Collapse of the Syrian Dictatorship
By David Dolan (Middle Eastern Christian Journalist)
AN EARTHQUAKE OF ENORMOUS MAGNITUDE has just rocked Israel and the entire Middle East–the sudden collapse of the 54-year-old Assad family dictatorship in Syria this Sunday morning. Having lived in northern Israel near Syria and Lebanon for my first four years in the Lord’s chosen land, and extensively covered the warfare there, it is a very emotional day for me. Syria is strategically located between Turkey and Iraq to the north and east, and Jordan, Israel, and Lebanon to the south. Russian air force and naval bases are located on Syria’s northwest Mediterranean coast. The jolting takeover of Damascus today by rebel forces led by Turkish-backed Islamic militants is sending severe aftershocks throughout the region, especially in nearby Jordan where the moderate Hashemite kingdom fears it may be Erdogan’s next target. It seems that Isaiah 17 and Psalm 83 are several steps closer to fulfillment as the new week begins.
With the unforeseen rapid dissolution of the brutal Assad regime today, Israel has truly triumphed over militant Shiite Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, despite trepidation over what a militant Sunni Islamic state might look like next door to Syria (we already know what it looked like in Gaza). At least Jerusalem can now take on the radical Iranian regime’s escalating nuclear weapons program more directly, especially with Donald Trump waiting in the wings. Of course, Assad’s longtime allies Russia and Iran will not take the stunning rapid collapse of the Assad regime lying down, as Israeli leaders are well aware. With a totally lame-dead-duck leader in the United States for the next six weeks, expect more Mideast and international turbulence ahead.
I gave a full background to the crisis in Syria and its implications for Israel on Saturday’s Prophecy Today Weekend radio program, which you can hear by clicking the link below. The good news is that the Lord offers us eternal life, and His promised return is drawing very near!