After the fall of Bashar al-Assad and the Assad family dictatorship on December 8, 2024, there was, understandably, considerable jubilation among the Syrian population, especially among those who have been displaced and have been living in refugee camps all across the nation. The Assad regime had been well known for its barbaric brutality since its beginning, but it only got worse after the Arab Spring began and Syria was caught up in a brutal civil war. Assad used disproportionate violence to put down the protests. The estimates of casualties attributed to the civil war varied greatly, with no one really having an accurate number. Reports from within Syria by missionaries embedded within the refugee camps, however, reported that there were at least a million dead. Now that Assad is no longer in Syria, evidence of many mass graves have been found, and horrific accounts are continuing to be heard from people who endured almost indescribable sadistic torture. Beyond the physical torture of his own people, Assad was responsible for gassing tens of thousands of those he wanted to make suffer. There are those who still deny this as fact, but verified reports from Syrian people who experienced the attacks are in abundance.
So, did Syrians have a reason to celebrate? They did. There also has been considerable applause by other Arab nations surrounding Syria. The celebration had even spread to nations from the West who have been making plans to reopen their embassies in Damascus. But, in spite of the jubilation at the fall of Assad’s regime, there are now serious legitimate concerns about the newly formed de facto government. The rebel force that took Assad’s government down is a coalition of Al-Qaeda offshoots, Turkish proxies, along with an assortment of other Islamist militants. Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city, was the first major city to fall to the rebel forces. One after another the cities in the corridor between Aleppo and Damascus then began to fall until Damascus itself was taken over.
The new government goes by the name Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, previously al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate. The self-proclaimed leader of HTS is a man named Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.
Who is Abu Mohammed al-Jolani?
Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is now officially known as Ahmed al-Sharaa. In spite of the fact that he has changed his apparel from his war uniform to wearing western style business suits and ties, and has promised that his terrorist organization is putting together an inclusive government that will be respectful of ethnic and religious minorities in the country, his history cannot be ignored. Even though Sharaa has promised to dismantle HTS and integrate it into a revamped Syrian national military, he has already made it clear that the new government will be Islamist, and Sharia law will be instituted throughout the nation.
Jolani / Sharaa’s military career began with al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) under Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, gaining experience in insurgency and extremism. In 2011, Sharaa (Jolani) established Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria, an al-Qaeda branch known for suicide bombings, assassinations, and mass killings. Al-Nusra conducted widespread attacks, including suicide bombings and chemical attacks, targeting civilians and government forces between 2012 and 2015. In 2017 the name Jabhat al-Nusra was changed to Hay’at Tahir al-Sham (HTS). That was to distance it from al-Qaeda, yet their terrorist activities continued. HTS enforced strict Sharia law, carried out public executions, suppressed minorities, and used civilians as human shields. HTS is known as a terrorist organization by the United Nations and also the United States. Sharaa, as Jolani, has a $10 million bounty on his head. Sharaa, however, had a strategic meeting with the outgoing US president Biden late in December, 2024, resulting in the bounty being lifted — in spite of the fact that HTS is still designated as a terrorist organization.
It was recognized by many from the very beginning that Jolani was wearing a deceptive facade. His goals even before the coup of Assad were as listed below:
- To establish a religious regime in Syria implementing Sharia law
- Unifying the rebels and overthrowing Assad and his supporters
- Protecting jihad in Syria and addressing the daily needs of Muslims in Syria
- Ensuring security and stability for all citizens in Syria
Warnings were being put out from the very beginning of Assad’s ouster by HTS by watchdog groups who have served the global persecuted church since 1995, forewarning that the promises made by the armed alliance to protect religious minorities could not be trusted. The rebranding to appear non-threatening did, however, seem to fool many governments, including many from Europe, but it has proved out that many world leaders were way too quick to ignore the gruesome history following Jolani ilk and the terrorist militant groups he has cobbled together into Syria’s new government. These militants were Islamic extremists in the past and they are proving their true identity again.
