Target Syria NWO's next acquisition The Middle East- WW III - Muslim Civil War

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/syria-talks-agree-basis-peace-talks-opposition-125130408.html
Syria peace talks take tentative step forward
1/29/14

GENEVA (Reuters) - Talks aimed at ending the war in Syria took a first tentative step forward on Wednesday as both sides agreed to use the same document as the basis of discussions, although they disagreed about how the negotiations should proceed.

Both sides said they agreed to use the "Geneva communique", a document agreed at a previous international conference in Geneva in June 2012, and which sets out the stages needed for an end to the fighting and a political transition.

"We have agreed that Geneva 1 is the basis of the talks," opposition spokesman Louay al-Safi told reporters, referring to the 2012 communique.

Bouthaina Shaaban, a Syrian presidential adviser, said there was agreement on using the text, but with some reservations.

While the opposition wants to start by addressing the question of the transitional governing body that the talks aim to create, the government insists that the first step is to discuss "terrorism", and not jump into the middle of the text.

The government describes those fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad as terrorists. The opposition says transitional arrangements must include the removal of Assad, which the government rejects.

Despite the differing interpretations of Geneva 1, organizers of the talks at United Nations headquarters in Geneva have been at pains to keep the process going and dissuade either of the sides from walking out.

Syrian state television said the government wanted to discuss the text of Geneva 1 "paragraph by paragraph".

"Mr Brahimi said tomorrow they are going to discuss terrorism because stopping terrorism is the first issue that should be handled," Shaaban said. "Even in Geneva 1 the first item is to stop violence which has turned to terrorism."

There was no immediate confirmation from international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, who is chairing the talks. On Tuesday he said both sides were talking to the media too much and should respect the confidentiality of the talks and not overstate their case.

[Mark]

Christians in Syria City Reportedly Sign Second Class Citizen Pact with Islamist Rebels, Forced to Pay Protection Tax…in Gold

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a radical rebel group trying to impose sharia law in Syria, has reportedly forced Christians in a Syrian city this week to begin paying a protection tax – in gold – and is limiting the practice of the Christian faith.

ISIL said that in exchange for the payments and curbing of the public display of Christianity, which were detailed in a signed document – the rebel group would protect Christians in the city of Raqqa as long as they accept the second class “dhimmi” status specified in Islam.
AP file photo

AP file photo

Reuters reported that the Islamist militants said that Christians would no longer be allowed to renovate churches, display religious symbols outside churches, pray in public, ring church bells, sell wine to Muslims or drink wine in public. Christians would now also be prohibited from owning weapons.

“The document, dated Sunday and disseminated through Islamist Twitter accounts, states that the Christian community in the province of Raqqa, captured last March by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), was recently given three options: to convert to Islam; to remain Christian but pledge submission to Islam; or to ‘face the sword. They opted for the second of those choices, known as dhimmitude,” the Times of Israel reported Thursday.

Every Christian man was now to “pay a tax of up to 17 grams of gold, a levy that was common in Muslim states centuries ago,” Reuters reported, adding, “The concept of dhimma, governing non-Muslims living under Islamic rule, dates back to the early Islamic era in the seventh century, but was largely abolished during the Ottoman reforms of the mid-19th century.”

Reuters characterized the development as “the most extensive restrictions yet on Christians” in Syria.

Other restrictions reported by the Times of Israel included the prohibition on reading scripture “indoors loud enough for Muslims standing outside to hear,” allowing any Christian who wants to convert to Islam to do so, and to not say anything offensive about Muslims.

“If they adhere to these conditions, they will be close to God and receive the protection of Mohammed his prophet … none of their religious rights will be detracted nor will a priest or monk be wronged,” the document stated. “But if they disobey any of the conditions, they are no longer protected and ISIS can treat them in a hostile and warlike fashion.”

