A top official speaking on the condition of anonymity has told WorldNetDaily, Syria is seeking a peaceful resolution on the Golan Heights by the end of the summer or there will be war. The statement is the most ominous yet regarding the prospect of a conflict between Syria and Israel. During the Second Lebanon War, Israeli jets had buzzed President Bashar Assad's palace, sending a warning message to the Syrian dictator to end its support of the Lebanese terrorist organization. But both nations stated that a full-scale regional war was not on the cards. The Syrian regime was emboldened following Israel's failure to defeat Hizbullah, and is seeking to put the pressure on the Jewish state to hand back the Golan Heights. Syria created a special organization called the Committees for the Liberation of the Golan Heights, which will adopt the same tactics used by Hizbullah during last summer's war, using terrorism rather than armies to regain the territory...

Quote: "If Israel doesn't vacate the strategic Golan Heights b y August-September, Syrian fighters will immediately launch "resistance operations" against Jewish communities in the Golan Heights, a top official from Syrian President Bashar Assad's Baath party told WND. The Baath official, who spoke on condition his name be withheld, said Damascus was preparing for anticipated Israeli retaliation following these attacks and for a larger war with the Jewish state in August or September. He said Syria had the capability of firing "hundreds" of missiles at Tel Aviv.

Syrian opposition leaders have called on Israel not to do a deal with Bashar Assad, for doing so would only strengthen the dictator's grip on the nation. The opposition leader stated that in the event of a peace deal with their party, Israelis wouldn't even have to leave the Golan Heights if ownership of the territory returned to Syria. In what may be an attempt to politically out-manoeuvre his opponent, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced today that he was willing to talk with the Syrian President any time, any place.

Quote: "In his first appearance on a major Arabic news station in over six years, Olmert, speaking in an office adorned with the blue and white Israeli flag, told his Hebrew-speaking interviewer: "Bashar Assad, you know... You know I am ready to hold direct negotiations with you and you also know that it's you who insists on speaking to the Americans. The American president says: 'I don't want to stand between Bashar Assad and Ehud Olmert. If you want to talk, sit down and talk."

I wonder if when I take my holiday to Israel in October, will the visit to the Golan Heights still be on the schedule. I think all this posturing may just be that. Syria knows it cannot win a war with Israel, but may be using the excuse of the Golan Heights to try and bolster its own position in the Middle East. Perhaps Assad thinks he can gain more through threatening war than he can through signing a peace agreement with Israel. Or perhaps Syria wants the Golan Heights without having to sign a peace agreement with the Jewish state. In any case, although there may not be war between Syria and Israel yet, the Bible states that it will come, and will result in the destruction of the city of Damascus.

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, Jerusalem Post

Turkey has massed 140,000 soldiers on its border with northern Iraq, Iraq’s foreign minister said Monday, calling the neighboring country’s fears of Kurdish rebels based there “legitimate” but better resolved through negotiation.

Quote: ""On July 5, 2007, the Iranian news agency IRNA reported that Syrian authorities had instructed all Syrian citizens residing in Lebanon to return to their country by July 15, 2007. The next day, the Israeli Arab daily Al-Sinara similarly reported, on the authority of a Lebanese source close to Damascus, that Syria was planning to remove its citizens from Lebanon. Also on July 5, the Lebanese daily Al-Liwa reported rumours that Syrian workers were leaving Lebanon at the request of the Syrian authorities. In addition, the Syrian government daily Al-Thawra reported that Syrian universities would accept Syrian students who were leaving Lebanon due to the instability there," MEMRI said in its report.

Tensions are also increasing between between Syria and Israel. Last week Syria gave orders to remove military checkpoints operating near the Golan Heights, heightening fears that President Bashar Assad may be preparing for some sort of conflict in the region. The checkpoints had been in place since the Six Day War. Israel has also been conducting manoeuvres in the region, in preparation for the eventuality that war does break out between the two nations. 

In other news, water experts stated Sunday that Israel has been pumping water from springs in the Golan Heights on the Israeli side of the border, whose natural course would have flowed down to Syria, increasing the chances of war this summer. Conflicts have often broken out between nations over competition to control the scarce water resources of the Middle East. Turkey is planning to build 22 dams along the Tigris and Euphrates river, which will severely restrict the flow of water reaching Syria and Iraq. Last month Syria faced major power cuts, as the Euphrates river level dropped during a major heat wave. Syria obtains most of its electricity from generators in the Euphrates river. The Bible states that during the tribulation period, the Euphrates river will be dried up, preparing the way for the armies of the East to march on Israel.

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.

Source BBC, Fox News, YNet News, Jerusalem Post, YNet News, Wikipedia, Jerusalem Post

Former senior US diplomat warns of risk of war with Syria this summer in exclusive Ynetnews interview; criticizes US for being soft on Damascus; says Fatah will lose West Bank to Hamas if it does not change

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