“I am Yahweh; that is My Name! I will not give My glory to anyone else, nor share My praise with carved idols.” (Isaiah 42: 8)
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Opposing Sides are Forming in the Middle East
The Democratic congressman who initiated a letter signed by 42 of his colleagues to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson protesting Iranian interference in Syria said on Wednesday that preventing Tehran’s military expansion needs to be a “bipartisan priority.”
“A permanent Iranian presence in Syria is unacceptable,” Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) told The Algemeiner. “I am concerned Iran is using the conflict in Syria to gain a military foothold on the doorstep of Israel and other regional allies, and supply terrorist organizations like Hezbollah with deadly weapons.”
Schneider said he had been “proud to co-lead” the letter to Tillerson with his colleague Rep. Brian Mast (R-MI). “Preventing Iran from establishing a permanent military presence in the region must be a bipartisan priority,” Schneider emphasized.
The congressional letter sent to Tillerson on Tuesday noted that Iran had provided powerful military and financial support to stabilize the dictatorship of Tehran’s ally, President Bashar al-Assad. The letter said that up to 1,800 personnel from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were on the ground in Syria along with regular Iranian troops, “which would mark a significant departure from a historical policy of keeping regular armed forces within Iran’s borders.”
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman was touring the North on Wednesday against a background of tension on Israel’s northern front and the Israeli dissatisfaction with Russia’s confirmation of an Iranian presence in Syria.
“We will not allow the establishment of a Shiite and Iranian presence in Syria, and we will not allow all of Syria to be turned into a leading front against Israel. Anyone who hasn’t understood that, should,” Lieberman said.
The understandings recently reached between Russia and the United States, laying out principles for postwar Syria, do not include a stipulation to withdraw pro-Iranian forces from Syria and, in fact, they recognize Iran’s presence in Syria as legitimate, Moscow’s Interfax news agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as saying Tuesday.
The agreement, announced in a joint U.S.-Russian statement on Saturday, confirmed the importance of “de-escalation areas” as an interim step toward reducing violence, enforcing cease-fire agreements, facilitating humanitarian aid and setting conditions for the “ultimate political solution” to a war that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives since it began in 2011.
It also affirmed what it said was a U.S.-Russian-Jordanian understanding calling for “the reduction and ultimate elimination, of foreign forces and foreign fighters from the area to ensure a more sustainable peace.”
A U.S. State Department official said Russia had agreed “to work with the Syrian regime to remove Iranian-backed forces a defined distance” from the Golan Heights border with Israel. Israel has repeatedly declared that it will not tolerate an Iranian presence near its border.
Saudi Arabia and other Arab foreign ministers were scheduled to hold an emergency meeting in Cairo on Sunday to discuss confronting Iran and its Lebanese Shiite ally Hezbollah, who the Arab allies say are interfering in their internal affairs.
Regional tensions have risen between Sunni monarchy Saudi Arabia and Shiite Islamist Iran over Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s surprise resignation and after an escalation in Yemen’s conflict.
Moscow, Turkey and Iran are all sending symbolic messages to Washington that the Americans are out in the cold and the post-ISIS era may well be dictated by regional powers.
Turkish, Russian and Iranian diplomats will meet in Antalya on Sunday in the run-up to a major get-together in Sochi on November 22. The meeting is supposed to focus on Syria, but its real purpose is part of a larger effort by Moscow to illustrate its influence in the region.
Moscow, Turkey and Iran are all sending symbolic messages to Washington that the Americans are out in the cold and the post-ISIS era may well be dictated by regional powers.
Trouble is Brewing and Turkey, Russia, and Iran are Involved
Yesterday, Sunday, was a big day in the Middle East. Opposing sides are forming. Which side will we be on?
And Israel is at the center of it all.
The Iranian presence in Syria is an immediate threat to Israel. So is Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza.
Israel is becoming increasingly vulnerable to attacks led by Iranian puppets. This is not a domestic political problem in the U.S. It’s a very real problem faced by our most reliable ally in the world—Israel.
“The post-ISIS era may well be dictated by regional powers” means that Iran has an open door in the Middle East and support from powerful regional neighbors.
Keep your eyes on Turkey, Russia, Iran, and China—the TRIC nations. I’m still waiting to understand the role China will play in all of this.
Thankfully, Donald Trump is president and not Hillary Clinton or any other Democrat.
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“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17: 22-24)
See “His Name is Yahweh”.
