Calls in Berlin for Germany to assume a greater role in helping rebels topple the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad are becoming louder, the German-Foreign-Policy.com think tank reported on Monday. Berlin’s policymakers are also planning German-led interventions in areas where Assad’s regime has withdrawn, in order to prevent anti-West Islamists from taking root in Syrian soil.

Late last month, Lothar Rühl urged readers of Germany’s leading conservative daily to support a Western military intervention. Days later, the chairman of the Munich Security Conference started pushing for German weapons deliveries to rebels. The cdu/csu parliamentary group said such arms deliveries is “necessary,” and also called for measures to be taken to train Syrian militiamen.

Berlin has already responded to these calls by authorizing plans for the European Union to provide military training to anti-Assad groups. Europe also agreed to supply Syrian rebels with armored vehicles, night vision gear and other equipment. EU states are also providing hefty financial aid packages, to help rebel forces secure the areas from which Assad’s troops have withdrawn.

The trouble—from the viewpoint of many in Berlin—is that after the rebel groups oust Assad’s forces from a given area, they often keep on pushing others out.

In December, the United Nations said the number of refugees fleeing violence in Syria might reach 1 million by June. Wednesday—three months ahead of that prediction—that troubling milestone was attained. Many of these refugees are Christians and other minorities who were driven from areas controlled by anti-Assad Islamists. Reports of kidnappings, torture and expulsions are increasing, especially in cities like Ras al Ayn, where Islamists are said to have driven all Christians out. Germany’s foreign-policy establishment says the West must not only arm the rebels to help them defeat Assad, but then must oversee control of the areas these rebels wrest from Assad’s grip to prevent such atrocities from happening.

“[E]vidence of bitter power struggles for the control of the insurgent-controlled areas is already apparent,” German-Foreign-Policy.com said. “Berlin will also be involved, as soon as it begins directly to intervene locally on a major scale.”

Germany’s prestigious Bertelsmann Foundation said German intervention needs to happen quickly. “The Office of Economic Recovery and Development in Berlin, parented by Germany and the United Arab Emirates … must show results … in this direction,” the group said in a February report.

Why is Germany becoming so interested in Syria, when it seemed to have little concern about the Libyan revolution? As Brad Macdonald wrote in April of 2012, it’s because the opportunity presented to Germany by the conflict “meshes with Berlin’s larger geopolitical and strategic ambitions for the Middle East! … One of Germany’s primary aims in the Middle East is to develop an axis with Middle Eastern states that oppose Iran.”

For nearly 20 years, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has written about this axis, which was prophesied in Psalm 83. The prophecy lists the Middle Eastern countries that will soon align themselves with the German-led European superpower (called “Assur”) when it confronts Iran-led radical Islam, called “the king of the south” in Daniel 11:40 and other passages.

This great confrontation is looming on the horizon. Psalm 83 and Daniel 11 show that when it goes down, the Middle East will be separated into two blocs—countries that back Iran, and those opposed to Iranian dominance. The nations in the second camp will briefly align with Germany.

Historically, Damascus has had a robust relationship with Tehran, but Psalm 83 indicates Syria will ultimately fall into the German-led power bloc opposing Iran. And it could happen as soon as Assad is toppled. It is for this reason that the ongoing civil war in Syria, and Berlin’s plans to intervene in it, are of deep prophetic significance.

To understand more, read “Next in Line, Please.”