The relations between Turkey and Libya has deteriorated to the point that a Turkish cargo ship was attacked by the Libyan military yesterday. This becomes significant in that such deterioration between Turkey and Libya is a point of prophetic significance since in the Bible the Antichrist in Daniel 11 invades Libya and Egypt as the waterways are crucial for world commerce and Egypt had also escalated its fight with Turkey in preventing Turkey’s exports to go through Egyptian territory.

Photo allegedly showing Tuna-1 from Twitter

The Tuna-1 owned by a Turkish firm, drew not only artillery fire but two airstrikes in international waters Sunday evening, Turkey’s foreign ministry said Monday.

Libyan authorities defiant against Turkey said that the cargo ship ignored inquiries as to its load and path, raising concerns that it may be smuggling arms to terrorists who want to topple the Libyan government.

Turkey is attempting to gain political clout in Libya by aiding Islamists terrorists while Libya’s internationally recognized government in Tobruk has accused Turkey of sending weapons to its pro-Turkish Tripoli-based rival and barred Turkish firms from the country. Libyan authorities were alarmed when the Turkish-owned cargo ship entered a stretch of water between Tobruk and Derna, ignoring requests from maritime authorities for it to change course. The ship’s radio silence led Libyan military officials to believe it was carrying weapons into Derna, which ISIS have established as a base to launch attacks on government-allied forces.

“The vessel was suspected of carrying weapons to Derna,” said Naseeb Al-Abidi, a Libyan naval officer in Tobruk. “Why else would they cruise along that path and not respond to the Navy or Air Force when we contacted them.”

Turkey also protested to Libyan authorities, demanding an immediate end to threats against Turkish ships in the region, and called on the U.N. to hold the perpetrators accountable.

And when it comes to Egypt, the latest news is that Egypt is confronting Turkey in effecting Turkey’s 40 billion annually worth of exports to the Gulf countries. After the cessation of the agreement with Jordan due to Egypt’s pressure there is now no longer an outlet for those exports only to cross the Suez Canal.

Turkey’s attempts for expanding its hegemony in the region go far beyond its attempts to establish relations with its neighbors. No media is discussing Turkey’s building of an aircraft carrier seven times larger from the ships which are currently owned by the Turkish Navy and will be ready in 2021 for being deployed in the Mediterranean, Aegean Sea and the Black Sea and will be able to go to the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic if necessary.

Spain foolishly is building such ability to mimic its Juan Carlos I multi-purpose amphibious assault ship.  Turkey will be able to deploy F-35 jet fighters which concerns Cyprus and Israel.

Middle East sources reveal that Turkey is playing the role in building its animosity with Egypt:

“The Ottoman aspiration for energy seems to be permanent as we see the struggle over energy sources especially the Mediterranean tripartite agreement between Egypt and Greece and Cyprus came against drilling in the waters of the Mediterranean was a slap to Turkey, and is something which escalated the Turkish conflict with the Arabs to a higher degree. Also, no one is naive any longer regarding Turkey’s interest in Libya and its support to the terrorist group Ansar al-Sharia and in another way with the Tunisian Renaissance movement, the ruling party in Morocco or the Justice and development Party, which is under the broad umbrella of the organization of the International Muslim Brotherhood. Here we see the re-initiation of all the features of the past history [of the Ottomans] playing in the present conflict all over again. But this time the conflict carries much more weight than just to control and subdue the other nations to Ottoman will. It has become obvious it is an ongoing global war over the dispute for energy sources.”

In the Bible, Antichrist wants the “riches of Egypt” (Daniel 11:43) and as we see now the issues will escalate as both Egypt and Libya will be in the crosshairs of Antichrist. It would perhaps take a few years for a major showdown and only then will the world focus.

The mistake many do is to think that the Sunni Shiite divide is the key that keeps such a threat weak since Iran (Shiite) is believed to have a major divide with Turkey (Sunni). However, Iran, the other regional power will not divide with Turkey for several reasons. Firstly, Turkey has no interest in sectarian divides since it needs Iran more than Iran needs Turkey. Turkey seeks to have regional influence and does not yet have its original Ottoman hegemony and control over the region since it is in need to first establish  regional partners while Iran already partners with Syria, Lebanon and Iraq and can easily spread its tentacles into the region. This is why Turkey seeks to oust Bashar Al-Assad and seeks influence in Egypt and Libya via Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist affiliated alliances.

The other major problem for Turkey is that Turkey lacks energy sources and predominately relies on Russia and Iran for its oil and gas while Turkey is the gate for Iran’s export for oil and gas into Europe. If these arms are cut off, Turkey’s blood life ends.

However, Turkey has a foundation in NATO and unlike Iran it can tremendously influence the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations while both Turkey and Iran are focusing on Jerusalem.

Amazingly, Ezekiel predicted that the two (Turkey and Iran) will unite when it comes to a future invasion, regardless of the sectarian divide, while he also tells us that eventually such brotherhood will divide in the end where “Every man’s sword will be against his brother” (Ezekiel 38:21).

Such unity (coalition) and later division can only be explained as we see the current situation between Turkey and Iran where we have a Sunni Shiite divide while at the same time they immensely are in need with each other. So while many think that this Sunni-Shiite sectarian divide will cause Turkey and Iran to clash, the Bible tells us that these two will unite and will only clash at Armageddon. In the meantime, we will continue to report the escalation, but this requires patience on the part of the saints of whom many want Jesus to “come quickly”.