By Walid Shoebat (Shoebat Exclusive)

On March 21 the Turkish army launched itself into Syria using terrorist groups as infantry. The goal is to capture areas of the Syrian coast, and to threaten Latakia and the ancient Armenian veterans in Kessab suddenly turned into refugees.

Syria asked for a political stand by Iran demanding they openly condemn Turkey. Yet Iran was completely silent. Iran’s excuse to help its Shiite partner Bashar al-Assad was that this would threaten Iran’s private diplomatic efforts.

Turkey is still taking advantage of such silent support, not only from Iran, but also it’s NATO allies. Turkey continues to organize and support bands of terrorists from Chechens, Turkmen and other factions to coordinate military offensive operations against the Syrian army on several fronts in Aleppo under the mission title of “Amputating the Unbelievers”.

The Turkish plan is this: waging battles against the Syrian military on the northern front has made it extremely difficult for the Syrian regime; the continual battles of hit and run will threaten the achievements of the Syrian army in the north and threaten the whole of Aleppo.
Aleppo is indispensable for the completion of Bashar’s presidential elections, which is key for Bashar’s political victory in Syria.

In the northeastern parts of Syria terrorists continue to organize the theft of oil to be shipped towards Turkey and sold cheaply. This funds the terrorist organizations including the notorious ISIS (Da’ish). All this banditry under the cover of a European decision allowing for the “Syrian opposition” to export stolen oil.

Turkey, which has been given the green light by the U.S. and funding by Qatar; and the objectives are clear: to prevent the Syrian regime to achieve a political victory, and to continue looting Syria and expand the Ottoman sphere of occupation and annexation. The end results will be the slaughter of the Armenians.

All this is happening amid the silence of Iran raises an eyebrow in Damascus, which has become, in the last month, more and more convinced that the so-called “secret pressures diplomacy” on the Turks, are not feasible; Turkey, today has become the owner of the global war and is backed politically by NATO.

To Tehran Turkey is an essential partner in the Islamic awakening and it does not want a clash with it, even if it costs it secular Syria. Any Iranian interference will complicate the situation and brings strong reaction from the Sunni Muslims and Arab nationalists.

The so-called “Iran experts” and “Turkey experts” and all the U.S. government officials with its propaganda machine says that Iran is growing increasingly unstable and that Erdogan was on his way out were all wrong. They see things from an economic prism that is void of the ideological dynamo, which is truly the mover and shaker in the region.

Iran and Turkey’s influence can be felt throughout the Muslim world.

The lesson America cannot get a grip on regarding the Middle East is that you can’t have voids and yes, its all about religion, stupid.
The destruction of Iraq’s regime was not only satisfying to Iran but it also opened the door to a dramatic shift in Iran’s geopolitical influence. Iraq now has a Shiite regime. The Iranians anticipated the American move and played its chess piece by creating pro-Iranian elements using the Iraqi Shiites and with the United States engaged in a war against Sunni insurgents, the Shia, already a majority, moved to fill the void.
Not only did the United States loose its bishops, but they also added a major check by Iran to its Middle East queen: Saudi Arabia.

Tehran now has a check on Mecca and Bashar al-Assad’s desperate need of Iranian support simply strengthened Tehran’s hand. Now that Tehran made a deal to keep its nuclear program (as we predicted), it gave the Iranians a powerful bargaining chip and diverted U.S. and Israeli attention from the growing Iranian sphere of influence.

Now the U.S. is attempting to move a few pawns to save the situation by threatening Syria but is confused to see the real results. We were correct all along: The U.S. war on Syria was not to bring freedom to the Syrian people but was to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government in order to target Iran. While the U.S. could get Syria, the geo-political repercussions will not be felt until way later when Turkey rules Syria instead of Iran.

Iran will pay heavily geo-politically courting with Turkey for the sake of an Islamic revival to defeat Israel. The victor geo-politically will be Turkey (the Leopard) over Iran (the Bear) especially since the West will welcome Turkey’s Sufist brand of Islam over Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabism.

Today Saudi Arabia is staggering worried about it’s future and the queen in the long-run will be toast, especially now that the United States is flush with oil, the influence of Saudi Arabia in Washington has waned considerably. The U.S. is attempting reconciliation with Iran and the Saudi attempts to block such reconciliation will be in vain as it was last year.

With the Muslim Brotherhood more allied with the Turkish Ottoman roots, Turkey can advance into Egypt (Daniel 11) by aiding the Muslim Brotherhood and into Tunisia and Libya. With a war on Wahhabism, this next brand of Turkish Islam will be the most deceptive of its kind.

One issue that is very crucial to understand is that while Turkey is Sunni, it’s brand of Islam is different from the Wahhabist which is vehemently anti-Shiite. Turkey has great reverence to Ali, Hassan and Hussein, the Shiite historic and religious martyrs and icons. I have known this for decades. When one looks into the Hagia Sophia, or the silver domed mosque (Al-Masjid Al-Qibali) on the Temple Mount, both decorated by the Sunni Muslim Ottomans, they would see Ali, Hassan and Hussein etched in gold which is pleasing to Shiites.

Inside the Hagia Sophia with decorative names (from Right to Left) of Ali Hussein Hassan and Uthman

This factor makes it easier for Turkey to be a temporary unifier between Sunnis and Shiites, which in the end will be detrimental and will prove that the U.S. made the wrong move. The Iranian revolutionary leaders are also Azeri Turks and have kinship with the Ottomans. The Turks also do not hold the same animosity towards Shiite ideology, as do Sunni Arabs. But when it comes to the Arabs, Turkey holds a historic long memory against Saudi Arabia’s aid to oust the Ottomans during the Sharif Hussein revolt (1916-1918). If in doubt just read the works of Lawrence of Arabia and see how the Turks shelled Mecca and crushed the Black Stone.

