Bible Prophecy, Signs of the Times and Gog and Magog Updates with Articles in the News
The Jewish Messiah Is Coming This Year — And the War With Iran Is the Proof – Says Rabbi
The war against Iran that President Trump is prosecuting alongside Israel did not begin in a Pentagon situation room. According to Rabbi Mendel Kessin, one of the most original and incisive Torah thinkers alive today, what the world is witnessing right now was written thousands of years ago as literal prophecy. In a lecture posted to YouTube this past Friday, Rabbi Kessin laid out a breathtaking framework connecting the current American-Israeli campaign against Iran to the final redemption of the Jewish people, the fall of Haman, the role of Donald Trump as a messianic figure, and the imminent building of the Third Temple — this year.
“When you see evil over and over, and especially the chiefs of evil fall,” Rabbi Kessin told his audience, “this is no simple matter. You know what it means? It means that the Satan, who is the defender and the motivator of all these people, he’s dying. He has no power in the court in heaven.”
The Four Klipot: A Structure of Evil as Old as Creation
The Bible’s opening lines contain more than cosmology. In Bereishit (Genesis), the text reads: “And the earth was tohu va’vohu — unformed and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep.” (Bereishit 1:2). Rabbi Kessin, drawing on the tradition of the Sages, explains that these four terms — tohu, vohu, darkness, and the deep — correspond to four distinct levels of klipah (shell or husk), meaning the four spiritual environments of evil that God built into creation.
The first environment, tohu, is a world of mixed good and evil — the lowest and most changeable level. The second, vohu, is an environment of concentrated, nearly pure evil. The third is darkness — evil that has been rationalized into a full philosophy, a worldview that makes harm seem legitimate and even noble. The fourth is the proliferation of that dark philosophy worldwide.
These are not abstract categories. Rabbi Kessin maps them directly onto history. Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome — the four great civilizations through which the Jewish people passed in exile — each embody one of these four klipot.
In Kabbalah, klipot are metaphysical barriers that hide divine light and holiness. They represent selfish desires, impurity, and obstacles to spiritual growth. These layers function like peels on fruit, concealing the inner, holy essence, and are often created by negative or selfish human actions.
The Jewish mission in each exile was not merely survival. It was spiritual demolition: to observe God’s commandments under crushing opposition, extract the hidden sparks of holiness trapped within those civilizations, and thereby drain those empires of their spiritual energy until they collapsed.
“That’s why these ancient civilizations don’t exist anymore,” Rabbi Kessin explained. “Because the Jews’ behavior in that civilization, by observing the will of God, destroyed it or buried it.”
Babylon is dust. Persia ceased to exist as a world power after Purim. Greece, which, under Alexander, dominated the known world, is today a minor country. Rome — whether Byzantine or Italian — is gone. The pattern is not a coincidence.
Iran Is the Last Klipah
But Persia came back. That, says Rabbi Kessin, is itself a signal.
Iran is not merely a geopolitical adversary. In the framework of Torah, it is the resurrection of the klipah of Persia — and more than that, it is the last stronghold of Amalek, the metaphysical enemy of Israel. The supreme leader Ali Khamenei, Rabbi Kessin argues, is a gilgul (reincarnation) of Haman.
The evidence he cites is in the gematria (the numerical value of Hebrew letters). Khamenei’s name, as spelled in the Israeli Hebrew-language newspaper Maariv — with a yud, giving a value of 119 — yields the exact numerical value of ze hu Haman: “This is Haman.” It is also the gematria of gilgul Haman — the reincarnation of Haman. “He’s a gilgul of Haman,” Rabbi Kessin stated, “and the rest of his mullahs are either his children… and his followers.”
This is why the timing of the current war shook Rabbi Kessin so visibly. The Israeli strike that killed Khamenei occurred on the very day that the weekly Torah portion commands the Jewish people to obliterate the name of Amalek. “While the Jews in Israel are reading that parasha, that section of the Torah where it commands the Jews to take out Haman — he is being obliterated,” Rabbi Kessin said. “That’s a message. God is saying: I want to show you what I’m doing.”
