Syrian Rebels Claim to Take Over Chemical Weapons

Israel National News reported overnight, A statement published by the Syrian rebels says that they have taken over a military base and found missiles with non-conventional warheads.

"The Supreme Military Council of the Syrian rebels released on a statement on Tuesday which said that the rebel forces took control of an army missile base in Damascus, in which ten ready-to-launch missiles were found. Some of the missiles, according to the statement, were converted to carry non-conventional warheads."

“During the successful operation, the operatives of the Free Syrian Army found a large number of rockets ready for launching, with enormous destructive capability, and they were very surprised to find missiles that were converted to carry non-conventional warheads and which can be equipped with chemical or biological warheads,” said the statement which was translated by Arab affairs expert Dalit Halevi."

"The Supreme Military Council of the rebels went on to claim that it had confirmed the report by examining photographic documentation of the scene."

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If this is true, it portents an ominous next phase. Prophecy students know that one of the most compelling, clear, and unfulfilled prophecies is that  "Damascus will be destroyed, it will become a ruinous heap." (Isaiah 17:1.)

This is a clear prophecy because it apparently has no 'double fulfillment' than from which non-prophecy students and the secular world can argue to cloud the issue. Damascus is one of the world's oldest cities, if not THE oldest, and it has never been razed or destroyed in 5000 years. Therefore when it is destroyed, it will be a clear sign to the world that biblical prophecy is unfolding before our eyes. Not to mention being a tragedy of unimaginable proportions, seeing that millions of people live in the Syrian city.

The first thing this means is that Assad's assurances that he wasn't using chemical weapons nor readying them to use on his own people is a false statement.

Secondly, will Israel allow this situation to go unaddressed? If  Israel addresses it, how will they do so? A diplomatic attempt, a covert attempt, a blasting strike such as will fulfill the prophecy? However if you read the prophecy, it does not say who or how the city becomes a ruinous heap and ceases from being a city. It is in the passive tense, no matter what translation you read it in.

So is it that the rebels mishandle the weapons and they go off more or less accidentally? Will it be that the Syrian Assad supporters of the regime set them off? We do not know, and the waiting is agonizing.

On the one hand, we want prophecy to continue quickly because each fulfillment brings us closer to our blessed hope and a world released from the curse and Jesus openly worshiped by all, as he should be. On the other hand, to get there, billions will die, and no one is eager for that.

Jesus has it all under control, and He has since the foundation of the world. Our trust is in him, no matter the external circumstances. We know and understand prophecy will come to pass in His timing. While we celebrate prophecies like the babe Christ's birth, we mourn prophecies that will mean the destruction of millions of people, yet we trust in Him always. Our part is to be a light-filled witness, and to pray.