War

Iran’s Massive Direct Attack on Israel

October 15, 2024 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

Deuteronomy 20:3

He shall say: “Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be terrified or give way to panic before them. For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”

A Second Direct Attack From Iran

The October 1st Iranian ballistic missile attack on Israel included over 200 ballistic ground-to-ground missiles targeting the entire populated areas in the land of Israel. Thankfully, most were intercepted by the IDF’s multi-layered air defense network. US forces in the region also intercepted some of the Iranian missiles.
[Picture From Facebook – the remains of a ballistic missile in the Dead Sea]

The IRGC, The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an Iranian military arm, excuse for the missile strike was retaliation for the assassinations of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in July and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on September 27th, as well as the killing of Lebanese and Palestinian people.

This was Iran’s second attack on Israel after its very first direct attack on Israel on the night of April 13th, 2024 with ballistic and cruise missiles and bomb-laden unmanned aerial vehicles. That strike was a response to the Israeli air strike on the Iranian Consulate in Damascus that killed Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force.

In addition to the usual use of its many proxies, Iran has attacked all of Israel directly by firing more than 300 missiles and suicide drones.

In response, Israel has launched a series of missile strikes on Iranian military sites, including one near Isfahan, Iran’s main nuclear research facility as well as other strategic military strikes. According to many Israeli opinions, it was a weak symbolic attack yielding to Biden’s request to avoid escalation. Nevertheless, it had some significance in exposing Iran’s weak defense systems.

The second Iranian attack October 1st sent the entire Israeli population to bomb shelters while Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles everywhere.

In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Iran “made a big mistake and will pay for it” and that Iran “does not understand” Israel’s “determination to retaliate” against its enemies. “They will understand,” said Netanyahu. “We will stand by the rule we established: whoever attacks us – we will attack.”
(Picture of a Bibi from USA Today)

In the two attacks, Iran has fired about 500 missiles and drones, and thank God, not a single Israeli has been killed. There have been just a few injuries and little damage.

Now the question is how and when Israel’s retaliation will occur. Israel has several options.

Iran’s Nuclear Weapon

Iran’s ability to produce a nuclear weapon is an existential threat to the Jewish state. striking Iranian nuclear facilities would be Israel’s first response to the Iranian massive attack.

However, while still claiming that America’s commitment continues to be very clear and ironclad on Israel’s security, US President Biden demands “an Israeli response that will look powerful but will not ignite the region and still put an end to the story.”

U.S. Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, commander of US Central Command, is due to arrive in Israel over the weekend for what will likely be a series of meetings to discuss the situation. The main concern of the U.S. is that the Gulf States will be harmed as a result of Israel igniting the region through a massive attack on Iran’s oil and/or nuclear facilities. There were media reports of Iran threatening Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states oil facilities should Israel attack the same Iranian facilities.
Lt. Gen. Michael Kurilla testifies before the Senate Armed Services committee during his confirmation hearing on Feb. 8. (Susan Walsh/AP) Picture from DefenseNews

PM Netanyahu has threatened Iranian nuclear ambition for many years. Many in Israel see this planned retaliation as a window of opportunity for Netanyahu to do so. However, Israel has to consider the complexities and numerous consequences of such a strike. To be well protected, Iran has intentionally spread the nuclear sites across the country. The sites are hidden under rocky mountains, more than 1,000 miles away from Israeli Air Force bases, making it hard if not impossible to be targeted and cause severe damage.

However, Israel has spent years developing capabilities not yet seen in action.

The attacks on Isfahan and in Yemen demonstrate the Israeli air force can reach anywhere.

American Directives

President Joe Biden suggested last week that Israel should not strike Iran’s oil and that he opposed strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites. Nevertheless, Israel is considering attacking Iran’s oil facilities or ports. Oil is critical to Iran. This could have severe consequences on global oil markets.

What Will Israel Do?

Another option is to strike government symbols, or military targets. Striking Iran’s missile depots would limit Iran’s capability to manufacture missiles. Such an attack would ignite the weapons and produce a spectacle for all the world to see. Hopefully, this would reinforce Israel’s deterrence among its enemies in the region. Can Israel eliminate all the threats from the head of the octopus and its proxies by using only military force?

