ISRAEL STRIKES PFLP IN LEBANON

The Israeli air force has struck the base of a Palestinian group in Lebanon, officials said, hours after a different organization said it had fired four rockets at Israel from Lebanon.

Friday's early morning raid in Naameh, which the Lebanese army said caused no casualties or damage, nonetheless drew condemnation from the Lebanese government as a violation of its sovereignty after it had vowed to hunt down the perpetrators of Thursday's rocket fire.

Israeli aircraft "targeted a terror site located between Beirut and Sidon in response to a barrage of four rockets launched at northern Israel yesterday [Thursday]," the Israeli military said.

"The pilots reported direct hits to the target."

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, who had condemned Thursday's rocket fire, also denounced the Israeli retaliation, adding that he had asked Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour to lodge a complaint with the UN Security Council.

"Border violations are a matter settled by the UNIFIL panel of inquiry and not by aggression and violation of Lebanese sovereignty as Israel did in Naameh," his office said.

'We will hurt them'

Palestinian and Lebanese officials said the target was a position of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC), an armed secular group that said it had nothing to do with Thursday's rocket fire.

"Around 4am (01:00 GMT), the Israeli air force fired a missile on the Naameh valley without causing any casualties or damage," PFLP-GC spokesman Ramez Mustapha said.

Thursday's salvo of four rockets, which caused damage but no casualties, was claimed by the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, an al-Qaeda-linked group that claimed similar rocket fire on Israel in 2009 and 2011.

Israeli army spokesman Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai said on Thursday that the rockets were "launched by the global jihad terror organisation", an apparent reference to al-Qaeda.

"Israel will not tolerate terrorist aggression originating from Lebanese territory," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said in a statement announcing Friday's air strike.

Commenting on the rocket attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that "anyone who tries to attack us should know that we will hurt them".

Thursday's rocket fire was the first such incident since May. The rockets were fired from Rashidiyah, a Palestinian refugee camp near the southern city of Tyre in Lebanon.

Israel and Lebanon are technically at war. Israel briefly invaded Lebanon during an inconclusive 2006 conflict with armed group Hezbollah.

Iron dome

Al-Qaeda linked militant group, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, said it carried out the attack. The four rockets were fired from the Tyre region of southern Lebanon. They caused some minor damage at a kibbutz near the Israeli coastal town of Nahariya. An Israeli military spokesman said one of the rockets was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.

What does the Bible say about Sidon and Tyre

In ancient times these two cities were known to be the most idolatrous. From the idolaters' point of view they were just practicing their own sacred rituals, but to Israel and Jews those places were the sources of trouble, to put it mildly.

Jezebel imported Baal worship to Israel. Like her father's (Eth-Baal the high priest of that cult) obedient girl she went on a killing spree seeking to eradicate any traces of YHVH warship in God's Land. She succeeded killing some prophets, but about 700 managed to survive. Only Elijah dared to face that fire spewing dragon and in that sense he was the only prophet left, for the other ones were useless to God.

The other prophets fearing for their lives did nothing. Obadiah who was over the household of Ahab (1Kings 18:3-4; 13-16) was a God fearing man and it was he who hid the prophets in caves providing them with bread and water.

It's quite interesting to recognize God's ways; His power comes at the point of dire need. The greater is the sin the greater the power. Elijah was known to be transported from place to place before his final departure in HaMerkavah ve sissim shelo - Fiery chariot and its horses. He dared the impossible, but he ran from the authority, which is God's to establish and never man's (Romans 13:1); and that authority was queen Jezebel. Elijah understood that very well. He was not a coward but a smart cookie.

The cup of wickedness must run over before God can judge anyone. That's just the way our God is. (Read Genesis 15:16); for this reason Israel was going to wait in Egypt; a total 470 years before the conquest of Canaan (430 years in Egypt + 40 years of wanderings).

Ahab's and Jezebel's cup had to be filled also. Even God cannot destroy anyone indiscriminately; He allots time and time again for repentance; only when that time fills up its measure destruction comes. But this destruction is also manmade; like atom all evil eventually curls up upon itself and implodes, yes, from within.

[Ezekiel 28:18] By the multitude of your iniquities, In the unrighteousness of your trade You profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; It has consumed you, And I have turned you to ashes on the earth In the eyes of all who see you.

Ahab's and Jezebel's house was annihilated according to the word of the Lord spoken by no one else but Elijah. But the evil of Sidon and Tyre continued on of which we read in Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28 and 29.

Today, Hezbollah breeds that same fire so do all those who hate Israel. But who made Israel strong and even stronger than ever before?

The more Israel was oppressed in Egypt the more it grew in numbers until the wickedness of Canaan was complete, but even then God waited another 40 years. We do not like it. We want gratification right now and while we still live. But hold your horses...

Understand God's gracious and loving ways with all peoples upon the face of the earth. Let the wicked grow more wicked, but let the righteous be more righteous. "But how?" You might say. My advise: abstain from religious foolishness and embrace the truth, His understanding and knowledge and you will become wise. I came to give you that for only the righteous can make another righteous.