According to Israel National News, “…contrary to some Western policy makers, journalists and academics, the pro-US Arab leaders did not take HTS’ moderate statements at face value. They are well aware of the fanatic, religious vision, which has guided the HTS, and are familiar with the Middle Eastern gap between the talk and the walk, and with the Islamic tactic of Taqiyya (dissimulation).” Arutz Sheva news makes some interesting observations:
- Taqiyya was employed by Bashar Assad when he took power in 2000, when he fooled US legislators with his moderate talk. Specifically, Senator John Kerry, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and New York Times opinion journalist, Thomas Friedman, all thought he was going to potentially be a peaceful leader.
- The tactic of taqiyya was also used by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1978-1979, ahead of assuming power in Iran. President Carter and the State department were convinced that he would be “an Iranian edition of Ghandi…preoccupied with tractors, not tanks.”
- The Houthis issued moderate pronouncements that brought about their delisting from the list of terror organizations in 2021 by President Biden.
- Even Yassar Arafat used the tactic of taqiyya when he issued peaceful statements upon concluding the Oslo Accord, which won him the Nobel Prize for Peace, and led Tom Friedman to wonder: “Who’s Arafat? Is he another Nelson Mandela?”
It is also necessary to recognize that HTS has set its sights beyond Syria. It aims to bring down all national Islamic regimes, and establish a universal Islamic Empire (similar to what the Ottoman Empire was), as prescribed by the precepts of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has followed up on its goal through politics, education, social welfare and affiliates, splinters and offshoots that engage in terrorism.
What is the true strategy of HTS? Their name gives a hint. The Hay’at Tahir al-Sham (al-Sham = the Levant). HTS’s strategy is to “liberate” the Levant, which is considered to be “Greater Syria” (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Cyprus and Turkey’s Hatay province); after that is accomplished, the entire Middle East, the “Abode of Islam,” and then finally the “Abode of the Infidel.”
Muslim Brotherhood (originally formulated in 1928) branches in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and other Muslim nations have congratulated HTS for achieving the first goal of the Sunni Islamic revolution by taking down Syria’s Alawite Shiite government, eventually intending to bring down other Muslim regimes.
In my research, I found it interesting that the toppling of Jordan’s pro-US Hashemite regime is a top priority, as it is of the chief enemy of HTS, Iran’s Ayatollahs. Both intend to manipulate the 2 million refugees in Jordan for their own purposes, hoping to eventually bring down the monarchy of King Hussein.
HTS’ success in Syria has also inspired the branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to topple the pro-US regime of General Sisi. After all, it was in Egypt that the Muslim Brotherhood was originally birthed in 1949 when Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmoud Nuqrashi was assassinated. Then in 1954, the Muslim Brotherhood failed in its attempt to murder Egyptian President Nasser, and in 1981, the Muslim Brotherhood’s offshoot, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, murdered Egyptian President Sadat. The Islamic Jihad then merged with Al-Qaeda in 2001.
I would like to offer one more item of interest before moving on. The name Jolani, can be used interchangeably with Golani. The name is a “demonym” that refers to his family’s origin in the Golan Heights. History records his family having fled from the region when it was occupied by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967. The area was then annexed the year before his birth. Jolani grew up in Saudi Arabia until 1989 when his family returned to Syria and began living in Damascus. It was while in Damascus that he decided that it was his duty to stand up to “oppressors”, and this is when his long history of involvement in terrorism actually began. He has stated openly that now that Damascus has been taken, Jerusalem is next. It is not hard to see that Jolani has his eyes on where his family heritage began, in the Golan. Taking the Golan Heights is likely high on his priority list.
I could continue with this short history lesson, but suffice it to say that according to the universal Muslim society, the Western age is finished. Only Islam offers hope to the world, and the Muslim Brotherhood is prepared for whatever violence or martyrdom is required to achieve its goals.
Where does this leave us today?
