This is where we're going

Russia flies anti-air, anti-ship missiles to Assad as its fleet heads to Tartus

Russia is, in a word, supplying Bashar Assad, his regime and his army, with the very weapons they may need for warding off Western and Arab air efforts to impose a no-fly zone over Syria, while at the same time enabling him to repel seaborne assaults by his foes from the Mediterranean.

The Russians are not trying to conceal their military intervention in Syria in support of the Assad regime.

Joel 3:

 “At the time of those events,” says the Lord,
    “when I restore the prosperity of Judah and Jerusalem (Israel independence declared May 14, 1948)
² I will gather the armies of the world
    into the valley of Jehoshaphat.
There I will judge them
    for harming my people, my special possession,
for scattering my people among the nations,
    and for dividing up my land.
³ They threw dice to decide which of my people
    would be their slaves.
They traded boys to obtain prostitutes
    and sold girls for enough wine to get drunk.

⁴ “What do you have against me, Tyre and Sidon and you cities of Philistia? Are you trying to take revenge on me? If you are, then watch out! I will strike swiftly and pay you back for everything you have done. ⁵ You have taken my silver and gold and all my precious treasures, and have carried them off to your pagan temples. ⁶ You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, so they could take them far from their homeland.

⁷ “But I will bring them back from all the places to which you sold them, and I will pay you back for everything you have done. ⁸ I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the people of Arabia, a nation far away. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

⁹ Say to the nations far and wide:
    “Get ready for war!
Call out your best warriors.
    Let all your fighting men advance for the attack.
¹⁰ Hammer your plowshares into swords
    and your pruning hooks into spears.
    Train even your weaklings to be warriors.
¹¹ Come quickly, all you nations everywhere.
    Gather together in the valley.”

And now, O Lord, call out your warriors!

¹² “Let the nations be called to arms.
    Let them march to the valley of Jehoshaphat.
There I, the Lord, will sit
    to pronounce judgment on them all.
¹³ Swing the sickle,
    for the harvest is ripe.
Come, tread the grapes,
    for the winepress is full.
The storage vats are overflowing
    with the wickedness of these people.”

¹⁴ Thousands upon thousands are waiting in the valley of decision.
    There the day of the Lord will soon arrive.
¹⁵ The sun and moon will grow dark,
    and the stars will no longer shine.
¹⁶ The Lord’s voice will roar from Zion
    and thunder from Jerusalem,
    and the heavens and the earth will shake.
But the Lord will be a refuge for his people,
    a strong fortress for the people of Israel.

The world's armies are gathering (of all places) on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, just north of Israel. Divine inspiration aside, it would otherwise be very strange to imagine the entire world's attention drawn to these shores even 100 years ago, but now with Israel re-established in 1948 (Joel 3:1) it's a whole different story and the rest of Joel chapter 3 is forming before our eyes. Soon this war will swing down on Israel. The scapegoat for the entire region. Only this time Israel will not be dispersed and will once and for all be victorious with Jesus Christ as her king, and it's to the winepress of God's wrath for the rest of them.