We need to pray for wisdom to make the right decision at the right time. With God’s help, we pray for a supernatural victory.

“As long as the enemy threatens our existence and the peace of our country, we will continue to fight. As long as our hostages are still in Gaza, we will continue to fight,” Netanyahu said in a pre-recorded television address, vowing not to give up on the “sacred mission” of achieving the war’s goals.

Last year on Yom Kippur, Israelis observed the holy day as usual – kids riding bicycles in the streets and people attending local synagogues. Then October 7th happened – Black Sabbath!. This year many have truly joined in the whole month of repentance leading up to tonight – Yom Kippur. We pray that the Lord touch our hearts as in the days of Esther, when the whole nation participated in repentance and fasting.
pray for our people in the synagogues that as they chant the regular prayers of repentance the Lord touch those hearts that truly seek Him, to return to Him through our Messiah Yeshua and worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.

Iran – The Head of the Octopus

October 15, 2024 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

“You will set Your throne in Elam (Persia, today Iran), And will destroy from there the king and the princes, We pray You destroy the evil anti-semite regime of Iran and its military that aims to destroy Israel…You will bring disaster upon them, Your fierce anger,’ ‘And I will send the sword after them Until I have consumed them.'”
According to Your Word, Lord in Jeremiah 49:35, 38

O God, You are more awesome than Your holy places. The GOD OF ISRAEL is He who gives strength and power to His people.

Iran, the arch enemy of Israel, which many Israelis consider to be the head of the octopus, is today the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and the greatest threat in the Middle East. Iranians are not Arabs but they are Shiite Muslims. The Iranian revolutionary regime’s basic ideology opposes Western values and interests.

Iran aim is to reach the Mediterranean coast and Israel’s borders by creating a passage through Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon by providing advanced weapons to its terrorist proxies to attack Israel. Today, it uses this passage to transfer military equipment and terrorists to Israel’s northern border.

Iran’s Nuclear Program

The development of Iran’s nuclear program poses an existential threat to the Jewish state and the rest of the world. It even risks triggering a nuclear arms race with the Arab world, further destabilizing the region and damaging U.S. interests. For years, the PM of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu has warned leading world nations in the world that the leading state sponsor of terrorism can never be allowed to obtain the world’s deadliest weapon. The Iranian regime has fooled the world by consistently lying of the true purpose of its nuclear program and hiding key aspects of it. Israeli intelligence has exposed Iran’s true intentions by breaking into Tehran’s Nuclear archives, demonstrably proving that Iran has been engaged in a nuclear arms developing program.

In June 2022, the IAEA Board (International Atomic Energy Agency) censured Iran for failing to provide “technically credible” answers regarding hidden nuclear sites, expanding its nuclear program beyond agreed limits, and limiting international inspectors’ access to suspected undisclosed nuclear sites.

By spending enormous amounts of money to further its nuclear project and funding its terrorist proxies throughout the region, the Iranian regime demonstrates that this is its priority over providing for their own people.

Iran’s Objective

The Ayatollah’s aims is to expand Iran’s influence in the Arab world by spreading hatred to Israel and America.

Iranian leadership encourages its people in public events to burn and stamp on US and Israeli flags and chant the slogans “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”.
Picture of Khamenei from X

Furthermore, along with verbal demonstrations of hatred toward America and Israel, Iran has taken action against the two Western nations.

The regime is a threat to U.S. forces stationed in the region, to Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other U.S. allies. Since 1979, the Iranian regime has invested resources in attacking Israel and American forces deployed in the Middle East and beyond.

Iran’s Arsenol

Iran has the largest and most diverse ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East. It is the only country to develop a 2,000-km missile without first having nuclear weapons capability. Most were acquired from foreign sources, notably North Korea.
Picture from War on the Rocks
It is noteworthy that Israel has more ballistic missiles, but they are fewer in number and type.

The fundamental motivation behind Iran’s supreme Muslim Shiite leadership is anti-Antisemitism. Since it took over rulership in the revolution, it has deemed Israel as illegitimate. According to its religious concept, “Palestine” (the land of Israel) belongs to the Muslim Palestinians and not to the ‘Jews.’

