Quote: "The new information, particularly images received in the past 30 days, has been restricted to just a few senior officials under the instructions of national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley, leaving many in the intelligence community unaware of it or uncertain of its significance, sources told the Washington Post on condition of anonymity. A White House spokesman and the Israeli Embassy declined to comment Wednesday after several days of inquiries. A Syrian Embassy spokesman told the Washington Post he could not immediately provide a statement. The New York Times first reported on the intelligence linking North Korea and Syria. Since the alleged Israeli attack in Syria occurred, the Israeli government has refused to divulge any details, but a former Israeli official said he had been told that it was an attack against a facility capable of making unconventional weapons.

Frustration is also growing with Iran, as efforts to impose tougher sanctions on the state are opposed by the European Union. The international community has tried everything in its power to diplomatically resolve the nuclear stand off. Iran has repeatedly stalled talks held by the EU, rebuffed Javier Solana's package of incentives and threatened to harm US interests worldwide if sanctions are imposed against it. The diplomatic approach has failed with Iran, for President Ahmadinejad is bent on obtaining nuclear weapons and destroying the Jewish state. President Ahmadinejad believes that worldwide chaos will hasten the appearance of the Mahdi, the Islamic "Messiah", who will conquer Jerusalem and install a global caliphate. According to intelligence analysts, Iran may only be a few years away from possessing enough Uranium to manufacture a nuclear weapon. As a result the US military is preparing for the eventual breakdown of the diplomatic approach, and a US strike on Iran's nuclear facilities could come in as soon as 8-10 months. 

Quote: "According to the report, Germany's decision has spurred senior US army officials to try and convince US Foreign Secretary Condoleezza Rice to abandon once and for all the diplomatic route of preventing a nuclear Iran. The report further stated that the date of preference for an attack against Iran is in eight to 10 months - after the US presidential candidates for both the Democrats and the Republicans have been chosen, but before the major presidential campaign kicks off.

Previous Iranian Ayatollahs have boasted that it would only take one weapon to destroy Israel, while any Israeli response would only inflict limited damage on Iran due to the country's immense size. It is imperative that Iran does not acquire a single tactical nuclear warhead. Former Iranian President Hashemi-Rafsanjani, elected this month as chairperson of the Iranian Assembly of Experts which overseas the work of the Supreme Ayatollah, had this to say about Israel and Islam's efforts to acquire nuclear weapons...

Quote: ""If a day comes when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has in possession, the strategy of colonialism would face a stalemate because application of an atomic bomb would not leave anything in Israel but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world", Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani told the crowd at the traditional Friday prayers in Tehran.

Source Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, Jerusalem Post, Iran Press Service, Muslim News

A US Defence Department official has told the New York times that he believes Israel has photographed nuclear installations in Syria within the past few weeks, and that this may have been the reason for the recent Israeli infiltration into Syrian airspace. The Israeli government has so far refused to comment on the event, which has drawn criticism from the Syrian government, Iran and a surprising rebuff from North Korea. 

Quote: "Spokesman of Iranian foreign ministry Thursday evening condemned the violation of the Syrian airspace by the Zionist military planes. According to information and press department of the ministry, Mohammad-Ali Hosseini, the ministry's spokesman, said this brazen and provocative act was aimed at extending the internal crises of the Zionist regime to regions beyond the Palestine land and expanding insecurity in the region, as well as diverting the public attention from the disastrous consequences of their resounding defeat in their 33-day long war against Lebanon.

Quote: ""This is a very dangerous provocation little short of wantonly violating the sovereignty of Syria and seriously harassing the regional peace and security," a spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying by the Korean Central News Agency. "The Democratic People's Republic of Korea strongly denounces the above-said intrusion and extends full support and solidarity to the Syrian people in their just cause to defend the national security and the regional peace," he added.

According to the US Defence official, Israel believes North Korea is shipping nuclear material from its facilities to Iran and Syria, and this strike was aimed at intercepting those shipments. CNN has reported that the US government was pleased with the operation, and are "happy to have Israel convey to both Syria and Iran the message that they can get in and out and strike when necessary". If indeed the target was nuclear related, that may explain Syria's rather subdued response to the so-called provocation. It may also explain the profound silence from Western nations on this issue... perhaps they are hoping Iran will be taking notes. And as Iran continues down the path of nuclear armament, it seems that it will be left to Israel to make the first move, before all the Middle East is at the mercy of an Iranian Mullah.

1st Chronicles 12:32
And of the children of Issachar, [which were men] that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them [were] two hundred; and all their brethren [were] at their commandment.