The Times of Israel said it could not verify the document which included an Al Qaeda stamp and the signature of 20 Christian leaders (which were blotted out, most likely for their own safety). However, Reuters reported that the anti-Assad Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group also reported on the agreement and condemned it.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/02/27/christians-in-syria-city-reportedly-sign-second-class-citizen-pact-with-islamist-rebels-forced-to-pay-protection-tax-in-gold/

[Mark]

Assad makes gains on third anniversary of Syria’s civil war
New legislation would make it hard to oppose the president in June’s election.

Syria’s parliament over the weekend approved rules that will make it hard for President Bashar Assad’s rivals to challenge him in the election due in June. The move comes as Assad’s forces made major gains in a town near the Lebanese border  – around the third anniversary of the start of the civil war.

In the Arab media there is no longer talk of an accord or military resolution; more bloody battles are expected amid alleged weakness in both the Arab world and the international community.

Assad has yet to formally declare that he is running for a third term. In Syria, where the Baath Party dominates, Assad received more than 97 percent of the vote in the 2007 election.

According to a bill, presidential candidates must be permanent residents of Syria for the past 10 years and at least 40 years old. They may not hold any other citizenship, must be the children of Syrian citizens, must be married to a Syrian citizen and have no criminal record. They must also obtain the signatures of 35 members of parliament.

Syrian opposition leaders say the bill is clearly tailored for Assad, even if they admit there is no clear challenger.

Meanwhile, the Arab media has detailed the recent battles near the Lebanese border, particularly in the town of Yabroud north of Damascus, one of the last rebel strongholds along the border with Lebanon.

According to reports, Assad loyalists have made major advances in Yabroud, home to many Alawites, the sect to which the Assad family belongs.

A Syrian army official said 13 rebel commanders had been killed in Yabroud. If Assad’s forces fully take the city, they will have an easier time halting the supply of equipment to the rebels from Lebanon; the town sits on the Damascus-Homs highway.

In the Syrian civil war, more than 146,000 people have been killed, hundreds of thousands have been wounded and millions have been uprooted. There are more than 2 million refugees in neighboring countries.

In one suggestion by the Syrian opposition, the rebel forces would announce a unilateral cease-fire in an attempt to reduce the pressure on civilians. This might also give the major powers a chance to engage the regime in a fresh dialogue.

Other opposition voices are calling for the powers to take a more aggressive stance against Assad. Otherwise, they say, Syrians will find themselves without hope on the fourth anniversary of the start of the war.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/.premium-1.580114

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.msn.com/world/us-closes-syrian-embassy-in-washington
US closes Syrian embassy in Washington
3/18/14

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration ordered the Syrian government on Tuesday to suspend its diplomatic and consular missions in the United States, requiring all personnel who are not legal U.S residents to leave the country.

The order, three years after the start of Syria's bloody civil war, essentially shutters the Syrian embassy in Washington and its honorary consulates in Troy, Mich., and Houston, Texas. It comes in response to a decision by President Bashar Assad's government to suspend consular services for Syrians living in the U.S.

"We have determined it is unacceptable for individuals appointed by that regime to conduct diplomatic or consular operations in the United States," U.S. special envoy to Syria Daniel Rubenstein said in a statement.

However, Rubenstein said the U.S. wants to continue diplomatic relations with Damascus, "as an expression of our longstanding ties with the Syrian people, an interest that will endure long after Bashar Assad leaves power."

"The United States will continue to assist those seeking change in Syria, to help end the slaughter, and to resolve the crisis through negotiations — for the benefit of the Syrian people," Rubenstein said.

More than 140,000 people have been killed in the war that began in March 2011 as an uprising against Assad's government. It since has largely divided along sectarian lines, with a chaotic mix of mostly Sunni rebels pitted against Syria's minorities, including Christians, Shiites and Alawites, who largely have sided with the government or remained neutral. Assad himself is part of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Tuesday's order should not affect Syria's mission at the United Nations, although the State Department earlier this month already imposed restrictions limiting its ambassador to New York.

Syrian-Americans had complained that Ambassador Bashar Jafari was seeking to divide their community by traveling around the United States on a propaganda tour in support of Assad's government.

The State Department restrictions ban Jafari from traveling outside the five boroughs of New York City.