In their pure antisemitic libel propaganda, Israel is a Western imperialist state and the Jews advance American imperialism in the Middle East. According to the Ayatollah’s regime, this is a struggle between good (them) and evil (America, the big satan, and Israel the little satan.) and that Muslims have a religious obligation to resist Israel and global Jewry, accusing the Jews of being the first to start anti-Islamic propaganda.

Iran’s “Sacred Duty” and the Proliferation of Anti-Semitism

The Ayatollahs claim that resistance to the Jewish state is the sacred duty of “every Muslim and anyone who believes in Allah.” “Israel is a cancerous tumor on Islam’s body [in the Middle East] that must be removed [from existence.]”

Recently, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei declared: “The divine promise to eliminate the Zionist entity will be fulfilled and we will see the day when Palestine will rise from the river to the sea.” (that is the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea (which is today the land of Israel.)

Iran’s supreme leader leads in Holocaust denial, making such false ridiculous statements as: “there are documents showing close collaboration of the Zionists with Nazi Germany, and exaggerated numbers relating to the Jewish Holocaust that were fabricated to solicit the sympathy of world public opinion, to lay the ground for the occupation of Palestine, and to justify the atrocities of the Zionists.”

For four decades, the Iranian regime has propagated hatred for Zionism and the Jews by promoting the infamous booklet, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” and other anti-Semitic tracts.

Iran trains and arms terrorist groups, such as Hamas, Palestine Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah, promoting their attacks on Israel.

For the last year, the Head of the Octopus Iran has been using its arms to fight Israel on several fronts. With ground troops in Gaza and Lebanon, Israel’s air force backs those forces by bombing enemy targets to thwart attacks from Yemen and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria. Israel also fights Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists in the Judea and Samaria.

Escalation

Iran’s last missile attack last week could likely provoke an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.This would open the largest, biggest, and most intense front so far.
(Illustration from The Cryptonomist)

Last Monday, 7th of October, Israel marked the first anniversary of the October 7, 2023 massacre when thousands of Hamas terrorists stormed into southern Israeli cities and villages, destroying civilian homes, murdering, burning, beheading, and raping and kidnapping over two hundred Israelis.

Two people were injured on the Memorial Day of October 7th, 2024, while sirens sounded across central Israel as a result of rockets fired by Hamas from northern Gaza.

An estimated tens of thousands of Iranians participated in a procession through Tehran with a leader enticing the crowd in chanting “Death to America!” “Death to Israel!

Before the October 7th first anniversary, in a video statement on October 5th Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Today, Israel is defending itself on seven fronts against the enemies of civilization…and we are fighting against Iran, which last week fired over 200 ballistic missiles directly at Israel and which stands behind this seven-front war against Israel,” Netanyahu added.

The Iranian ballistic missile barrage came in response to the limited Israeli ground operation in southern Lebanon to eliminate the Hezbollah threat. It was the first land incursion since the war against Hezbollah in 2006.

Following intelligence that Hezbollah is hiding its weapons and missiles inside homes of southern Lebanese villages, the IDF informed the Lebanese residents to evacuate before the IDF dismantled the Hezbollah infrastructure, underground tunnels included.

“We are targeting Hezbollah strongholds that threaten northern Israeli towns, kibbutzim, and communities along our border,” said IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari. He presented evidence that Hezbollah was planning an operation involving thousands of its terrorist fighters copying Hamas’ October 7, 2023 terror attack on Israel.

“Hezbollah turned Lebanese villages next to Israeli villages into military bases ready for an attack on Israel,” he said. In addition to ground raids, the Israeli Air Force has also increased its air attacks on Hezbollah headquarters since mid-September, including the capital, Beirut.

Terrorist Leadership and the IDF

Until now, Israel has eliminated the commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force following the air raid Damascus on 1 April 2024, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Teheran, Hezbollah leader and key Iran ally Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on 27 September and many top Hezbollah commanders. All the while the IDF continues to target Hamas, Hezbollah, and all other regional foes.