And then, just days later, came Purim.
Trump as Gilgul of Esau
This is where Rabbi Kessin’s framework becomes most provocative — and most illuminating.
Esau (Eisav in Hebrew), the twin brother of Jacob (Yaakov), was not simply a villain. According to the Sages, Esau was initially a man of extraordinary spiritual potential — Rabbi Kessin calls him “the fourth patriarch” — whose assigned mission was to enter the world of mixed good and evil and purge it of its darkness. He was ish sadeh, a man of the field: a warrior against evil in the external world, the complement to Jacob’s mission of Torah and holiness. But Esau fell. He was seduced by the very evil he was sent to fight, and the Satan subdued him.
The prophecy in Bereishit states: “And the elder will serve the younger” (Bereishit 25:23). Rabbi Kessin notes that the text does not say “Esau will serve Jacob.” It says “the elder” and “the younger” — using the language of brotherhood. That is deliberate. It points to a future moment of reconciliation, when the reincarnated Esau returns to do teshuva (repentance) and once again fights alongside Jacob.
“What you really have when you have America and Israel fighting Iran,” Rabbi Kessin said, “is really the restoration of two brothers.”
Donald Trump, in Rabbi Kessin’s reading, is the gilgul of Esau — the good part, what the tradition calls teshuvat Eisav. God saved Trump from an assassin’s bullet by a quarter of an inch. “Why?” Rabbi Kessin asked. “Well, now we see why — to take out Iran.” Trump’s seemingly unexpected pivot from domestic MAGA politics to an aggressive, almost singular focus on dismantling the world’s most dangerous regimes — Venezuela’s Maduro captured in a flawless intelligence operation, the head of Mexico’s cartels eliminated, and now the decapitation strike against Iran’s leadership — is not a political anomaly. It is a mission.
“The Satan is dying,” Rabbi Kessin said. “He has no power in the court in heaven. Otherwise, how could you see so many heads of the armies of evil falling?”
The Year of the Messiah
Rabbi Kessin then turned to the Jewish calendar year 5786 — this year. The gematria of 786 is identical to the phrase yavo Mashiach — “the Messiah will come.” It is also the gematria of gilui Shechina b’Yisrael b’Har Sinai — the revelation of the divine presence in Israel at Mount Sinai.
He then cited the Yalkut Shimoni, a vast medieval compendium of midrashim, which contains a passage that Rabbi Kessin has referenced for years. Written thousands of years ago, it states that in the year the Messiah comes, Persia will declare war against the entire world. Edom — identified with the West, specifically America — will fight back and defeat Persia. And then a divine voice, a bat kol, will ring out from heaven: “Do not worry. The time of your redemption has arrived.”
“What that means very simply,” Rabbi Kessin said, “is that this is the last war.”
He was emphatic: we have crossed a threshold. The era of ikveta d’Meshicha — the “footsteps of the Messiah,” the period preceding the messianic era — is over. We are now in atchalta d’Geulah, the beginning of redemption. And that process, once started, is irrevocable. “It cannot be turned back,” Rabbi Kessin said. “It cannot be reversed.”
The Third Temple — This Year
Rabbi Kessin closed with what may be his most stunning claim. He cited a commentary known as the Ba’al HaTurim, who notes that the word v’shachanti — “and I will dwell” — from the verse in Parashat Terumah where God says “And I will dwell in their midst” (Shemot 25:8), contains encoded within it the duration of both the First and Second Temples. The letters of the word allude to 410 years (the length of the First Temple period) and 420 years (the length of the Second Temple). And the full gematria of v’shachanti? 786. The year 5786.
“So in 5786 — which is this year — that is actually when the Third Beit HaMikdash will be built,” Rabbi Kessin said. “Don’t be surprised if you wake up one day and all of a sudden the newspapers are reporting… we can’t believe it. There’s actually a Temple sitting on top of the Har HaBayit, the Temple Mount.”