In the last few days, news coming out of the Middle East reports that Jolani and the cobbled-together terrorist entities he has gathered, have shown their true jihadi colors, and it promises to get worse, no matter what facade is offered to the world. True Islam intends to rule the world, and any sect, religious entity, or even nation that stands in its way, is numbered with the infidels, and deserves to be slaughtered as animals. The horror that the world witnessed with the wholesale torture and slaughter of many Jewish people on October 7, 2023, is being repeated in northwest Syria today. Alawites, who are considered a minority brand of Shia Islam (Iran practices Shia Islam) and are leftovers of the Assad regime, actually reject many of the basic fundamentals of both Sunni and Shia Islam. They are unique in their beliefs and practices, and as a result are considered heretics to Islam (according to HTS) and are being slaughtered by the thousands. The preliminary estimation of the death toll so far is well over 10,000 with the massacre still ongoing. The number of Christians in the region that are being targeted and slaughtered is likely to hit 2,000. These are, of course, not the numbers being reported by the mainstream media. This is what is being reported by Alawite leaders and Christians who are eyewitnesses to the atrocities.
It is, of course, not just the Middle East that is experiencing such atrocities. These things are happening all around the world. It does appear, however, that the majority of it is in evidence in what is known as the “10/40 window” and is perpetrated by radical Islam. (Note: The “10/40 window” refers to a rectangular area on Earth between 10 degrees and 40 degrees North latitude, encompassing parts of North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, and often characterized by challenging socio-economic conditions and limited access to the Christian message.)
I have written previously about the series of wars Israel is foretold to face in the generation just prior to the promised return of Jesus Christ, so will not do so in this writing — although, I will undoubtedly do some updating on unfolding events. The “times of the Gentiles” are soon to be completed, and then God will focus His attention on His chosen people, Israel. The Apocalypse, which we are on the very threshold of, has two main purposes. One, is to judge a wicked Christ-rejecting world; two, is to open the eyes of the Jewish people to the Messiah they missed 2,000 years ago.
From Israel’s day of independence on May 14, 1948, the attention of the world has increasingly been drawn to the Middle East, with Jerusalem and its Temple Mount being the bullseye. There has always been an ancient hatred of the Jewish people, a hatred that can only be described as demonic. Ever since God’s promise found in Genesis 3:15, the fallen Lucifer and the kingdom of hell have done everything possible to obstruct the fulfillment of God’s decree. He has failed. This is what God said:
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel.”
From the day of God’s declaration in the Garden, the fallen one tried to find out who the Seed of the woman would be, and persecuted every prophet of God, and the nation Israel through whom the men of God were born — hoping to kill that divine Seed. When Lucifer came to realize that Jesus of Nazareth was the Seed, He determined he would see to it that He was killed, not realizing that he had fallen into God’s perfect plan. It wasn’t until after Jesus’ death and promised resurrection that the devil found out the colossal mistake he had made. But, the end was not yet. There was still history to unfold; which was to include two millennia of Church history that even Jesus’ apostles did not fully comprehend. Through the ages, the kingdom of the fallen one has done their absolute worst in an attempt, not only to destroy the Gentile Church, but also to wipe the Jewish nation from the face of the earth. God had promised to bring the Jewish people to a recognition of their true Messiah, for the most part, in the very last of the “last days.”
The Jewish nation has not only survived the hellish onslaught of many centuries of the ancient hatred of the Jews, but has now become a nation once again, just as promised in the Word of God. The Old Testament foretold Israel not only becoming an independent nation again at the end of the age, but also that it would have an exceedingly powerful military.
What we are seeing on the world stage in our generation is again a demonic attempt to destroy the nation of Israel. The creed of Hamas is a good indicator of the demonic influence behind not only the Hamas terrorist organization, or even the Muslim Brotherhood which birthed it, but Islam itself. The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement was issued on August 18, 1988. The Islamic Resistance Movement, also known as the HAMAS, is an extremist fundamentalist Islamic organization operating in the territories under Israeli control. Its Covenant is a comprehensive manifesto comprising 36 separate articles, all of which promote the basic HAMAS goal of destroying the State of Israel through Jihad (Islamic Holy War). Below are just a few bullet points found within the covenant.
