A senior official in the Russian Defense Ministry; Major General Igor Konashenkov issued a dire threat against the nation of Israel recently. In response to an alleged Israeli airstrike at the airport near the Syrian capital of Damascus, Konashenkov threatened to respond to further Israeli action in Syria with surface-to-surface missiles against targets inside Israel. Konashenkov claimed the Israeli action endangered civilian airliners that were preparing to land in Damascus and Beirut, creating a “direct threat” to the aircraft but did not provide further details. The Debka File, an English language Israeli military intelligence website, reported that the Russian government actually launched one SA-5 missiles into central Israel in retaliation to any further Israeli airstrikes in Syria. According to Debka, the Russian-made missile was fired at Haifa and successfully evaded Israeli air-defenses, landing outside the city in an unpopulated area of Mount Carmel.  By issuing this threat, Moscow confirmed that the missile was aimed deliberately at the Israeli heartland, and that further Israeli action in Syria will result in more SA-5 missiles launched at targets deep inside Israel.

Israel Confirms Attacks in Syria
An Israeli security official confirmed to the Associated Press that Israel carried out the airstrike in Syria, saying a series of Iranian targets were hit. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the air force had attacked several Iranian targets in three main locations. He said the targets were primarily logistics and storage facilities used by Iran to supply weapons to the Hezbollah terror group. Satellite images published by ImageSat International, confirm the destruction of an Iranian built warehouse at a base belonging to the Syrian army’s 4th division and located west of the capital Damascus. However, in contrast to the Russian claims, the images showed no evidence of an attack at the Damascus airport. Over the last few years, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria against targets linked to Iran, and Hezbollah who are fighting on behalf of the regime of beleaguered Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Speaking on behalf of the United States, national security adviser John Bolton has state that the U.S. will continue to be “very supportive” of Israeli strikes against Iranian targets in Syria.

Relevant Bible Passages
Doubtlessly, situations such as this that involve Israel, Russia, and Iran cause us to be reminded of the similarities between Russia and Iran’s alliance with Syria and the predictions of Ezekiel 38-39 that foretell of a great confederation of nations that gather against Israel to attack from the north during the great end-times battle of Gog and Magog. Interestingly, Ezekiel used the ancient geographical names of these countries that were readily known to his original audience; Rosh, Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, Gomer, and Beth-togarmah (Ezekiel 38:1-6). Of specific concern is the nations of Persia, Rosh, Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, and Beth-togarmah. All of these ancient names refer to the modern nations of Russia, and Iran! Should this current climate continue to escalate with force, one could easily see how the confederation of nations Ezekiel prophesied about could develop in and around Syria. Considering the serious implications of this, we need to be in prayer for this situation.

PRAY: Pray that the Russian officials would recognize the right of Israel to defend itself from attacks by the Iranian supported terror group Hezbollah. Pray that Russia would not launch any further retaliatory missile strikes into Israel.