Octopus (Illustration from Stable Diffusion Website)

An Amazing Turn of Events

September 24, 2024 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

“…and also against Hamath, which borders it, as well as Tyre and Sidon, though they are very shrewd. And on Tyre and Sidon (cities in south Lebanon,) though they are very skillful. Tyre (on the sea coast, 23 kilometers north of the Israeli border) has built herself a stronghold; she has heaped up silver like dust and gold like the dirt of the streets. But the Lord will take away her possessions and destroy her power on the sea, and she will be consumed by fire.” Zechariah 9:2-4

Pagers

Pagers, used by Hezbollah members to coordinate their military operations, exploded in Beirut and southern Lebanon on Tuesday last week in a remote cyber-attack, killing 12 (the figure is not final) people and injuring close to 3000.

Israel has not officially taken responsibility for the pager Cyber-attack. However, in a process of elimination and due to the ongoing exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah in northern Israel and south Lebanon, and given Israel’s intelligence and cyber capabilities, who else could have done it?

Hezbollah blamed Israel and has vowed to retaliate. Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and designated a terror organization by the United States and the UK, emerged during the Lebanese civil war. Tensions with Israel date back to the 1980s with the militant group declaring Western powers and Israel as their enemies.

Hezbollah fought against Israeli forces in 2006 and began launching rockets into northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas shortly after the start of the war in Gaza. Israel has responded by striking Hezbollah military facilities.

Hezbollah, a Shia militant Iranian proxy terrorist organization that is based in south Lebanon with offices in the capital Beirut, shunned the use of smartphones that can easily be hacked by Israel and turned to using its outdated pager system in order to shield sensitive information from modern hacking techniques. It was a wrong calculation on their part, as it has proven to be false security.

Instead of coordinating military operations, hundreds of pagers held by Hezbollah members exploded. They were remotely hacked, causing their batteries to overheat and explode, resulting in loss of life and many injuries.

The shocking waves of explosions in strongholds such as the southern suburbs of Beirut stunned Hezbollah members and fighters. Among the victims were the son of a Hezbollah member of Parliament. Hospitals in Beirut were overwhelmed by the influx of casualties, with desperate calls for blood donations.

Experts agree that this attack will change warfare from now on. Cyber-attacks are often below the surface, without visible traces or debris. Most of the attacks are aimed at systems or financial institutions, without hurting people.

Walkie-Talkies

The following day, on Wednesday, walkie-talkies and solar equipment exploded in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon in a second wave of attacks targeting Hezbollah electronic devices.

According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, at least nine people were killed and more than 300 people wounded in the second wave.

Just two days earlier, Israel redefined the goal of the war against Hezbollah by adding to its formal war goals the safe return of its citizens who have been evacuated from their homes in northern Israel and near the border with Lebanon due to Hezbollah’s attacks from southern Lebanon.

Thousands of Israelis have been relocated to hotels all around Israel and their lives disrupted after Hezbollah started attacking on October 8, 2023, the day after Hamas’ genocidal killing spree in Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

However, even with airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon and the assassination of senior Hezbollah commanders, Israel must take stronger action against Hezbollah to stop their near-daily attacks that have continued for almost a year. A full-blown war is unavoidable.

Hezbollah says it would halt the attacks if there would be a cease-fire in Gaza.
However, Israel must continue the war in Gaza in order to eliminate Hamas, which opposes any deal with Israel.

The U.S.

The United States has pressed for restraint, warning that a wider war in Lebanon would not achieve its goals.

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein has met with Israeli P.M Netanyahu and made several visits to Lebanon and Israel to try to ease tensions. Hochstein argues that a full-scale war in Lebanon would spark a broader and drawn-out regional conflict. He told the PM that the Biden administration remained committed to finding a diplomatic solution in Gaza and Lebanon.

However, Netanyahu told Hochstein that, with all due respect and appreciation for the U.S. support, there must be a major fundamental in the security situation in northern Israel before residents can return to their homes. Israel must and will “do what is necessary to safeguard its security.”

On Wednesday, a day after the initial cyber-attacks, several blasts were heard at a funeral in Beirut for three Hezbollah members killed by exploding pagers the day before, according to Associated Press journalists at the scene. A photographer in the southern coastal city of Sidon saw a car and a mobile phone shop damaged after devices exploded inside of them.

Welcome to the future. Cyber warfare is now a present-day battlefield, as seen in the attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon. This new battlefield has shifted from land and sea to cyberspace.

Hezbollah’s Response

Hezbollah’s reliance on its invulnerable communication system of pagers has been shattered.

