by Michael G. Mickey
(10-2-08)

The Palestinians, conveniently at a time when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is perceived to be incapable of implementing a final status agreement, are saying the recent peace offer made by him "is enough to get a final status agreement signed" as seen in an Israel Today article.

Periodically, as in this instance, there will be signals sent out indicating that peace in the Middle East is within reach but the first thing you know? POOF! All hope is gone and that old black cloud that hangs over the troubled Middle East practically all the time? It shows back up, usually because Israel's enemies never had any genuine interest in getting rid of it to begin with!

In Bible prophecy we're told that a prince (or leader) of Roman descent is eventually going to confirm (or make strong) a seven-year covenant of peace in the Middle East and will do so "with many." (Daniel 9:26-27). Are we nearing the time when that event will take place? It seems probable that we are, in light of everything else of prophetic interest taking place in the world around us, but only God knows for sure.

While theories abound as to where the leader we commonly refer to as the Antichrist will hail from is, what seems most likely in our day and age is he is going to be a third wheel in the peace process - a mediator who will possess the ability to make peace, by way of force if necessary, in the region. I'm not saying that dogmatically, of course, but it's what seems to have been missing from peace efforts in the region before that has caused all previous efforts to fail. As I inferred earlier, it's hard to make peace between two parties, whether they be individuals or nations, when only one party is truly interested in a lasting peace.

So here we sit, once again, hearing that there's a hope of peace coming to the Middle East BUT...

There's always a 'but' where Middle East peace is concerned which is why the Antichrist, sooner or later, is going to arise. It's also one of the reasons we have to wonder how much longer Damascus is going to remain a city. Damascus and Jerusalem have toyed a lot with the idea of peace lately too, BUT....

That Old Black Cloud? It's HUGE!

As the Palestinian Authority, notorious for being receptive to the idea of peace coming to the Middle East whenever something stands in the way of making it a reality, mumbles about peace, Damascus is potentially up to its old tricks where obtaining nuclear weapons is concerned.

The Jerusalem Post is reporting the following, in part:

A year after Israel allegedly bombed a partially constructed nuclear reactor deep in the heart of Syria, the nuclear aspirations of Syrian President Bashar Assad have not subsided, with the country redoubling its efforts to develop a nuclear program, Asharq Alawsat reported on Thursday.

According to the report, Israeli military sources told the London-based paper that following the reported air strike against the nuclear reactor at al-Kibar on September 6, Syria changed course and began a nuclear program based on the Iranian model of simultaneously building multiple facilities in various sites throughout the country.

The Jerusalem Post could not confirm the report.

The newspaper quoted the sources as saying that like the bombed nuclear reactor, the newest facilities were being built with the backing of North Korea. Furthermore, last month, a group of Iranian experts arrived in Syria and also joined the project, the sources told the paper.

While it is conjecture on my part and I admit it, I believe an excellent case can be made that what Asharq Alawsat reported is true. Let me explain.

Prophecy foretells disaster coming to Damascus

First of all, we know that Bible prophecy predicts that Damascus, the longest continuously inhabited city on earth according to many sources, is going to come to an unfortunate ending.

Isaiah 17:1: The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from [being] a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

The destruction spoken of in Bible prophecy is going to leave Damascus irreparable and there are few scenarios beyond the supernatural hand of God that could do so short of a nuclear weapon detonating there.

While the future of Damascus is - and has always been - a regular topic Christians interested in Bible prophecy muse about, what is and has almost always been a consensus opinion is that Syria's notoriety as a state sponsor of radical Islamic terror and a nation already in possession of weapons of mass destruction is going to, sooner or later, lead Damascus to make a fatal error in its provocations of Israel - one that will result in a different kind of black cloud appearing there if you follow my thinking. One of those big, mushroom-shaped clouds!

Current events point toward disaster coming for Damascus

When Israel destroyed a joint Syrian-North Korean nuclear facility in Syria on September 6, 2007, it was a clear message to Damascus - one that didn't sink in if the recent allegations are true.

While Iran is strategically difficult to reach by Israel, Syria is ripe for attack if it poses an existential threat to Israel so one has to wonder: Is Syria doing this foolish thing, unwittingly posturing itself for prophetic fulfillment to occur?

Between the lines

While reading the story above from a different perspective, as it is presented on Haaretz, a story about a massive car bombing in Damascus caught my eye that left 17 people dead.

The official story from Syria? It was an act of terror that their terrorist investigators are presently looking into. Hmmmm!

From Haaretz:

Such bombings are rare in Syria, a tightly controlled country where the regime of President Bashar Assad has used heavy-handed tactics to crack down against dissent and instability.

But over the nine months, the country has witnessed two major assassinations.

The last major explosion to strike Damascus was in February when a car bomb killed Imad Mughniyah, one of the world's most wanted and elusive terrorists. The former Hezbollah security chief was suspected of masterminding attacks that killed hundreds of Americans in Lebanon and brutal kidnappings of Westerners.

Last month, a senior security officer was killed at a beach resort near the port city of Tartous in mysterious circumstances, shaking the tightly controlled country.

Hezbollah and its top ally, Iran, blamed Israel for the assassination, but Israel denied any involvement.

While I'd be the last to suspect Israel of conducting a terrorist attack on civilians, could Israel's Mossad have been involved in a bombing against some non-civilians the Syrian government is referring to as civilians because it can't admit otherwise without raising suspicions it is rubbing the lamp of the nuclear genie again? Think about it.

The Jerusalem Post gives us reason to suspect, at the very least, that Israel is having to get down and dirty with its neighbor to the north in an effort to stop Syria from becoming the next Iran-like nuclear threat to them.

According to the Jerusalem Post, quoting the sources that gave Asharq Alawsat its information, the following is true (note the connection between the car bombing and the latest information suggesting Syria may be back to work on a covert nuclear program with the help of North Korea and Iran):

"...in the past year, three separate events have proved that a "nuclear armed Syria is a red line which can't be crossed." The three events, the Israeli sources said, were the reported destruction of the first nuclear reactor, the assassination of top Syrian adviser Brig.-Gen. Muhammad Suleiman in early August and the car bomb explosion in Damascus last weekend which killed 17 people."

All of these incidents have something in common, reportedly connections to a covert nuclear weapons program underway in Syria!

Sooner or later, Damascus is going to be nothing but a memory and, quite possibly, a crater that will bear testimony to the fact that Israel isn't going to allow an existential threat to its nation to be created! Period.

Again, this is mostly conjecture on my part but the rationale behind it? If all that the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz have documented in the content linked above is accurate, the clock is ticking and that old black cloud that hovers over the Middle East all the time? It is starting to rumble pretty loudly in the area of Damascus.

Maranatha!