Israel/Syria (MNN) — Since the fall of Assad’s government in Syria to rebel forces, Israel has carried out successive strikes along the Syrian coast. The strikes have targeted Syria’s military capabilities and amassed weapons, including missile warehouses and supposed chemical weapons depots.

Israeli officials say these targeted strikes are intended to keep military equipment out of the hands of the rebel extremists.

Rebels unfurl Syrian revolution flag inside Hafez al-Assad mausoleum, December 2024. (Photo by getty images – telegram, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=156639771)

“Israel looks at this as a prime opportunity to secure its future,” Eric Mock with Slavic Gospel Association (SGA) explains. “Now, without having to get in a brutal, drawn-out combat, Israel is clearing out anything that could remain on the Syrian side as a threat.”

Israel is still fighting on multiple fronts with Hezbollah and Hamas, and the people of Israel have known over 400 days of war. So how does this war-weary nation have the capacity to engage in Syria as well?

Mock offers some perspective: “Actually, this is a time in which Israel is able to engage all three fronts because there is not a specific front that is an overwhelming force. Russia has withdrawn, for the most part, from that region and is not able to be the defender of the prior [Assad] government.”

Recently, Mock reached out to SGA-supported churches in Israel. Despite the regional tensions, he reports faithful Israeli believers are persisting in ministry.

“There’s always this constant cloud of fear of what’s going to happen,” says Mock. “Are there rockets coming from the north? Are there rockets coming from the south? Are there rockets coming from Yemen? Are the rockets coming from Syria or even Iran? There’s this constant tension that exists.

“But in the middle of it, there’s a tremendous amount of peace knowing that God continues to be at work.”

Steeple in Jerusalem, Israel. (Photo courtesy of Jonny Gios/Unsplash)

This Christmas, pray Israelis and Syrians know true, lasting peace that comes from Jesus.

Mock says, “Sometimes we lose track of hearing that old Christmas passage, I believe, from Luke 2:14 where we’re talking about ‘peace on earth among men,’ and we just stop it there. We think that God’s effort has to do with the establishment of world peace.

“But they forget ‘…with whom I am well pleased,’ which is the remainder of the verse. We’re reminded that only those who are walking right with Jesus Christ by faith are those in whom God is well pleased — for in His Son, He is well pleased.

“So in this, peace comes when the Gospel comes! Peace comes when the Gospel is in the hearts of men and women!”

From Israeli believers, Mock shares, “When they ask us to pray, they ask not for their safety, not for the safety of their country, but they said, ‘Pray that we would be zealous to declare the Gospel, not taking our eyes off of Christ.’”

Learn more about SGA supporting ministry in Israel.

 

Header photo: Russia has naval military bases on the Syrian coast where Israel recently attacked. (Photo by Mil.ru, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115294558)