As the LORD thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not.1 Kings 18 : 10
BASSEM MROUE and KAREEM CHEHAYEB
Fri, May 9, 2025 at 6:56 PM GMT+35 min read
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Syria Lebanon Palestinian
FILE – In this photo released by the Syrian Presidency press office, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, shakes hands with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Damascus, Syria, Friday, April 18, 2025. (Syrian Presidency press office via AP, File)
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BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon and Syria are cracking down on Palestinian factions that for decades have had an armed presence in both countries and which on some occasions were used to plan and launch attacks against Israel.
And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;Acts 17 : 6
Monopolize all Arms Under the Government!—‘Common Good’
[8] All these are the beginning of sorrows. [9] Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Matthew 24 : 8-9
The crackdown comes as Syria’s new rulers under Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham are pursuing officials of the former government under Bashar Assad, including those in the ousted president’s web of security agencies. Syria’s most prominent Palestinian factions were key allies of the Assad dynasty in both war and peace time and closely cooperated on security matters.
But every woman shall borrow of her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.Exodus 3 : 22
Parents need to awake, and purify their souls by practicing the truth in their home life. When we reach the standard that the Lord would have us reach, worldlings will regard Seventh-day Adventists as odd, singular, straight-laced extremists. “We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.” RH January 9, 1894, par. 10
It also comes after Iran’s main regional ally, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, was weakened after over a year of war with Israel and as Lebanon’s new government vows to monopolize all arms under the government, including Hezbollah and Palestinian factions in Lebanon.
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On Wednesday, Syria’s President Ahmad al-Sharaa said his government is holding indirect talks with Israel through mediators, who he did not name. He said the aim of the indirect negotiations is to ease tensions after intense Israeli airstrikes on Syria.
A crackdown on hardline Palestinian factions, including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which took part with Hamas in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Gaza, is likely to be welcomed by Israel.
Again, in The Great Controversy, 448, 449, we read:
“The enforcement of Sunday-keeping on the part of Protestant churches is an enforcement of the worship of the Papacy—of the beast. Those who, understanding the claims of the fourth commandment, choose to observe the false instead of the true Sabbath, are thereby paying homage to that power by which alone it is commanded….
“When Sunday observance shall be enforced by law, and the world shall be enlightened concerning the obligation of the true Sabbath, then whoever shall transgress the command of God, to obey a precept which has no higher authority than that of Rome, will thereby honor popery above God…. As men then reject the institution which God has declared to be the sign of his authority, and honor in its stead that which Rome has chosen as the token of her supremacy, they will thereby accept the sign of allegiance to Rome—’the mark of the beast.’ And it is not until the issue is thus plainly set before the people, and they are brought to choose between the commandments of God and the commandments of men, that those who continue in transgression will receive ‘the mark of the beast.'” RH April 27, 1911, par. 21 – RH April 27, 1911, par. 23
A Syrian government official declined to comment on the matter.
And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.Acts 5 : 35
A Palestinian official who had been in Damascus for more than 40 years, and who recently left the country, said Palestinian factions in Syria were forced to hand over their weapons and the Palestinian embassy will be the only side that Syria’s new authorities will deal with. The Palestinian groups would only be limited to social and charitable activities, the official added, who spoke on condition of anonymity fearing for their safety.
“As the controversy extends into new fields, and the minds of the people are called to God’s downtrodden law, Satan is astir. The power attending the message will only madden those who oppose it. The clergy will put forth almost superhuman efforts to shut away the light, lest it should shine upon their flocks. By every means at their command they will endeavor to suppress the discussion of these vital questions. The church appeals to the strong arm of civil power, and in this work papists and Protestants unite. As the movement for Sunday enforcement becomes more bold and decided, the law will be invoked against commandment-keepers. They will be threatened with fines and imprisonment, and some will be offered positions of influence and other rewards and advantages as inducements to renounce their faith…. Conscientious obedience to the Word of God will be treated as rebellion.” RH April 27, 1911, par. 20
‘We are simply guests/Pilgrims here’
Palestinian factions for decades have lived in refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria and have been involved militarily both locally and regionally. They closely aligned themselves with the Assads and later with Hezbollah in Lebanon, whose powerful military arsenal grew over the past few decades. Over time, many of the leaders of groups like Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad were based in those countries.