On Saturday night and Sunday morning, Hezbollah sent approximately 150 rockets, cruise missiles, and UAVs, mainly into northern Israel. Most were intercepted by Israel’s multi-layered aerial defense. There were a small number of hits as well as shrapnel falling. “The Israeli Air Force is prepared for both defensive and offensive operations,” the IDF stated.

A teenager was killed when his vehicle crashed as sirens sounded in the early hours of Sunday morning. Three people were wounded in a rocket strike in Kiryat Bialik north of Haifa Sunday morning. Twenty-five cows were killed when a rocket struck a dairy farm in the Jezreel Valley. It was the deepest rocket fired into Israel since the beginning of the war in October.

On Saturday, the IDF carried out a wave of airstrikes against hundreds of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including rocket launchers, with the army saying it had identified plans to launch major rocket attacks against Israel.

“IDF strikes will continue and increase against the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” the military said.

PM Netanyahu’s Statement

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented Sunday on the recent escalation between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“We inflicted a series of blows on Hezbollah. If Hezbollah did not get the message, I promise you – it will get the message now,” Netanyahu said.

He also said. “On October 7th, the Hamas terrorist monsters burst into Israel, murdered our people, raped and beheaded our women, burnt babies alive, and took 255 innocent people hostage, including many Americans.”

“A day later, on October 8th, another Iranian terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, attacked Israel completely unprovoked. They fired missiles and rockets into our cities. They made 60,000 Israelis leave their homes along the Lebanon border, becoming refugees in their own land. In the subsequent months, they haven’t stopped attacking us for a single day” Netanyahu said.

“No country can accept the wanton rocketing of its cities. We can’t accept it either,” he declared. “We will take whatever action is necessary to restore security and to bring our people safely to their homes.”

Click here to read more about Hezbollah.

Click here to read more about the situation in Lebanon.

As we write this letter

The Israeli Air Force continues to strike Hezbollah terrorist targets. The Israeli Air Force aircraft, under the direction of the intelligence, attacked about 1,300 Hezbollah targets throughout Lebanon. Prior to the strikes, Israel warned Lebanese civilians in Arabic to evacuate buildings in which weapons are hidden by Hezbollah. On Monday afternoon, multiple barrages of missiles were launched from Lebanon toward Israeli territory, activating sirens in several areas in northern Israel. Several were intercepted. A direct hit was reported on a home in a village, no one was injured. Early this morning sirens were sounded in the Jeszreel Valley and in the Nazareth area. Paramedics are searching areas where reports of explosions have been received. They treated a number of people who were injured while running for shelter, as well as some who were suffering from anxiety. Several blazes ignited near Ami’ad, and were extinguished by firefighting teams.

Please pray as the Holy Spirit leads.

Prayer Requests

Praise and thanks to the Lord for the pager/walkie-talkie strategy where the maximum number of civilians were protected and yet many terrorists were effectively disabled. Praise the Lord that according to His Word, He is fighting for Israel.
Pray for the hearts of Israelis to be moved to confession and repentance during these trying times.
Pray the same for the hearts of Gazans, Lebanese and even Hamas and Hezbollah operatives, as we pray for our enemies.
Pray for protection over all of Israel’s borders.

Does Lebanon Have Complete Control Over its Diplomatic Agenda?

September 23, 2024 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

For the past eleven months, Hezbollah, the pro-Iranian militia, has been fighting Israel in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. While neither Hezbollah nor Israel appears to seek an all-out war, the situation could spiral out of control. On the ground, the risk of escalation is very real. Washington and Paris have decided to “coordinate closely” concerning Lebanon to avoid such an escalation.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah continues to expand its influence. In addition to the financial support it receives from Iran (several hundred million dollars yearly according to the U.S.), the militia receives donations from the Lebanese Shia diaspora and profits from both its legal and illegal (drug trafficking) businesses. Since the 2000s, Hezbollah has developed an integrated economy organized around a bank (al-Qard al-Hassan), powerful charities, and the al-Sajjad network of local supermarkets, offering discounts on basic goods. These economic structures insulate the southern region from the rest of Lebanon, and now, protect it from the effects of the national economic crisis.