Source Haaretz, IRNA

Russia has announced it has tested what it is calling the "Father Of All Bombs", a massive "vacuum bomb" that it is claimed has the destructive power of a nuclear blast but without the radiation. The Russians named the device after America's "Mother Of All Bombs", officially named the "Massive Ordinance Air Bomb". The announcement was made by the Russian deputy armed forces chief of staff Alexander Rukshin on ORT First Channel television. The news report showed a Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber dropping the bomb on a testing ground. A large explosion followed, which scorched the earth within the vicinity of the blast and levelled a multi-storey block of flats...

Quote: "Such devices generally detonate in two stages. First a small blast disperses a main load of explosive material into a cloud, which then either spontaneously ignites in air or is set off by a second charge. This explosion generates a pressure wave that reaches much further than that from a conventional explosive. The consumption of gases in the blast also generates a partial vacuum that can compound damage and injuries caused by the explosion itself. "The main destruction is inflicted by an ultrasonic shockwave and an incredibly high temperature," the reports said. "All that is alive merely evaporates." Rukshin said: "At the same time, I want to stress that the action of this weapon does not contaminate the environment, in contrast to a nuclear one."

I don't know whether it will be such a weapon as this or if it will be a nuclear explosion, but the Bible states in Ezekiel that such a destructive weapon will be used during Russia's invasion of Israel, as foretold in Ezekiel 38-39. At the commencement of the Six Day War, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser boldly proclaimed, "The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are poised on the borders of Israel ... while standing behind us are the armies of Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation. This act [the destruction of Israel] will astound the world". The Israeli response did astound the world, as through God's help Israel destroyed the armies of Egypt, Jordan and Syria within a few days. In the not too distant future the Arab armies will once again launch an attack on Israel, and once again the entire world will shake at God's presence. Then shall God be sanctified in the eyes of all nations.

Ezekiel 38:18-21
And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, [that] my fury shall come up in my face. For in my jealousy [and] in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that [are] upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be against his brother.

Source Reuters

Quote: ""We consider this a victory from Allah for the resistance," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said on Hamas radio. "We consider the resistance as the legitimate right of the Palestinians to defend themselves and restore their rights." The rocket strike, which wounded 69 IDF soldiers, was followed by a mortar barrage on the Gaza border. The Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the attacks, and the Islamic Jihad later posted a video on its website purportedly showing the Kassam rocket launch.

In spite of the attack Israel is not expected to retaliate, so as not to upset relations with the Palestinian Authority ahead of the November peace conference. Israeli President Shimon Peres again questioned why the Palestinian terrorist organizations were continuing to launch attacks on Israel from Gaza, even after Israel's disengagement from the territory over two years ago...

Quote: "In his first comments on the subject since Tuesday morning's Kassam rocket attack which left 69 soldiers wounded, President Shimon Peres voiced wonder at the Palestinian terror groups' decision to continue with such tactics. "It makes no sense why they would continue to shoot at us despite the fact that we disengaged from the Gaza Strip," Peres said during a Rosh Hashana toast for foreign diplomats. 

But the war is not territorial. It never has been, and that is why Jews continue to find themselves under attack from their Arab enemies. This is a spiritual battle that is being waged between the seed of promise and the seed of the bondwoman. Satan desperately wants to destroy the Jewish people, for he knows that God's promises for this planet are wrapped up in that nation. During the diaspora, Satan sought to expel the Jews from every place they settled in. He attempted to wipe them out during the World War II, and afterwards to hinder their return to the mountains of Israel. Following the war, Satan tried to stop Britain from giving the Jewish people a national homeland in "Palestine". After Israel's independence in 1948, he tried on numerous occasions to drive them into the sea. But instead of being wiped off the map, the Lord has allowed His people to have the victory over their enemies. Today Satan is still seeking to destroy God's chosen people. Despite disengaging from Gaza and South Lebanon, and promising to give Judea, Samaria and much of East Jerusalem to their enemies, the ultimate goal of Palestinian terrorist organizations is still the complete destruction of the state of Israel. As Christ's Second Coming to earth draws near, so do Satan's attempts at preventing it become more desperate. Towards the end of the tribulation period, Satan launches one final attempt to destroy the Jewish people. The Antichrist sits in the Jewish Temple, the place where Jesus Christ is prophesied to rule from. And all nations on earth will gather against Jerusalem to do battle. Even as the Lord returns out of heaven, the Antichrist and his armies turn their guns on the Lion of Judah and the armies of heaven. But God will set His King upon His holy hill of Zion. Jesus Christ is coming again, not as a humble servant although He is that, but as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Do you have a relationship with Him? Today He is just, and having salvation, lowly, and riding upon a donkey (Zechariah 9:9). Tomorrow it will be in vengeance, riding upon a white horse. Trust in Him for salvation today.

Isaiah 34:8
For it is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.

Source Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem Post