Syria Continues Using Tanks Against Protestors

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad (Source: Agência Brasil, Wikipedia)
بشار الأسد

Syria continues to deal with demonstrators with tanks:

By Massoud A. Derhally – May 12, 201

Syria’s government deployed tanks against demonstrators, boosting the death toll after almost two months of unrest, according to Syrian human-rights activists.

At least 24 protesters have been killed in the last two days, including 13 who died when the village of Hara outside the southern city of Daraa was shelled, Mahmoud Merhi of the Arab Organization for Human Rights said by phone from Syria today…

Tanks were headed toward the city of Hama, near Homs, Merhi said yesterday. Hama was the site of an Islamist-led uprising in 1982 that was crushed by President Bashar al-Assad’s father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad, leaving 10,000 people dead. About 100 tanks are positioned along the 45-kilometer (28-mile) road between Homs and Hama, Qurabi said. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-12/syria-death-toll-rises-as-tanks-are-used-to-kill-protesters-activists-say.html

The situation in the Middle East will likely be chaotic until a strong leader rises up in that region that will transcend current national boundaries. No matter what the Syrian government attempts to do to stop this, an pan-Arabic confederation is going to form which will cross current national boundaries.

Those of us in the Living Church of God believe that Bible prophecy tells of a time when the Arab nations will unite under a leader shown as the final King of the South in the Book of Daniel (e.g. Daniel 11:40). Many Muslims seem to be looking for such a leader, though they tend to use the title Caliph or Mahdi. We also believe that an Islamic confederation will take place that certain Europeans will support that will not turn out well for the Anglo-Israel descended peoples (Psalm 83).

Mosque in Damascus

Interestingly, at least two Islamic sources that I have found state that the Mahdi will end up being based in Damascus (the capital of Syria):

“Having done this his next step would be to proceed on to Damascus, where the bulk of the Nasara (Christian) forces along with the tribe of Kalb would be deployed, as was previously mentioned. In Damascus, the Imam will set up his headquarters. From here, he will conduct military operations against the enemies of Islam and defeats them (such as the ones in Jerusalem), and from here, he will rule.”

“The Mehdi will be very just and his capital will be Damascus. The Mehdi is NOT a prophet but he is the final Rightly Guided Khalifah. The Mehdi will lead Muslims to a great victory against the Sufyaani and the Romans. This great war or Armageddon…”

If the final King of the South ends up being based in Damascus, this may be part of the reason that it gets destroyed (Isaiah 17:1). It is also possible that as an act of desperation, Syria will support Iran in a battle against Israel that probably will not turn out well for Syria.

Interestingly, a December 1979 Plain Truth article by Keith Stump’s titled The Arab World in Prophecy provides insights into who may be the future king of the South as well as who may be involved in Psalm 83, perhaps in partial fulfillment of Daniel 11:27, and also mentions Syria’s participation:

Mahdi, the expected end time messiah who is to cleanse and restore the Islamic faith…to usher in a seven-year golden age just before the end of the world…The expectation of a coming Mahdi (in Arabic, “the divinely guided one”) is prevalent among virtually all Moslem sects, though they often differ in the specifics of the concept…

The prophecy of Daniel 11 details events…But who is the “king of the south”?…Just as there is yet to be a final “king of the north”–called in the Bible symbolism “the beast”–who will arise as superdictator over an end-time European confederation, there may very well emerge in the same manner a final “king of the south”–an overall leader of an Arab-Moslem confederation, possibly bearing the very title Mahdi. And these two individuals will eventually find themselves in a head-to-head confrontation–possibly over oil–which will ultimately lead to devastating war in the Middle East!

King David of ancient Israel in a prophetic psalm (Psalm 83) provides additional insight into the Mideast picture. Germany (Assyria in Bible prophecy) and perhaps the rest of Europe will be in league in the future with a union of Arab nations–a vast confederacy bound together in an effort to crush out the name “Israel” from the face of the earth! This Arab-Moslem confederacy may very well be the previously mentioned “king of the south”–a sphere of power encompassing vast portions of the Islamic world.

“They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: The tabernacles of Edom [Esau or modern-day Turkey, a non-Arab but Islamic nation], and the Ishmaelites [Saudi Arabia]; of Moab [part of Jordan], and the Hagarenes [anciently these peoples dwelt in the area known as Syria today]; Gebal [Lebanon], and Ammon [modern Jordan], and Amalek [part of the Turks]; the Philistines [the modern Palestinians] with the inhabitants of Tyre [Lebanon]; Assur [whose descendants, the Assyrians, migrated to Germany] also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot [Jordan and Western Iraq]” (Psalm 83:4-8)…

But in the end, this European-Arab alliance will prove short-lived…And the king of the north shall come against him [the king of the south]…The Arab-Moslem Confederation will, of course, be thrown into chaotic disarray in the fact of invasion.

What is currently happening in Syria seems to aligning with the rise the leader of a pan-Arabic confederation that all should watch for.

Some articles of possibly related interest may include:

The Arab World In the Bible, History, and Prophecy The Bible discusses the origins of the Arab world and discusses the Middle East in prophecy. What is ahead for the Middle East and those who follow Islam? What does Islam teach about the Imam Mahdi?
Is There A Future King of the South? Some no longer believe there needs to be. Might Egypt, Islam, Iran, Arabs, or Ethiopia be involved? Is he the Imam Mahdi? What does the Bible say?
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies for the Great Monarch point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States?