King Abdullah II of Jordan has called on China to increase its involvement in the Middle East in an effort to bring peace to the region. His comments came as Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was in Beijing to lobby the Communist government to strengthen sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme. 

Quote: ""China can play an important role in supporting this process both as a world power and respected and trusted Asian neighbour," said the King, on a visit to mark 30 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries. "As a permanent member of the United Nations (Security Council) and a country that has good relations with all parties in our region, China's role is, I believe, destined to increase in the coming period," he said in a speech at Peking University.

China's role is indeed destined to increase in the coming period. China enjoys good relations with all parties in the Middle East at present, but according to Scripture that will change. Following the failure of the peace process in the Middle East, and following the outbreak of war, the Kings of the East (or "sun-rising") are prophesied to march on Israel. The Euphrates river will be dried up, allowing their armies to cross unhindered into the Holy Land. Looking at a map of the Middle East, the Euphrates river acts as a land barrier between east and west, protecting Israel from invasion from states such as Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and China. Turkey is planning to build around 22 dams on the Euphrates. Syria relies heavily on the Euphrates for generating electricity, and frequently experiences power blackouts when the water level runs low.

Revelation 16:12
And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs [come] out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, [which] go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

The army that the Apostle John sees in the tribulation period numbers some 200 million men. Presently the only nation capable of mustering such a force would be China, and this causes many Christians to believe that China may have a big part to play in the end time scenario.

Revelation 9:13-18
And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen [were] two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses [were] as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

Source Reuters, Bible Study

(IsraelNN.com) Syria sees the next war with Israel as involving missile attacks on civilian infrastructure and front-line guerilla warfare, an anonymous senior official in the Syrian Ministry of Defense told Defense News Weekly, in an interview appearing Monday. Syria prefers to avoid a direct, "classic" confrontation with Israel, he said. Instead, the next war will involve Katyusha rocket and ballistic missiles that will target strategic points in Israel, especially civilian infrastructure.

The official said that the war will not be limited to a single strike, but will be protracted in nature. "This will be a war of attrition, which the Israelis are not good at," he explained. The conflict, he said, "will be more like a war between cities than a war on the battlefield."

According to Arab affairs expert Dr. Guy Bechor, the Syrian assessment is a result of the Second Lebanon War. After that war, the Syrians understood that they do not need a large ground force to defeat Israel, but rather missiles aimed at dense Israeli population centers. For the past two years the Syrians have been engaged in massive acquisitions from Russia, after an $11 billion debt was partially forgiven by Russia in 2005, and partially covered by Iran.

Following the unimpressive performance by the IDF in last year’s war, Bechor explains, Syria began equipping itself with advanced anti-aircraft missiles, anti-tank missiles and cruise missiles.

The Syrian army numbers 650,000 soldiers, including 354,000 reservists, according to Defense News. Its tanks are outdated Soviet models, however, and its air force is inferior to Israel's.

The London-based daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat recently reported that Syria has deployed Chinese C-802 cruise missiles, which it acquired from Iran. In addition, Russia has expressed its willingness to sell the Syrians its Iskander missile, which has a range of 280 kilometers, more than enough to strike at any destination in Israel. The missile features an optical GPS navigational system that allows operators to guide it to their targets.

Source Arutz 7

Looks like the Gog-Magog nations are getting ready to be brought down to their destruction upon the Mountains of Israel. What a day that will be when the mighty armies of Russia, Iran and Syria stand against the Lord God Almighty. There will be no-one to help them.

Behold He who keeps Israel never slumbers nor sleeps (Psm 121:4)

The letters, according to Iranian sources, have been posted to Jewish families in Tehran (where the community numbers some 13,000), Isfahan (under 2,000) and Shiraz (some 4,000). They are captioned: Danger! Danger! Danger! and tell recipients to try and reach the West with all possible speed. Iranian Jews like the rest of the population face grave danger from impending events, the anonymous writers warn.

According to the newspaper, three Israeli diplomats present at a recent United Nations Disarmament Commission meeting overheard the Syrian representative clearly say that Israel's attack targeted a nuclear facility. The Israeli delegation to the talks, headed by Miriam Ziv, the Foreign Ministry's deputy director general for strategic affairs, accused Syria of smuggling mass amounts of weapons into Lebanon in violation of the UN Security Council's resolution. In response a Syrian representative said Israel was the aggressor and mentioned its attack on a "nuclear facility." Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja'afari also took part in the meeting. According to foreign sources, Israel launched the attack on the suspected nuclear site near Dayr az-Zwar in northern Syria a few days after a shipment of nuclear material arrived there from North Korea. Until now Syria has vehemently denied the existence of a nuclear project in its territory, claiming the site in Dayr az-Zwar was actually an agricultural research facility.

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

Source YNet News