GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War Day 617

Operation Rising Lion

Israel Pounds Iran

As I learned about Israel attacking Iran a thousand questions resonated in my mind. And as I made my decision to do a live stream update I focused on not just the facts as they developed, but mostly on the Biblical perspective of it all. But apart from all that the attacks were astounding at not only how hard the IDF hit the Iranian air defenses, the precision at which they targeted and took out Iranian military, political, and nuclear scientists, and the sheer air force power used to destroy nuclear sites. Something not mentioned often is the ability and coordination to strike Iran from such a large distance, a feat not done by any other military in modern history and something many military strategists doubted they could do. In retrospect I think this attack will be studied by military academies for years to come. So all accolades aside we have to say that Israel did and is still doing exactly what they set out to accomplish. And they are not done yet.

Droning On And On

It is foolish to think that Iran will just take the assault on them by Israel lying down. And they didn’t when they launched over 100 suicide drones as we learn from a report in the Jewish News Syndicate:

The Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command relaxed limitations on civilian movements late Friday morning after more than 100 Iranian drones were intercepted outside the country’s borders.

The first Iranian response was short-lived though:

“End of shelter-in-place alert—you no longer need to remain near a protected space,” Home Front Command announced in a statement. The military clarified that a ban on public gathering remains in place.

The IDF stated that the drone attack didn’t take them by surprise:

Earlier, IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin had said, “Iran launched over 100 UAVs at Israel and we are working to intercept them.” Defrin added, “The IDF is on high alert—we have been preparing for this operation for a long time.”

Israel had help downing the drones mainly from the US and the UK, but many others joined in to take them out. Israel said they had a 97% efficiency rate in intercepting them.

Next will likely be ballistic missiles:

Two unnamed Israeli officials had told the Reuters agency that Jerusalem was preparing for an Iranian military response in the coming hours, including the possible launch of hundreds of ballistic missiles.

Iran’s leader issued his own warnings:

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned that “the Zionist regime sealed for itself a bitter and painful destiny” with the military operation inside his country.

Jerusalem “should await a harsh response,” the ayatollah threatened.

He also noted that although nuclear scientists were eliminated, others are taking their places. The rhetoric will most likely continue as these leaders need to maintain the support of their nations.

Let’s Make A Deal

Although I find it hard to believe, US President Trump is still encouraging Iran to some to the bargaining table to salvage what is left of their country as we’re told in an article from World Israel News:

US President Donald Trump took to social media to urge Iran to “make a deal” and be more willing to compromise during nuclear negotiations or face more “brutal attacks” like Israel’s strikes on its nuclear facilities early on Friday.

Trump’s comments came shortly into the attack from Israel on Iran that he told Fox News was hit "ten times worse than they thought they would be." Trump went on to say this:

Trump posted following these events, “There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end.”

Obviously Trump and Netanyahu talked about the pending attacks beforehand and kept the details out of the press. The US president gave more context to the offer:

Referring to the death of Iran’s highest-ranking military officer, the head of its elite Revolutionary Guards Corps, and a former national security chief in the strikes.

Trump wrote, “They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse.”

It’s difficult to get worse than being dead, but I think we still get the point. The stubborn Iranian regime could be teetering on the edge before too long:

He added, “Iran must make a deal before there is nothing left and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire.”

Trump warned that if Iran continued to turn down proposals to prevent it from building a nuclear weapon, the Islamic Republic would face military actions that “would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told.”

It wasn’t a coincidence that Trump gave Iran 60 days to make a deal and the attack occurred on the 61st day:

“I gave Iran a chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it,’ but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they couldn’t get it done,” he wrote.

Trump and his Secretary of Defense Marco Rubio insisted that the US was not going to get involved directly:

Although Trump didn’t say whether the US would also join in the military actions, he boasted of the strength of US weapons. He indicated he would continue providing arms to Israel to deal with the Iranian threat.

Trump ended by saying this about those arms:

He wrote, “The United States makes the best and the most lethal military equipment anywhere in the world BY FAR. Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come – And they know how to use it,” he writes.

Before too long America will get involved since Iran has said they will make Israel and the US pay for these attacks. I pray it won’t get to that, but I don’t see how Trump will wait until US bases and even civilians are in danger before they act. Praying for the peace of Jerusalem is needed even more now than ever. We have specific areas to do it now.