Hezbollah has adopted a wait-and-see attitude. With patience it takes its time, counting on the slow disintegration of the country, weakened by double-digit inflation.

*Michel Aoun – Image from Simple Wikipedia*

Lebanon has been governed by a caretaker cabinet since Prime Minister Hassan Diab resigned in August 2020 amid protests demanding accountability for the Beirut blast, when a stockpile of highly explosive ammonium nitrate was stored improperly at Lebanon’s most vital port. Michel Aoun, the Lebanese president at the time, accepted the resignation of the government and the Prime Minister and asked the government to stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new cabinet was formed.

On 10 September 2021, Mikati was able to form a government of 24 members after long negotiations with President Aoun, and the various political parties. When he took office, Lebanon was in the grip of a very serious economic crisis: the collapse of the national currency, galloping inflation (the cost of food had jumped by 700% in the previous two years), massive layoffs, a poverty rate of 78% according to the UN, frequent power cuts, fuel shortages, etc. Mikati is depending on the solidarity of the Arab world to help the country out of its crisis.

Mikati has been backing the Shiite groups, Hezbollah and Amal, but faces resistance from Christian lawmakers. Mikati himself does not represent a political party.

Najib Mikati, a Lebanese politician and businessman, has served as the Prime Minister of Lebanon since September 2021. Mikati said after his nomination that his priority would be to implement a French-backed reform plan that would unlock much-needed foreign financial aid.

*Lokman Slim, Image from Times of Israel*

Different sectarian groups are operating in Lebanon. Lebanese politics is based on a power-sharing system among these groups, including Hezbollah. Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim organization that emerged in the 1980s, has by now near total control over its own community, which it also represents in parliament. Dissenting Shia voices against Hezbollah have all but disappeared following the assassination of a Shia public intellectual and vocal Hezbollah critic, Lokman Slim, in 2021. Supporters of Hezbollah had previously threatened Slim’s life.

The leaders of Lebanon’s two major communities, the Sunni Muslims and the Christians, and those of the smaller but politically powerful Druze community, have issued statements urging caution and restraint. Yet, some Sunni and Christian groups in particular are sympathetic to Hezbollah.

Unlike the secular Sunni Muslim Lebanese, who call for restraint, religious Sunni Islamist groups are now siding with Hezbollah against Israel since the start of the Gazan war and some have even gotten closer to the organization over the past nine months.

In the past, many Sunni Islamists in Lebanon were against Hezbollah after an intense brief burst of violence in 2008, when Hezbollah attacked Sunni supporters of the then-Lebanese government.

Another Sunni group is the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose Al-Fajr forces, however symbolic and limited, have participated in the hostilities against Israel in southern Lebanon alongside Hezbollah since late October 2023, and even lost seven of their fighters in May of 2024.

Lebanese Christians are divided into three political parties, and so is their position towards Hezbollah: the Kataeb and the Lebanese Forces (LF) on the anti-Hezbollah side, and on the other side the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) which has broadly supported the Shia Hezbollah party since 2006.

In recent months, the leaders of both the LF and Kataeb have opposed Hezbollah’s war of attrition against Israel which they claim is provoking Israel to attack and devastate Lebanon. However, they are powerless against Hezbollah. Nevertheless, they complain that Hezbollah is acting and making decisions in the name of all Lebanese citizens.

Two other important Christian groups are the Patriarch of the Maronite church, Bechara Boutros Rai, and a rightwing private militia in eastern Beirut called Jnoud al-Rab (Soldiers of God).

*Bechara Boutros Rai, Image from Catholic Weekly*

Jnoud al-Rab claims that Hezbollah’s actions are endangering the country and Lebanon’s Christian community. In January 2024, the group hijacked flight screens at Beirut airport and displayed a message warning Hezbollah against engaging in war with Israel.

Since November 2023, Patriarch Rai has regularly issued statements against Hezbollah’s involvement in the Gaza war and has urged officials of the need to protect Lebanon.

In June 2024, he described Hezbollah’s activities in the south as acts of terrorism, which caused the Shia religious leadership to boycott the Patriarchate’s June spiritual summit.