Diplomats from several countries, including some of those listed as state sponsors of terrorism, are required to get approval before traveling outside a 25-mile (40-kilometer) radius of Manhattan.

[Mark]

Apocalyptic prophecies drive both sides to Syrian battle for end of time

Conflict in Syria kills hundreds of thousands of people and spreads unrest across the Middle East. Iranian forces battle anti-Shi'ite fighters in Damascus, and the region braces for an ultimate showdown.

If the scenario sounds familiar to an anxious world watching Syria's devastating civil war, it resonates even more with Sunni and Shi'ite fighters on the frontlines - who believe it was all foretold in 7th Century prophecies.

From the first outbreak of the crisis in the southern city of Deraa to apocalyptic forecasts of a Middle East soaked in blood, many combatants on both sides of the conflict say its path was set 1,400 years ago in the sayings of the Prophet Mohammad and his followers.

Among those many thousands of sayings, or hadith, are accounts which refer to the confrontation of two huge Islamic armies in Syria, a great battle near Damascus, and intervention from the north and west of the country.

The power of those prophecies for many fighters on the ground means that the three-year-old conflict is more deeply rooted - and far tougher to resolve - than a simple power struggle between President Bashar al-Assad and his rebel foes.

Syria's war has killed more than 140,000 people, driven millions from their homes and left many more dependent on aid. Diplomatic efforts, focused on the political rather than religious factors driving the conflict, have made no headway.

"If you think all these mujahideen came from across the world to fight Assad, you're mistaken," said a Sunni Muslim jihadi who uses the name Abu Omar and fights in one of the many anti-Assad Islamist brigades in Aleppo.

"They are all here as promised by the Prophet. This is the war he promised - it is the Grand Battle," he told Reuters, using a word which can also be translated as slaughter.

On the other side, many Shi'ites from Lebanon, Iraq and Iran are drawn to the war because they believe it paves the way for the return of Imam Mahdi - a descendent of the Prophet who vanished 1,000 years ago and who will re-emerge at a time of war to establish global Islamic rule before the end of the world.

According to Shi'ite tradition, an early sign of his return came with the 1979 Iranian revolution, which set up an Islamic state to provide fighters for an army led by the Mahdi to wage war in Syria after sweeping through the Middle East.

"This Islamic Revolution, based on the narratives that we have received from the prophet and imams, is the prelude to the appearance of the Mahdi," Iranian cleric and parliamentarian Ruhollah Hosseinian said last year.

He cited comments by an eighth century Shi'ite imam who said another sign of the Mahdi's return would be a battle involving warriors fighting under a yellow banner - the color associated with Lebanon's pro-Assad Hezbollah militia.

"As Imam Sadeq has stated, when the (forces) with yellow flags fight anti-Shi'ites in Damascus and Iranian forces join them, this is a prelude and a sign of the coming of his holiness," Hosseinian was quoted as saying by Fars news agency.

MEDIEVAL BATTLEFIELDS

Islam split into its Sunni and Shi'ite branches during a war over the succession to the leadership of the faith in the generation that followed the Prophet Mohammad's death in 632.

The hadith, or sayings of the prophet and his companions, have been handed down orally over the centuries and are the most important sources of authority in Islam after the Quran itself. Many date back to those medieval battlefields in what are now Syria and Iraq, where the two main Islamic sects took shape.

The historical texts have become a powerful recruitment tool, quoted across the region from religious festivals in Iraq's Shi'ite shrine city of Kerbala to videos released by Sunni preachers in the Gulf, and beyond.

"We have here mujahideen from Russia, America, the Philippines, China, Germany, Belgium, Sudan, India and Yemen and other places," said Sami, a Sunni rebel fighter in northern Syria. "They are here because this what the Prophet said and promised, the Grand Battle is happening."

Both sides emphasize the ultimate goal of establishing an Islamic state which will rule the world before total chaos.

Although some Sunni and Shi'ite clerics are privately skeptical of the religious justifications for the war, few in the region express such reservations in public for fear of being misinterpreted as doubters of the prophecies.

