The Road to Damascus
It’s been three days since Syrian rebels toppled the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Mohammed al-Bashir, leader of the ousting rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has been named caretaker Prime Minister until March 1. Bashir has been running a part of northwest Syria and will take the helm in Damascus to ensure that public services continue.
Meanwhile, Israel is responding to Syria’s turmoil.
Since Sunday, Israel has launched over 300 air strikes on Syrian weapons storehouses (in addition to 75 strikes by the U.S.) and moved its military into a UN-patrolled demilitarized zone on its border with Syria. Israel says it wants to create a “sterile defense zone” and prevent extremists from capitalizing on the chaos; the U.N. says it is overstepping and violating “the [1974] disengagement agreement.”
ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE
As we pray for peace around our war-battered world, believers are reminded of how good the news is of Jesus’s coming kingdom. His installation as King of the new heavens and earth will be quick and uncontested, ousting his enemies forever and securing permanent peace.
“‘For I will create new heavens and a new earth… The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like cattle, but the serpent’s food will be dust! They will not do what is evil or destroy on my entire holy mountain,’ says the Lord.”
Isaiah 65:17, 25 (CSB) (read full passage)