*Gibran Bassil, Image from the Arab News*

As for the FPM party that has been favorable to Hezbollah, the relationship has become increasingly strained since October 2022, when the then president Michel Aoun’s term came to an end and Hezbollah refused to support EPM’s leading candidate as the new president and Aoun’s son-in-law, Gibran Bassil.

In April 2024, Bassil came around and declared that the FPM supports “the Resistance” (Hezbollah’s adopted name), but “rejects Hezbollah’s position to participate in the Gaza war without internal national consensus”.

Druze

The leading Druze politician, Walid Jumblatt, is the weathervane of Lebanese politics. Despite being retired, he remains an important voice for the Druze (who constitute around 5% of the Lebanese population).

In October, he called on Hezbollah “not to be dragged into the war”. He also took to social media asking Hezbollah not to participate in the war.

However, he clearly stated at the beginning of the conflict that he would side with Hezbollah should Israel attack Lebanon. And, since then, Jumblatt has noted that “the rules of engagement have changed”.

Lebanon’s major communities have largely been consistent in urging restraint and would prefer to see Hezbollah avoid a war with Israel. Should war break out, however, the sects of Lebanon will probably all rally around Hezbollah, as was the case in 2006.

History of Wars Between Israel and Lebanon

Since the end of the Six Day War, Palestinian terrorist militant groups have initiated attacks from south Lebanon against Israel, and even against Lebanese Christian militias inside Lebanon in the mid-1970s. In reprisal, the IDF, Israeli Defense Force have attacked in different operations, the most notable of which was the Litani Operation in 1978.

In 1975, the Lebanese civil war broke out, which lasted until 1990. With its own army operating freely in Lebanon, the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) had created a state within a state in south Lebanon. By then, more than 300,000 Palestinians lived in Lebanon. Lebanon’s Muslims and leftists who supported the PLO sought more political power. The Christians, seeking to maintain their political dominance, opposed the PLO. The factions fought fiercely through early 1976, and Lebanon became divided, with the Christians in power in the north and the Muslims in the south.

Israel helped the Christian Maronite militias by supplying them with arms, tanks, and military advisers. Initially, Syria, fearing loss of commercial access to the port of Beirut, supported the Maronites who had the majority in the government. Later, however, Syria switched sides by supporting the Palestinians instead.

In 1982 the Israeli army entered southern Lebanon with the goal of destroying the Palestinian guerrilla bases. The battle resulted in the expulsion of the PLO from Lebanese territory and their relocation to Tunisia.

In 1989, Christian leader Gen. Michel Aoun attempted to drive Syria out of Lebanon but was defeated and the Arab League mediated a peace deal. Aoun’s removal from power in October 1990 marked the end of the civil war and eliminated one of the major obstacles to the implementation of the 1989 peace accord.

Following the PLO’s expulsion from Lebanon, the Israeli military and Lebanese Christian militias began fighting the growing Iran proxy Shia Muslim terrorist group, Hezbollah, in south Lebanon, marking the beginning of the ongoing fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

Between the Straits

August 8, 2024 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

Thus says the Lord (The God of Israel) Who gives the sun for light by day; the ordinances of the moon and the stars for light by night; Who rouses the sea and its waves roar (The Lord of hosts is His name): “If these ordinances ever depart from before Me,” says the Lord, “then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.” Jeremiah 31:35-36

If the enemies of God’s people, Israel, knew these scriptures from His Word, they would shoot their rockets and missiles at the sun, moon, and stars because only when they can destroy those ordinances could they destroy the people of God, and the seed of Israel would cease from being a nation before Him forever.

However, since they don’t know this formula of Israel’s destruction, they keep firing rockets at Israel.

Since last week, Iran and Hezbollah have been threatening Israel with reprisal attacks and many in Israel and around the world are expecting this to happen very soon. Some predict that it will happen on the 9^th of the Hebrew month of Av, the 13^th of August.

The 9^th of Av is the culmination of the 3 weeks called “Between the Straits.”

“From the straits I called to Yah”Psalm 118:5
The three weeks between the 17^th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av is known as “the Dire Between the Straits” (see Lamentations 1:3 “All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits”.)

