A bomb in Damascus on Wednesday killed several members of President Bashar al-Assad's inner circle, including Defense Minister Daoud Rajha, General Hassan Turkmani, and Assad's brother-in-law Assef Shawka, who was Syria’s Interior Minister.
Several other key officials were seriously wounded in the attack, and Assad's whereabouts are presently unknown.
For Israel, this raises several potentially dangerous scenarios, not the least of which involves the security of Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles. Jerusalem is concerned they could end up in the hands of the Hizbullah terror organization.
Also of concern is whether factions among Syria's fragmented rebel insurgency may gain access to its advanced weapons systems and turn them against the Jewish state.
Another worry is that the now incommunicado Assad may see the end of his own rule as inevitable and decide to do as much damage to Israel as possible as his regime collapses. Most analysts, however, see this scenario as highly unlikely.
Most analysts may not see the scenario of Syrian president Bashar Assad ordering a WMD attack against Israel in a final act of vengeance as likely, but I wouldn't be so sure. From my perspective, Assad may be more dangerous today than either Iraq's Saddam Hussein or Libya's Muammar Gaddafi were in the final days leading up to their falls from power. Why? Because Assad has seen video footage of how each of them died, executed at the hands of their enemies.
If Assad's flight from Damascus is any indication of the situation on the ground there, it would seem he is now on the run and extremely desperate. His finger figuratively on the trigger of what is suspected by many to be the largest chemical weapons stockpile in the world, Assad could soon elect to loose some WMDs on his enemies. A likely target in that scenario would be the rebel forces seeking to remove him from power, but the possibility alluded to in the last paragraph of the excerpt above shouldn't be dismissed as impossible either. Assad could choose to unleash his fury on Israel.
What could Assad potentially gain by attacking Israel? First and foremost, he could perceive history would remember him well, delusionally thinking he could be a key figure in bringing about the end of Israel. But secondly? Assad could get revenge - and a lot of it!
Should Assad launch a massive chemical weapons attack on Israel, he would ensure that Damascus would never again be the home of a Syrian ruler. Getting a city vaporized by an Israeli nuclear counter strike would eliminate that as a possibility. While such an act would be sheer madness and result in a horrific loss of life, desperate and wicked men often behave erratically when their necks are on the line.
Always vigilant by necessity, Israel is taking the threat posed by a desperate Bashar Assad and Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles being on the move very seriously. The Telegraph is reporting Israel is considering a first strike against the Syrian weapons and has presented the option to the United States. Even a pre-emptive move on the part of Israel to prevent Syria from attacking or to keep Syrian WMDs out of the hands of terrorist organizations known to call the Damascus area home could lead to a worst-case scenario quickly developing.
While no one in the international community is publicly panicking, heads of state around the world must be very concerned. Of great interest to me, in light of Israel's presentation of military options to the United States, President Obama has reportedly been in telephone contact with the Assad regime's most globally influential ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to reports, Russia, which has been an obstacle to the United States getting anything going in the United Nations Security Council to help bring the volatile situation under control, remains unwilling to pursue any course of action agreeable to the United States. Thus, with tensions soaring higher and higher, anything could happen from this point forward. Even the fulfillment of a frightful prophecy concerning the Syrian capital shouldn't be ruled out.
Isaiah 17:1: The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
Damascus, with its leadership on the run and revolution in the air, is standing as a city today. How much longer that will be true is a question mark at this very hour. Should we be nearing the time on God's prophetic calendar when the destruction of Damascus is to occur, I pray the Lord will have mercy on all those He is willing to and get them out of harm's way.
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