The death of a Syrian intelligence official – allegedly by Israeli sniper fire – could mark a new phase in Israel’s war against Iranian entrenchment in neighboring Syria.
Syria’s state-run SANA news agency said that Madhat al-Saleh – senior adviser to President Bashar Assad – was fatally shot on Saturday in Ein el-Tinneh, a village along the Israeli border in the Golan Heights where he ran a government office. According to Al-Jazeera, he was shot dead by an Israeli sniper.
Israeli media said Al-Saleh had been working with Iran to establish a front against Israel on the Golan border.
The Israel Defense Forces did not comment on the matter, but if the Syrian claim is true, it would mark the first time Israeli snipers have been known to kill an Iranian-linked target across the border. The alleged assassination might be part of Jerusalem’s ongoing efforts to prevent permanent Iranian military presence on the Golan border for attacks against Israel.
Al-Saleh had previously spent 12 years in an Israeli prison for security-related crimes. A year after his release in 1997, he moved to Syria, was elected to the parliament, and served as an adviser to the government, focusing on the country’s efforts to regain the Golan Heights, which have been under Israeli control since 1967.
Yoel Guzansky – a senior fellow and expert on Iran at the Institute for National Security Studies – said it was not a sure thing that Israel had even been involved and that Al-Saleh was not an especially valuable target and also had tense relations with Iranian proxy Hezbollah and objected to the group’s activities in the Golan.
But he said that if Israel had indeed killed Al-Saleh through an unprecedented sniper attack, it sent a powerful message to Iran and Syria about their activities near the Israeli border.
“It says that we have many ways and many techniques,” he said. “We’re watching you.”
HD Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?
This development comes as Iran is teetering on the brink of obtaining a nuclear weapon, which poses a chief threat to the nation of Israel, a country Iranian regimes have not shied away from declaring their intention of wiping off the map.
Last week former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned that Israel may be in a position where it must take military action against Iran, due to US “appeasement” which has emboldened Israel’s enemies.
“This is the risk of appeasement as you embolden your adversaries,” Pompeo told Jerusalem Post. “Ultimately, they put nations in the place where they’re stuck with only one tool, a military tool.”
Pompeo added that if Israeli military action becomes a necessary last resort, it is his prayer that the United States will be involved in this move.
Amir Tsarfati of Behold Israel stated via Telegram that “By the end of this year, the world will see either a nuclear Iran or a strike on Iran. No deal will stop them at this point. Buckle up your seatbelt in preparation for a very stormy end of 2021.”
“The Middle East is reaching a boiling point,” he added.
Talk of significant military action taken by Israel against Iran has those familiar with Bible Prophecy watching very closely. In Isaiah 17, the Bible speaks of a future event in which Damascus, the capital of Syria, will be completely destroyed.
Isaiah 17:1 KJV – “The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.”
Israel has conducted multiple strikes on Iranian targets in Syria, as the Islamic Republic has moved weaponry to attack the Jewish state throughout the region including in Damascus.
Although we are not told in Scripture how Damascus, one of the longest continually inhabited cities in the world, will become a “ruinous heap.” The increasing tensions between Israel and Iran in the region have many keeping a close eye on the city.
Damascus’s destruction could also be a catalyst to the Ezekiel 38-39 war in-which Russia, Iran, Turkey, and others come together from the north, with weaponry supplied by Russia, to attack the Jewish state.