"Yes some of the signs are similar but these signs could apply at any time after the fall of the Islamic state (1,000 years ago)," one Sunni Muslim scholar in Lebanon said, asking that he not be identified. "There is no way to confirm we are living those times. We have to wait and see."

For the faithful, the hadith chart the course of Syria's conflict from its beginning in March 2011, when protests erupted over the alleged torture of students and schoolboys who wrote anti-Assad graffiti on a school wall in Deraa.

"There will be a strife in Sham (Syria) that begins with children playing, after which nothing can be fixed," according to one hadith. "When it calms down from one side, it ignites from the other."

Hadith on both sides mention Syria as a main battlefield, naming cities and towns where blood will be spilled.

Hundreds of thousands of people will be killed. The whole region will be shaken from the Arabian Peninsula to Iraq, Iran and Jerusalem, according to some texts.

Saudi Arabia will collapse. Almost every country in the Middle East will face unrest. One statement says "blood will reach knee-level".

A widely circulated hadith attributed to Mohammad says Sham, or Syria, is God's favored land. Asked where the next jihad will be, he replies: "Go for Sham, and if you can't, go for Yemen ...(though) God has guaranteed me Sham and its people."

Another refers to Muslims gathering "at the time of war in Ghouta, near a city called Damascus". Ghouta, east of Syria's capital, has been a rebel stronghold for the last two years.

A Sunni hadith speaks of a battle in a town called Dabeq, in northern Syria near the Turkish border, and intervention by a foreign army to split the Muslim fighters - seen by some as a reference to a possible Turkish incursion.

ARAB SPRING GIVES WAY TO SECTARIAN STRUGGLE

Syria's civil war grew out of the "Arab Spring" of pro-democracy revolts in the Middle East and North Africa in 2011 after Assad's forces cracked down hard on peaceful protests.

But because Assad is a member of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shii'ism, and most of his opponents are Sunni Muslims, the fighting quickly took on a sectarian character, which has largely overwhelmed the political issues.

"These hadith are what the Mujahideen are guided by to come to Syria, we are fighting for this. With every passing day we know that we are living the days that the Prophet talked about," said Mussab, a fighter from the Nusra Front, a Sunni hardline group linked to al Qaeda, speaking from Syria.

Murtada, a 27-year-old Lebanese Shi'ite who regularly goes to Syria to battle against the rebels, says he is not fighting for Assad, but for the Mahdi, also known as the Imam.

"Even if I am martyred now, when he appears I will be reborn to fight among his army, I will be his soldier," he told Reuters in Lebanon.

Murtada, who has fought in Damascus and in the decisive battle last year for the border town of Qusair, leaves his wife and two children when he goes to fight in Syria: "Nothing is more precious than the Imam, even my family. It is our duty."

Syria's civil war built upon sectarian conflicts elsewhere, especially in Iraq and Lebanon, leading to a growing sense across the region that all those power struggles in individual countries were part of a titanic battle for the future.

Abbas, a 24-year-old Iraqi Shi'ite fighter, said he knew he was living in the era of the Mahdi's return when the United States and Britain invaded Iraq in 2003.

"That was the first sign and then everything else followed," he told Reuters from Baghdad, where he said was resting before heading to Syria for a fourth time.

"I was waiting for the day when I will fight in Syria. Thank God he chose me to be one of the Imam's soldiers."

Abu Hsaasan, a 65 year old pensioner from south Lebanon, said he once thought the prophecies of the end of days would take centuries to come about.

"Things are moving fast. I never thought that I would be living the days of the Imam. Now, with every passing day I am more and more convinced that it is only a matter of few years before he appears."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/01/us-syria-crisis-prophecy-insight-idUSBREA3013420140401?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

[Mark]

Putin Defies Obama in Syria as Arms Fuel Assad Resurgence

  wonder if Putin has crossed any red lines

President Vladimir Putin, condemned by NATO for annexing Crimea, is now defying the U.S. in Syria by sending more and deadlier arms to help Bashar al-Assad score a string of advances against insurgents, military experts say.