Iran can’t afford loosing its relationship with Turkey. Turkey and Iran have a common interest in preventing an independent Kurdish nation. The more the United States supports the Iraqi Kurds there will be a greater danger of an Iranian-Turkish alliance, which is what we project, will happen.
Iran and Turkey are locked into an alliance. Erdoğan even sacrificed Fethullah Gülen on the altar of Iranian-Turkish unity and it even clashed with Israel over several issues’ like the Gaza Flotilla and Erodgan’s foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s made much effort to improve ties with Iran. We have been addressing Turkey for two decades, way back when Turkey was an ally of Israel; we were laughed at when we said that the two would become mortal enemies.

The Ezekiel 38 program is on course, Gog is a leader from Turkey who unites with Persia (Iran), Libya and Egypt. We say Egypt because it is clear that there is a league (Ezekiel 30:8). Most students isolate Ezekiel 38 ignoring that the whole theme of Ezekiel’s prophecy stems from Ezekiel 28 to Ezekiel 39. All this needs to be viewed in whole. Unfortunately, these do not like to read the entire context and seem to be satisfied to only reading one chapter—Ezekiel 38.

In our view, ahistoricals should have no voice in the Prophecy circles. For Putin to be this predicted “Gog,” Turkey must willingly submit to Russia. Russia and Turkey are two rivals who have warred against each other from time immemorial. For anyone who still doubts us that Putin can never be Gog, please read our 6 part series [here].

Syria is Iran’s closest ally. Assad’s downfall would deal a major blow to Iran’s regional ambitions and leave Tehran ever more isolated, but Iran has no choice, it needs a major Islamist ally and it knows that Turkey is rising. Now with the U.S. supporting Turkey, and Iran’s desire to lift the U.S. ban, it has no choice but to sacrifice its bishop in Syria.

But Syria is not only an ally of Iran it also has strong ties with Russia who is busy in Crimea. This is why Turkey ceased the moment and is moving into Syria. As far as the future goes, many in the U.S. fear the Russian sphere of influence, especially that it strengthened Iran. The Prophecy arena is replete with a Russia-phobia and a Russian-Iranian alliance that is based on error. Russia is Christian Orthodox and Iran is Islamist.

But what needs to be understood are the issues at hand; first, Russia was fighting Sunnis in the northern Caucasus and feared the strengthening of radical Sunnis anywhere, but particularly in the larger Sunni-dominated republics in Russia. [1] Second, an Iranian sphere of influence would threaten Saudi Arabia and would compel the United States to re-engage in the region to protect Saudi Arabia and by that will also be inclined to defend Israel. After all, the Americans remain obsessed with the Islamic world.

Russia is simply creating a strategic crisis for the United States who fears Iran more than the Russians who are buffered from Iran by the Sunni Caucasus states. The Russians do not really have an interest to attack Israel as many in the Prophecy mania proclaim. No serious analyst would see any reason for Russia to invade Israel, and neither does Russia want the Iranians to gain nuclear weapons. What they do want is an extended conflict in Iraq, extended tension between Iran and the United States, and they wouldn’t much mind if the United States went to war with Iran as well. [2]

Turkey has a vested interest in being viewed as the stabilizing agent in the region and no longer regards the United States as a stabilizing force, and it sees Europe as a collective entity and individual nations as both hostile and impotent. It views the Russians as a long-term threat to its interests and sees Russia’s potential return to Turkey’s frontier as a long-term challenge. [3] Considering the future of the region, the only power in a position to assert its consistent presence is as we have been saying for two decades is Islamist Turkey. [4]

Turkey is ready to revisit its relations with Iran and their competition with Iran for regional dominance is futile. The leaderships of both nations have come to realize that striving to secure an undisputed leadership in the Middle East was pointless. [5] Iran’s ambitions in the region will then succumb to Turkish dominance. The primary reason being that the Sunni-Shiite strife in the region would eventually acquire a content conforming to the geopolitical interests of the U.S. and despite Ankara’s insistence and is why Washington refrained from resorting to plans of total regime dismantling in Syria. [6]

Most do not understand U.S. policy in the region and why the U.S. Administration is behind the Sunni-Shia divide. The U.S. needed a region equally treacherous both for Turkey and Iran. Current balance of forces between extremist religious groups prevents Turkey and Iran to feel comfortable, whereas Washington reaps geopolitical dividends from the situation. [7]

But this is a disastrous policy. From Reagan to Obama, such policies created monsters. When Reagan helped the Mujahideen in Afghanistan against Russia he aided in the creation of the Taliban. George Bush created chaos in Iraq and today Obama completed the mess by forcing the region into forming a new regional superpower—Turkey.

Soon, I estimate within a decade to a decade and a half (its only an estimation), we will see a Sultan emerge in Turkey, a Caliph and a Mahdi. They will argue that if Rome has a Vicar of Christ, why not for Islam a Vicar for Muhammad? In Islam, there is what is called Bai’at (allegiance). Whomever will lead this new movement, and in order to win the hearts of the Muslim world, must present himself as Caliph and a Caliph by Islamic law must be given allegiance (Bai’at) by all Muslims. They will give allegiance to him and say “who now is as strong as us, who now can make war with us?” They will demand that everyone put the banner of Islam on their foreheads and shoulders. That no one can buy or sell, unless they give allegiance to the new Sultan.

Marks of Allegiance to Islam in Turkey in which we can see clearly “Allah” on the right arm.