- “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” (Preamble)
- “The land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf (Holy Possession) consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgment Day. No one can renounce any part of iit or abandon any part of it.” (Article 11)
- “Palestine is an Islamic land…since this is the case, the Liberation of Palestine is an individual duty for every Moslem wherever he may be.” (Article 13)
- “The day the enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In the face of the Jews’ usurpation, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.” (Article 15)
- “Ranks will close, fighters joining other fighters, and masses everywhere in the Islamic world will come forward in response to the call of duty, loudly proclaiming: ‘Hail to Jihad!’ This cry will reach the heavens and will go on being resounded until liberation is achieved, the invaders vanquished and Allah’s victory comes about.” (Article 33)
- “Peace initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement…those conferences are no more than a means to appoint the infidels as arbitrators in the lands of Islam…There is no solution for the Palestinian problem except by Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility.” (Article 13)
- The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: ‘O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.” (Article 7)
- “The enemies have been scheming for a long time…and have accumulated huge and influential material wealth. With their money, they took control of the world media…With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the globe…they stood behind the French Revolution, the Communist Revolution and most of the revolutions we hear about…With their money they formed secret organizations — such as the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs and the Lions — which are spreading around the world, in order to destroy societies and carry out Zionist interests…They stood behind World War 1…and formed the League of nations through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War 2, through which they made huge financial gains…There is no war going on anywhere without them having their finger in it.” (Article 22)
- “Zionism scheming has no end, and after Palestine, they will covet expansion from the Nile to the Euphrates River. When they have finished digesting the area on which they have laid their hand, they will look forward to more expansion. Their scheme has been laid out in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” (Article 32)
- The HAMAS regards itself the spearhead and the vanguard of the circle of struggle against World Zionism…Islamic groups all over the Arab world should also do the same, since they are best equipped for their future role in the fight against the warmongering Jews.” (Article 32 continued)
Clearly, from the excerpts quoted above, the goal of HAMAS, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and a plethora of other Islamic terrorist organizations including the Hay-at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS-al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate), is the same. In spite of their individual hatred for each other (for example the slaughter of the Alawite Shiites in Syria by the new Sunni government), their hatred for the Jews is greater yet.
The wars we have seen between Israel and its neighbors, as violent as they have become, are about to explode in a much, much greater way. The Old Testament prophets foretold how Israel will have violent wars with their immediate border enemies (including within Israel itself, i.e. the “West Bank” previously referred to as Judah and Samaria). This will even include Jordan, Egypt, and even an initial confrontation with ancient Elam (the western part of Iran). God will see to it that Israel prevails, although not without suffering serious damage. Israel will then face a much larger attack by a very large company of nations led and equipped by Russia, including Turkey, Iran, and their Muslim allies. This will be much too great of a battle for Israel to handle on its own, and God will intervene as He did in the Old Testament with Israel’s enemies such as the Midianites and others. This is a very brief synopsis of what is foretold by the Old Testament prophets.
Could this happen in our day? Absolutely. In fact, I believe it is already unfolding and escalating very quickly. This is the time for God’s people to recognize that God has provided us with abundant prophetic details — not to predict the exact Day of His return, but rather the season. We are now very near the end of that season. We must train our eyes and ears on the leading of God’s Spirit, and fulfill whatever task it is that He has called us to. For some, their calling is more overt, for others more covert. We have all been strategically placed in this time slot of history for God’s purposes, and as long as we are still breathing air, we still have purpose in God’s great plan!
I will close with a brief passage from the Book of Zechariah:
“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. Zechariah 12:2-3 (emphasis added)
It is already happening, but there is more, and it is imminent.
Forever in His Service,
Jake Geier