Assad’s army, seeking to end a three-year civil war that’s killed 150,000 people and displaced 9 million, started using longer-range Russian Smerch and Uragan rockets for the first time in February, according to Jane’s Defense Weekly and Stratfor, a U.S. geopolitical research company. Syria has also intensified the use of MiG-29 fighter jets with ground-attack capabilities, Stratfor said, citing analyses of video footage.

“Russia is now doing everything to ensure that Assad wins convincingly,” Alexei Malashenko, a Middle East analyst at the Moscow Carnegie Center, said by phone. “If Russia can show it’s capable of carrying out its own foreign policy, regardless of America’s wishes, it will be a major achievement for Putin.”

Putin, who last year averted U.S. airstrikes on Syria by brokering a chemical weapons accord, is seeking to prolong the rule of his closest Arab ally, ignoring U.S. and European Union calls for Assad to step down. The U.S. and EU hit dozens of Putin associates with travel and asset freezes last month to protest Russia’s seizure of Crimea from Ukraine and the U.S. Congress approved additional punitive measures this week.

“The Russian strategy has actually not changed, it’s just that they’re no longer hiding behind a diplomatic facade since Crimea,” Oubai Shahbandar, an adviser to the Syrian opposition, said by phone from Washington.

Russian ‘Lifeline’

Russia is supplying a “lifeline” of ammunition and spare parts for tanks, armored vehicles and helicopters, said Ruslan Pukhov, an adviser to the Defense Ministry in Moscow and head of the Center of Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. Pukhov declined to comment on the rockets and upgraded jets, as did Vyacheslav Davidenko, a spokesman for Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport. The Syrian embassy in Moscow didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. has information about an increase in the “quantity and quality” of Russian arms flows to Syria, Assistant Secretary of State Anne Patterson said on March 26.

“The stability that Russia seeks in Syria will not be achieved by providing planes, tanks, bombs and guns for use against the Syrian people,” Patterson told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington.

Election Campaign

Syria’s constitution requires Assad, 48, to seek re-election to remain president before his second seven-year term runs out in July. He ran unopposed in 2007, winning 98 percent of the vote. Assad’s father, Hafez, who ruled from 1971 until his death in 2000, sided with the Kremlin during the Cold War and Russia still has its only base outside the former Soviet Union at Tartus on Syria’s Mediterranean coast.

It’s “impossible” for Assad to regain legitimacy to govern, Secretary of State John Kerry said today in Algiers.

The United Nations envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said the election, not yet officially announced, will derail peace talks brokered by the U.S. and Russia. President Barack Obama told King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia last week that the U.S. was committed to finding ways to strengthen Assad’s opponents without empowering extremists.

Syrian troops backed by fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah Shiite Muslim group in mid-March seized the strategic border town of Yabroud, a rebel smuggling hub. A week later, Syrian forces recaptured a Crusader castle near Lebanon known as Krak des Chevaliers, which had been in insurgent hands for two years.

Turkish Border

After reclaiming areas near the capital Damascus and securing much of the frontier with Lebanon, Assad’s army is now aiming to re-establish control over the border with Turkey, where many rebel fighters are entrenched, said Alexander Zotov, a former Russian ambassador to Syria. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow said March 19 that commercial flights between Damascus and Aleppo, the northern financial hub that’s seen some of the fiercest fighting, had been resumed.

“Russia’s confidence in Assad’s hold on power has increased as the conflict has evolved in his favor,” Zotov said in an interview in Moscow. “No one is talking about Geneva III or IV now,” Zotov said, referring to the next possible rounds of talks after Geneva II collapsed in February.

The U.S. and Russia sponsored the peace process after reaching a deal with Assad last September to turn over his chemical weapons to international inspectors for destruction.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on state television on March 27 that Russia remains committed to diplomatic efforts to end the war. A week earlier, the ministry said the U.S. had abandoned its role as mediator by expelling all Syrian diplomats apart from those at the UN.

Pretense Abandoned

While Putin has said repeatedly that only the people of Syria can decide Assad’s fate, his government has in fact abandoned all pretense of neutrality, said Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy in Moscow.

