Sabbath 29/13/36/120

Dear Friends

This is the last Sabbath of the 36th year in Adar II.  We prepare to go into the 37th year which is the sacred year of 2014/15.  This May is the 40th anniversary of the cease fire between Syria and Israel since the Yom Kippur war in 1973/4 in the Second month of the sacred year at the Second Passover.   Hezbollah is putting all that at risk in its efforts against Israel from Syrian soil. Israel's air strikes against the Syrian military on Wednesday were reminiscent in some ways of its security formula against Hamas in Gaza.

A selective use of force was deployed, enough to deliver a sharp message of deterrence, but not enough to spark a larger conflict. Security chiefs have determined that this process is the best way to lower the chances of another border attack by Hezbollah that can lead to a generalized regional flare-up.

A repeat offense – in the form of additional Hezbollah attacks carried out from areas under the control of the Assad regime – will lead to harsher penalties. This message is designed to leave the regime with little choice but to pull the plug on additional cooperation with Hezbollah in attacks against Israel from Syrian territory.

Syrian President Bashar Assad's focus is to continue making gains against the rebels, as he has been doing consistently with Hezbollah's help in recent months. It is logical to assume that he would be loathe to risk those gains – or the very survival of his regime – for Hezbollah's campaign of revenge against Israel.

Time will tell whether this limited but significant use of force – the most extensive strike on Syrian targets acknowledged by Israel since the start of the Syrian civil war – will achieve its purpose. Either way, Hezbollah has sent its own message to Israel, that it will respond to alleged Israeli strikes on convoys of advanced arms if they occur in Lebanese territory.

The chain of events of the last few days all derived from the regional arms race, in which Hezbollah and Iran continue to try and bring game-changing weapons into Lebanon to target the Israeli home front, and Israeli efforts to stop them. Now that this undercover battle has burst into the open, Israel is asserting its right to act according to the weapons ban it has put into place in Lebanon. But neither Israel nor its adversaries have an interest in entering a full-scale clash at this time. Israel is trying to stop advanced weapons from reaching Hezbollah and also Hamas.

This year will prove to be most crucial in the conflicts that are being played out in the world in the build up to the wars of the end and the emergence of the Fourth Beast of Daniel Chapter 7.  This Passover a new paper that identifies the Four Beasts of Daniel chapter 7 and the progress of the wars is examined in the paper Commentary on Daniel Chapter 7 which will be recorded and issued for all churches at the Passover.

Coordinators are to please ensure that they have the new papers issued.  They also follow on from the events in Daniel Chapter 2 and the connections are explained in the paper.

Wade Cox
Coordinator General