House of War

And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.
Rev 6:12

According to World Tribune,

Israel is preparing for an imminent war with Iran, Syria and/or their non-state clients. Israeli military intelligence has projected that a major attack could come from any of five adversaries in the Middle East. Officials said such a strike could spark a war as early as July 2007.

On Sunday, Israeli military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin told the Cabinet that the Jewish state faces five adversaries in what could result in an imminent confrontation. Yadlin cited Iran, Syria, Hizbullah, Hamas and Al Qaida.

Across the Middle East there is the sense that pressure is building, and that its release will unleash a huge storm across the region. Various conflicts appear to be coalescing, as once bitter enemies join together under the banner of defeating American-Israeli “hegemony”. In a recent op-ed in Opinion Journal, Joshua Muravchik wrote that “a bigger war… is growing more likely every day, beckoned by the sense that America and Israel are in retreat and that radical Islam is ascending.” The belief that American resolve is weakening, that the tide of public opinion in the west has turned firmly against Israel, and that at last Islam is a power once more is increasing the likelihood of regional conflagration.

Iran and Syria already believe that Israel was defeated by their proxy, Hezbollah, in last summer’s war in the Lebanon. Following the conclusion of that campaign, Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crowed “we tell [the Israelis] that after tasting humiliation in the latest battles, your weapons are not going to protect you — not your planes, or missiles, or even your nuclear bombs.” Ahmadinejad was also triumphant, stating that “God’s promises have come true”.

The Israeli “problem” is of central importance to the Arab psyche. Ahmed Sheikh, Editor-in-Chief of Al Jazeera has said that all the problems in the Middle East originate here. “It’s because we always lose to Israel. It gnaws at the people in the Middle East that such a small country as Israel, with only about 7 million inhabitants, can defeat the Arab nation with its 350 million. That hurts our collective ego.” And in the final analysis, it’s that perception that counts, rather than whether or not destroying Israel really would improve the political and economic realities of life in the Middle East. The prospect of war with Israel and victory for Arab forces is a powerful attraction that is drawing various different, ongoing regional conflicts together.

To that end unlikely alliances are forming. The Shiite theocracy in Iran is collaborating with its supposed religious enemies, the Sunni Al Qaeda, in Iraq. Syria, lead by a Baathist regime that draws its members from a Shiite sect, the Alawites, has also been collaborating with Al Qaeda groups, despite its secularity and Al Qaeda’s religiosity. The Iranian network is spreading, with reports of Iranian weapons being supplied to the Taliban and their sphere of influence widening to include even those jihadists who consider their religion apostasy. Their missiles point at Israel from Lebanon and Gaza, and their Revolutionary Guards tie down American counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dangerously, the Islamic radicals have begun to hope. As Muravchik notes, “A large portion of modern wars erupted because aggressive tyrannies believed that their democratic opponents were soft and weak. Often democracies have fed such beliefs by their own flaccid behaviour.” If Iran feels that victory is within its grasp (a feeling fed by Western leftists and apologists), it could lead to a five sided war with Israel later this summer, ultimately involving America as it comes to the aid of its ally. Should that happen, defeat for Israel seems unlikely, though misery and hardship are certain to be widespread. The region will probably begin to resemble contemporary Iraq: an area lit up by “low intensity conflict” and criss-crossed by a splintered web of terrorist factions.

Once again, the Middle East hangs upon a precipice.