces to rescue the Assad regime; however, the Turkish backed Syrian rebel forces are gaining ground in Syria. It may well be that the Russians will evacuate Assad in the end if Russia does not want to keep its military forces in Syria. Russia at present is conscripting young Russians to bolster their military forces fighting in Ukraine.

As for Israel, vigilance needs to be continued even if the Assad regime topples. Whether it is Shia Islam or Sunni Islam they are both anti-Israel. Turkey has been backing the Syrian rebels because they, like Turkey, are Sunni Muslims and do not like the Shiites, and the hostility between the Sunnis and Shiites goes way back in history. For centuries the Sunni and the Shiites have been killing each other, and even today the killing continue between the two factions of Islam. When Muslims are not fighting a common enemy they go to fighting among themselves.

The war in Syria between the rebels with the Assad regime, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced many millions, has grinded on since 2011 with no formal end. Most heavy fighting halted years ago after Iran-backed militias and Russian air power helped Assad win control of all major cities. However, the battle continues, and with the latest attack by the rebels it seems the Assad regime has taken a heavy blow to its dominance in Syria. At present At least 25 people were killed in north western Syria in air strikes carried out by the Syrian government and Russia as a deterrent of sorts to the Syrian rebel forces now in Aleppo.

Erdogan of Turkey, a Sunni nation, has made it very clear that he would like to see Jerusalem conquered for Islam and the Jews expelled from Israel if the truth be known. His public denunciation and continuous tirade against the Jews is public knowledge. If the Syrian rebels are ultimately successful in their offensive against the Assad regime then undoubtedly Turkey would step into the breach to continue Islamic Jihadist militancy against Israel from Syria on Israel’s northern border. Russia might resist a Turkish invasion as there have been several major historical wars between the two nations.

However, if Russia suddenly withdraws its support for the Assad regime, possibly to focus on its war with Ukraine, then Turkey would become the major military force in Syria and become a very clear and present danger to Israel given Erdogan’s militancy and fixation to see the rebirth of the Turkish Ottoman Empire with a caliphate, and with a caliph hell bent on taking Jerusalem for Islam, a major goal of Islam during the Crusades which lasted for Several centuries.  No guesses who Erdogan has in mind for the ‘top job!’

Also we need to keep in mind that in the past there were three main dominant power regimes in the Middle-East with their respective despotic leaders that were independent nations ruling over their people. You had Muammar Gaddafi Leader of Libya from 1969 to 2011. Then you had Saddam Hussein Iraqi president and Baathist politician (1937–2006). Today you have Bashar al-Assad the dictator who has been the 19th and current president of Syria since 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces. Gaddafi has gone, Hussein has gone and Assad is the only dictator left. Erdogan knows that Assad needs to go if there is to be a revived Turkish Ottoman Empire with its Turkish Caliphate.

Erdogan of Turkey is supporting the rebels fighting against Bashar al-Assad and it would seem that Erdogan has in mind to step into the breach after Assad has also gone. This would make Turkey the No.1 Middle-Eastern military force to be reckoned with. Turkey is Sunni and the Sunnis being the bulk of Muslims in the Middle-Eastern region and in the whole world for that matter, would find other Sunnis rallying to his war banner. Erdogan sees the way clear for the establishment of his resurrected Turkish Ottoman Empire. His last hurdle to accomplishing this is Assad.

Once Assad and his regime have gone then Turkey can move into Syria with Turkish armed forces ready to strike against Israel from the north. The Turkish Armed Forces is the second largest standing military force in NATO, after the U.S. Armed Forces. This Turkish invasion of Syria would be the precursor of the Ezekiel 38 invasion of Israel from the north. Even though Iran is Shiite scripture tells us that the Iranian military forces will join with Turkey and the other Islamic nations to come against Israel with other non-Islamic armies joining them (Ezekiel 38:1-6) (Joel 3:1-3) (Zechariah 14:1-2).

Historically, whenever Israel was invaded by foreign armies they always invaded from the north through Syria into Israel. This is why the Golan Heights is very strategic to Israel’s security. While the Israelis are step by step pushing back Hezbollah in Lebanon the situation could change if Turkish forces on mass enter Syria over the border between the two countries. Undoubtedly Erdogan is watching Putin very closely to see what the Russians will do as there are Russian troops stationed in Syria. Added to this as of the beginning of 2024, the U.S. still had close to 1,000 military personnel in the eastern part of Syria.

Recent reports suggest that amid the growing tension in the region, additional resources and Iranian and Russian soldiers have made their way to the civil war-torn country. At present things in the Middle-east are on a holding course waiting to see what the Administration of President Elect Donald Trump will do which is only weeks away from his inauguration. As for Israel they are watching their northern border very carefully and the events in Syria. As for the Israeli citizens that have been evacuated from their homes and settlements located on the Israel/Lebanon border, they are refusing to return while they see the unsettled situation between Israel with Hezbollah which is still a flash point between Israeli and Hezbollah military forces.

We know from the Word of God that the armies of the Antichrist will invade Israel from the North as the armies of Antiochus Epiphanes did when the Seleucid Greeks invaded the Holy land, having entered through Syria. Of course we also know that Antiochus, whose name means “god manifest,” was a major type of the future antichrist whose military strategy is clearly mapped out in the book of Daniel (Daniel11:36-45). What Antiochus did in Israel teaches us what the Antichrist will do when his forces invade Israel and also describes his end  in that he will be destroyed , but not by human power (Daniel 8:9-14, 19-26) (Daniel 11:45) (Daniel 2:45).

There is no doubt that a conflagration is coming to the boil in the whole Middle-Eastern Region and this is all part of Biblical prophecy with God’s end-game being the Second Coming of the Messiah, the gathering of the elect saints around Him to meet Him in the air at His Second Coming, the final judgement and destruction of all opposition to the Kingdom of God, and the complete spiritual and national restoration of Israel, followed by the inauguration of the Messianic Kingdom.

Possibly, with the escalating war in Syria, we may well be seeing the harbinger of the complete destruction of the City of Damascus becoming a ruinous heap having been judged by God for its militancy historically against the Jewish people (Isaiah 17:1, 12-14). Possibly it may well happen that if Turkey continues to back the Syrian rebel forces in light of Russian forces having been withdrawn from Syria due to the ongoing war with Ukraine, that the stage will be set for the Ezekiel 38 invasion of Israel led by Turkey supported by Islamic armies, and accompanied by the armies of many non-Islamic nations, all of which will fall on the Mountains of Israel (Ezekiel 38:1-6, 21-23; 39:1-6).