The period of the Dire Straits starts on the 17^th of Tammuz (the month before Av), marking the breach and fall of Jerusalem’s walls and the destruction of her first and second temples on the Temple Mount on the same day, the 9^thof Av and most of the Jews going into exile – the first time to the Babylonian captivity for 70 years, and the second to a far greater Diaspora throughout the world for about 2000 years.

The Jews have experienced many calamities over the centuries, and it is amazing to learn that many of those calamities have occurred on the same day of the year, the 9th of Av.

The Destruction of the two Temples, especially the Second Temple, changed the path of Jewish History and the nation of Israel, dispersing the Jewish people among the nations.

Against all odds, the Jews have survived persecution, expulsions, relocation, pogroms, and calamities. Nonetheless, Jewish learning, wisdom, and tradition have not only survived but have flourished in many countries, enriching the world in many ways.

The 9^th of Av, Tisha b’Av, commemorates a list of catastrophes so severe that Jews believe God set it aside for their suffering.

Jews Praying at Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, by Johann Martin Bernatz (Ottoman Archives, 1868)

Some of the catastrophes and calamities that happened to the Jews on the 9^thof Av were:

The First Temple was destroyed on the 9^th of Av (423 BCE).
In 70 CE, The Romans torched The Second Temple and destroyed it and much of Jerusalem on the same day as the First Temple.
When the Jews remaining in the Land rebelled against Roman rule, they believed that their leader, Simon bar Kochba, would fulfill their messianic longings. But their hopes were cruelly dashed in 133 CE as the Jewish rebels were brutally butchered in the final battle at Betar. The date of this massacre was the 9^th of Av!
One year after their conquest of Betar, the Romans plowed over the Jew’s holiest site, the Temple Mount.
In 1290 CE on the 9^th of Av, the Jews were expelled from England.
In 1492, the Golden Age for the Jews of Spain, freedom and prosperity ended when the Queen of Spain and her husband banished Jews from their land. The edict of expulsion was signed on March 31, 1492, and the Jews were given exactly four months to leave the country. The Hebrew date on which no Jew was allowed any longer to remain in Spain was the 9^th of Av.
World War II and the Holocaust were actually the outcome of World War I which began in 1914. The Hebrew date when Germany declared war on Russia setting the First World War into motion was the 9^th of Av.
The evacuation of Jewish settlers from Gaza in 2005 occurred on the 9^th of Av. Two years later, In June 2007 the terrorist organization of Hamas took over the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian Authority. Since then, many thousands of rockets and mortar shells have been fired by Hamas from the Gaza Strip onto southern Israeli towns and villages, terrorizing and destabilizing the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens. Now, since October 7th, 2023 when Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, committing atrocities against Israeli men women, children, and soldiers, for the past ten months, Israel has been engaged in a terrible war against Hamas in Gaza, claiming many Israeli soldiers’ lives. Hamas’ creed is to destroy Israel as a Jewish nation and take over the land as their homeland of Palestine.

However, as the Lord God of Israel has promised in many prophecies to return His beloved Jewish people from the diaspora to the land of Israel, the Land of Promise, the Jewish state is a reality that is here to stay. The enemies’ plans to annihilate Israel and take over the land promised to the Jews, will never come to pass.

In fulfillment of God’s promises, Israel is back in the Land physically. Now God plans to bring them back to Him spiritually, through faith in Messiah Yeshua.

One day, Israel will look upon the pierced Yeshua (Zech. 12:10,) and will invite Him to return, proclaiming, “Baruch Haba Beshem Adonai, as Yeshua said: Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord, (Matt. 23:39).

On that day, the day they see Him again, they will see Him as He is, their Messiah and Savior. They will mourn for Him as for a first-born Son (Zech. 12:10). And then, All Israel will be saved (Rom. 11:26.) On that day, God will turn their mourning into great joy again.

Please continue to pray for the salvation of Israel and the Jewish people – that God touch hearts of mourning on the 9^th of Av; that they recognize their rebellion against their God and repent and accept His Salvation, Yeshua.

Pray that until that day, Israel, with God’s help, stands against the enemy that wants to annihilate her and thwart God’s good plans for Israel.

Pray for victory over all God and Israel’s enemies, and that the Lord, the God of Israel, get all the glory, for His Name’s Sake. Amen

Image above: Tisha Be’av at the Western Wall 370 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem – The Jerusalem Post)