The divine presence, the Shechinah, will descend from the heavenly Beit HaMikdash to the earthly one — and the entire world will feel it. “That will convince everybody of the Shechinah, the divine presence, and the Messiah,” Rabbi Kessin said. “All nine billion people.”
Before that can happen, Rabbi Kessin adds, there is one more obstacle: what he calls the erev rav (the mixed multitude), which he identifies as the secular Israeli government, particularly its Supreme Court, which he charges with actively blocking Torah education from 1.5 million Israeli high school students. “God must remove them in order to bring the Messiah,” he said, “which I believe is going to happen imminently.”
We are not watching a geopolitical realignment. We are watching the architecture of history reveal itself — one klipah at a time.
Rabbi Mendel Rabbi Kessin’s new book, “The True Power of Speech: The Key to Both Worlds,” published by Feldheim, is now available in Jewish bookstores. The book is a transcript of his 1988 lecture on lashon hara (harmful speech), explaining the mechanics of how destructive speech prevented the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash and delays the arrival of the Messiah.
PASTOR DIRK SAYS
The NEXT event in God’s Perfect END TIME Plan is . The Battle of Gog and Magog . After this , The Jewish Messiag aka the Antichrist will Arive!
This is what is in the Future for Israel.
What is waiting for Israel in 2026 and Beyond?
Let’s Look into Bible Prophecy and see what is the Future of Israel according to Bible Prophecy,
a Study by Pastor Dirk.
1. The Gog and Magog War!
Just before the 7 Year Peace Agreement the Gog and Magog Battle takes place at the Border between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights. Gog (Russia) and Magog (Iran) leads this large army with Other Countries that joined in like Turkey, Just to name a few. The Reason: Land Grab, due to the Resolution the UN Passed on the 23 rd of Dec 2016. Trying to push Israel back to the 1967 Borders.
With complements of Obama and his lame duck administration.
What stands out for me in that in this war God will fight this Battle on behalf of Israel, with The Gog and Magog weapons failing and exploding in their own Bunkers.
See this Video !
This will be a Nuclear War , for Ezekiel sees that the Bodies of the Gog and Magog cannot be accessed for Burial for Months on End, And God dedicated a Piece of Land for the dead of this army.
One more thing that stands out to me is that the Weapons left by the Gog and Magog army will be burned by Israel for a 7 Year Period.
This during the 7 Year Peace Agreement.
Eze 38:1-23 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee. Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
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.
And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Eze 39:1-29 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:
So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.
And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.
And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.
And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.
Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD. – Ezekiel
2. The Arrival of the Jewish Messiah.
Just after the Gog and Magog war , The New World Order takes over and appoint a Leader that is also introduced as the Jewish Messiah by the False Prophet
Christians Please do Not get Fooled for the Jewish Messiah is not Jesus Christ and This is not the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ !
Don’t be Fooled Jesus is not the Jewish messiah
3. The Building of the 3rd Jewish Temple.
Israel finally agree to a Two State Solution and Give Palestine the West Bank (Old Judea) as Country. For this Israel gets the Approval to build the 3rd Jewish Temple.
Within 9 Months the Temple is Build and Animal Sacrifices starts.
Rev 11:1-2 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. – John
4. The Birth of the Country of Palestine.
Israel completes the Wall between Israel and the West Bank , and in One day the Country of Palestine is Born , There is Jews that Remain in Judea = Palestine. Under the 7 year Peace Agreement.
Eze 36:17-22 Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman.
Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it:
And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.
And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land.
But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.
Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.
Isa 66:8-14 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.
Mat 24:16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains – Jesus Christ
5. The Abomination of Desolation.
42 Months = 3 and half Year from the 1st Brick of the Temple is Placed , The Jewish Messiah steps into the Temple , Claiming to be God and Stops the Daily Animal Sacrifices , This is Called the Abomination of Desolation.