“Assad’s victory over insurgents will change everything in the Middle East for Russia,” Lukyanov said by phone. Putin, who has rekindled Soviet ties with Egypt’s new military rulers through multibillion-dollar arms contracts, railed against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for using a UN-backed no-fly zone to oust the late Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.

Putin, first elected in 2000, the same year as Assad, saw his approval rating in Russia surge to 80 percent after incorporating Crimea, the highest level in six years, according to the independent polling group Levada Center.

Al-Qaeda Angst

Leonid Ivashov, a former head of the Russian General Staff’s international cooperation department, said Syria needs Russia’s military support to protect it against U.S. and Israeli interference. “Russia will definitely follow this through,” Ivashov said at a roundtable in Moscow on April 1.

Putin has gained the upper hand in Syria because Obama is reluctant to supply the opposition with advanced weaponry such as guided anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles out of fear they may fall into the hands of radical Islamic groups linked to al-Qaeda, said Igor Korotchenko, a member of the Defense Ministry’s advisory council and the head of the Center for Analysis of World Arms Trade in Moscow.

“Because of that, the Syrian rebels are less active and dangerous than the mujahedeen were in Afghanistan,” Korotchenko said in an interview in the Russian capital, referring to the group of Islamic fighters who were armed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in the 1980s in a successful campaign to force the Soviet Army to withdraw.

Vacuum Bombs

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Paris after talks with Kerry on the crisis in Ukraine on March 30 that he had received assurances that the U.S. won’t supply hand-held missile launchers to Syrian rebels. Kerry in February warned Russia to stop supplying weapons to Assad, saying the support was hampering the peace talks.

Russia was “surging military supplies” to Syria even as negotiators from both sides of the war met in Switzerland in February, according to Shahbandar, the rebel adviser.

The supply of Russian arms includes night-vision equipment, guided missiles, drones and vacuum bombs, Monzer Akbik, chief of staff for the opposition Syrian National Coalition, said by phone from Abu Dhabi.

Maritime records show regular shipments to Syria from the southern Ukrainian port of Oktyabrsk, which Russia uses for military exports, said Jeremy Binnie, a Middle East analyst at Jane’s Defense Weekly. Those supplies most likely consist of spare parts for T-72 tanks, Mi-24 attack helicopters and other equipment, Binnie said. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is based nearby in Crimea, which Putin seized after bloody protests led to the ouster of Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych.

‘Constant Supplies’

“You need constant supplies coming in on a daily basis to keep a sizable military functioning in the field,” Binnie said by phone from London.

Officially, Russia says it’s supplying only defensive weapons unsuitable for civil conflict. It has $3.5 billion of military orders from Syria, including for Yakhont anti-ship cruise missiles, MiG-29 fighter jets and Pantsir short-range air-defense systems, according to data compiled by the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, which studies the global arms trade, said Russia has also been supplying Syria with aerial bombs.

“When Russian officials say the weapons are for defensive use, or are ‘defensive weapons,’ they mean the weapons are to defend the Syrian government against ’insurgents’ or ’terrorists,’” Pieter Wezeman, a senior researcher at SIPRI, said by e-mail.

Naval Force

Putin’s support for Assad includes the deployment of a naval task force in the Mediterranean that makes it impossible for the U.S. to impose an arms blockade on Syria, said Pukhov, the Defense Ministry adviser.

“This is major support without which the regime would have collapsed,” Pukhov said in an interview.

Assad’s forces have suffered some reverses. Islamist rebels late last month seized control of the town of Kasab on the Turkish border, a gateway to the coastal province of Latakia, a stronghold of Assad and his Alawite minority. Government troops recaptured a key hilltop in Latakia on March 31, the state-run SANA news service reported.

A Putin envoy, Sergei Stepashin, met Assad in Damascus yesterday and delivered a message of support for his fight against terrorism, the Interfax news service reported.

“Despite some occasional victories by the rebels, it is already clear that the advantage is with Assad at this point, thanks in large part to the support he receives from Iran, Russia and Hezbollah,” Omar Lamrani, a military analyst at Austin, Texas-based Stratfor, said by phone from Bangkok.