However, the regional developments of late 2024 that went against Iran’s favor in the Levant began to take shape in recent weeks among the Palestinian factions in Lebanon and Syria.
While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can
And then the great deceiver will persuade men that those who serve God are causing these evils. The class that have provoked the displeasure of Heaven will charge all their troubles upon those whose obedience to God’s commandments is a perpetual reproof to transgressors. It will be declared that men are offending God by the violation of the Sunday sabbath; that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced; and that those who present the claims of the fourth commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the people, preventing their restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity. Thus the accusation urged of old against the servant of God will be repeated and upon grounds equally well established: “And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.” 1 Kings 18:17, 18. As the wrath of the people shall be excited by false charges, they will pursue a course toward God’s ambassadors very similar to that which apostate Israel pursued toward Elijah. GC 589.1 – GC 590.1No weapons will be allowed in the (Palestinian refugee) camps
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.Ephesians 6 : 13, Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:1 Peter 5 : 8
“No weapons will be allowed in the (Palestinian refugee) camps. The Syrian state will protect citizens whether they are Palestinians or Syrians,” said Syrian political analyst Ahmad al-Hamada, whose view points reflect those of the government. “It is not allowed for Palestinian factions that were arms for Iran and the Assad regime to keep their weapons.”
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When asked whether the state will prevent any attacks against Israel, al-Hamada said Syria will not allow its territories to be used as a launch pad against any neighbor.
Wherein the king granted the Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, both little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey,Esther 8 : 11
Syrian authorities in Damascus this week detained two senior officials of the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad group and briefly detained and questioned the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, FLP-GC, that since its founding had been a key ally of Assad.
For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes:Acts 24 : 5
Another Palestinian official with one of the factions that had been based in Syria said the developments caught them by surprise, and that regardless of who runs the country they are keen to have good relations with Syria’s new rulers and maintain the country’s stability.
[32] Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. [33] And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground. [34] Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel.Jeremiah 25 : 32-34
We are simply Pilgrims here
“We hope that this wouldn’t have happened. But we don’t have a say in this,” the official said, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are still based in the country. “We are simply guests here.”
All thy commandments are faithful: they persecute me wrongfully; help thou me.Psalm 119 : 86, Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.Psalm 119 : 54
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The government in Lebanon, which is trying to expand its army’s influence in the south near Israel, has also been reclaiming dozens of informal border crossings with Syria, which were key arteries for Iran and its allies to transport weapons and fighters over the years. Many of those crossings were held by PFLP-GC militants who have given some of those positions up to the Lebanese army after Assad’s downfall.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who Palestinian factions in Syria oppose, visited Damascus last month for the first time in more than a decade and he is scheduled to visit Lebanon on May 21.
‘Unprecedented times’
After Israel intensified its airstrikes on Lebanon in response to Hamas allegedly firing rockets from southern Lebanon in late March, the Lebanese government for the first time called out the Palestinian group and arrested nearly 10 suspects involved in the operation. Hamas was pressured by the military to turn in three of their militants from different refugee camps.
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Ahmad Abdul-Hadi, a Hamas representative in Lebanon, was also summoned by the head of one of the country’s top security agencies over the incident and was formally told that Hamas should stop its military activities.
This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;1 Timothy 1 : 18
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, who is backed by the United States and Arab countries rather than Hezbollah and Iran, has said armed factions should not be allowed to “shake up national security and stability.” His statement has set a new tone after decades of tolerating the presence of armed Palestinian groups in refugee camps which have led to armed conflict in the crowded ghettos.
“I think we’re in unprecedented times, politically speaking,” said Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. “The (Lebanese) army is acting out of a political will, with its former chief now the president. There is a strong political thrust behind the army.”
We are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Prophecy is fast fulfilling. The Lord is at the door. There is soon to open before us a period of overwhelming interest to all living. The controversies of the past are to be revived; new controversies will arise. The scenes to be enacted in our world are not yet even dreamed of. Satan is at work through human agencies. Those who are making an effort to change the Constitution and secure a law enforcing Sunday observance little realize what will be the result. A crisis is just upon us. 5T 753.2
A Lebanese government official familiar with the initiative said that Hamas was told to hand over wanted militants and end all its military activity in the country. He added that there is also a plan to gradually give up Hamas’ weapons, which coincides with the visit to Lebanon of Abbas, leader of the rival Fatah group.
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