Dan 12:11-12 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. – Daniel
Mat 24:15-16 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: – Jesus Christ
6. The Fleeing into the Wilderness.
The Jews in Israel does not accept the Abomination and the Jewish Messiah reveals him as the Antichrist, and Ban the Jews from the Temple, and cancels the Peace agreement, The Jews in Palestine then have to Flee into the Mountains and Wilderness with the Help of USA.
Mat 24:15-20 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: ~ Jesus Christ
Rev 12:12-17 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. – JOHN
After this the 666 is Implemented and The Great Tribulation Starts!
Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. – JESUS CHRIST.
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Wild Footage Shows Tehran’s Sewers Erupting in Flames Following Israeli Strikes
Israeli Strike Kills Five Quds Force Commanders in Beirut Hotel
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IDF Attacks Hezbollah Hundreds of Times Since Ceasefire Ended
Israel Mulls Military Operation to Rescue Israelis in UAE
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Israel, US Dominate Iran Skies;
Northern Israel Under Fire;
Two IDF Soldiers Killed
WATCH: US releases rare footage of B-2 bombers in action over Iran
Magog Member = Hezbollah plotting to attack Israel from Syria
After Hezbollah fired multiple rockets into Israeli territory in support of Iran earlier this week, the Jewish state launched a wave of airstrikes across southern and central Lebanon.
Hezbollah is reportedly seeking to launch attacks against the Jewish state from Syrian territory in support of Iran while continuing operations along the Lebanese border, fueling fears the Middle East war is escalating and expanding across multiple fronts.
According to Israeli broadcaster Kan News, which cited Arab intelligence sources, the Syrian government has instructed its military forces to prevent any terrorist cells operating in Syria from launching attacks against Israel, amid Iran’s broader regional confrontation with Israel and the United States.
As Hezbollah vowed to support Iran in its broader confrontation with Israeli and American forces by targeting the Jewish state, Damascus has reportedly strengthened security controls in southern Syria, setting up checkpoints in an effort to prevent any cross-border attacks or terrorist operations from taking shape.
Although Iran and its terrorist proxies were expelled from Syria after the fall of long-time Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, the new Syrian government under President Ahmed al‑Sharaa has continued to focus on dismantling the infrastructure that Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies built on the Syrian side of the border.
WATCH: IDF forces uncover Islamic Jihad weapons depot in south Syria
According to media reports, Damascus is also preparing to potentially target the positions of Hezbollah along the border in the Bekaa Valley, a region in eastern Lebanon near the Syrian border, in an effort to weaken the group’s operational infrastructure.
However, Syrian leadership has said it has no plans to conduct military operations against any neighboring country, reiterating that its military deployments are aimed strictly at securing borders and maintaining internal stability.
“But Syria is prepared to deal with any security threat to itself or its partners,” a security official told the Times of Israel.
As the war continues to escalate across the region, Syria has further strengthened its border with Lebanon by deploying thousands of troops, including infantry units, armored vehicles, and short-range rocket launchers, in an effort to curb arms and drug smuggling while preventing infiltration by Hezbollah or other terrorist groups.
After Hezbollah fired multiple rockets into Israeli territory in support of Iran earlier this week, the Jewish state launched a wave of airstrikes across southern and central Lebanon, striking sites linked to the group’s military infrastructure.
On Monday, the Israeli military said it killed the commander of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Lebanon, calling the operation a major blow to the Iran-backed terrorist group’s capabilities.
Israeli strike kills Hezbollah artillery commander in southern Lebanon
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that he had authorized the military to advance and take control of additional positions in Lebanon, where Israeli troops have held several hilltops since a war with Hezbollah in 2024.
With dozens of people killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes, Hezbollah’s move to enter the conflict has sharpened long-standing divisions in Lebanon over its status as an armed group – the only Lebanese faction to keep its weapons after the 1975-90 civil war.
The Lebanese government has even taken the unprecedented step of banning the military activities of Hezbollah. The pro-Hezbollah newspaper Al-Akhbar condemned the decision as a “capitulation to dictates,” warning that it could potentially spark the outbreak of civil war.