“If the regime continues to receive substantial support from Russia and is able to continue to seize strategic ground around the Syrian core between Damascus and the coast, then the regime would have largely solidified its grasp in power even if it won’t be able to take all of Syria back,” Lamrani said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-02/putin-defies-obama-in-syria-as-arms-fuel-assad-resurgence.html

[Mark]

80% of Syrian chemical weapons shipped out: monitors

Syria has shipped out or destroyed approximately 80 per cent of its declared chemical weapons material, the head of the international team overseeing the disarmament process said. Sigrid Kaag, special coordinator of the joint mission of the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said if the momentum was sustained, Syria should be able to meet its April 27 deadline to hand over all declared chemical agents.   

http://www.smh.com.au/world/80-of-syrian-chemical-weapons-shipped-out-monitors-20140420-zqwvp.html

[Psalm 51:17]

Syria has shipped out or destroyed approximately 80 per cent of its declared chemical weapons material, the head of the international team overseeing the disarmament process said. Sigrid Kaag, special coordinator of the joint mission of the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said if the momentum was sustained, Syria should be able to meet its April 27 deadline to hand over all declared chemical agents.

   

April 27? As in the same date when Pope Frankie will "canonize" a couple of dead Popes into "sainthood"(using 3D technology)?

[Mark]

Air Force Chief Warns Israel May Be on Brink of War

 Israeli air force chief Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel believes that Israel could be on the brink of war with Syria.

The chief is concerned that if things went south at the already tension-heavy border, “sudden war” could erupt reports CBN News.

According to Eshel, Syria has the “best air defenses it could buy” and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad might feel powerful than in the past with the new acquisitions.

Eshel is not the first Israeli leader to warn of unforeseen war; building tensions have led other military leaders to make similar predictions

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2013/May/Israels-Air-Force-Chief-Warns-of-Sudden-War/

[Mark]

Syria chemical weapons: Britain calls for urgent investigation

Britain has called for an urgent investigation into chemical weapons attacks by the Syrian regime after a Telegraph investigation showed chlorine bombs are being used to kill children. Scientific analysis of samples from multiple gas attacks, conducted exclusively for The Telegraph, show sizeable and unambiguous traces of chlorine and ammonia from the scene of three recent attacks.   

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10797723/Syria-chemical-weapons-Britain-calls-for-urgent-investigation.html

[Psalm 51:17]

Here's proof that the Isaiah 17:1-3 prophecy HAS YET to come to pass!

http://www.oldamascus.com/home.htm

Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world

Damascus is the capital of Syria and one of the most ancient cities in the world. Controversial explanations have been made to guess etymological origin of the name of the Syrian capital city. Some hold that “damashaq” means the fast-moving camel... Read article

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http://www.oldamascus.com/damas.htm

The old city of Damascus still preserve its graphical and historical aspects, the high wall which protects the old city of Damascus is crystal clear until today.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damascus

Excerpt:

Damascus has a wealth of historical sites dating back to many different periods of the city's history. Since the city has been built up with every passing occupation, it has become almost impossible to excavate all the ruins of Damascus that lie up to 8 feet (2.4 m) below the modern level.


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If it were really the case that this prophecy came to pass a long time ago, then WHY does this city STILL show artifacts and historical sites dating all the way back to its beginning around the 7th century BC? And to boot - it's not so much that it's the oldest city in the world, but it's the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world - BIG difference! Ultimately, if it became a ruinous heap at any time, it would have been IMPOSSIBLE to preserve ALL of its artifacts and historical sites, right?

2Corinthians 13:1  This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

[Psalm 51:17]

OK, I'm not asking anyone to listen to this sermon, but nonetheless I'm going to give the synopsis he put...

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=921131935340

Recent events have focused much of the world's attention on Syria and Damascus, especially regarding the Obama Administration's plan to attack Syria militarily. Many Christians looked on these events somewhat gleefully in the misguided hope that Damascus WOULD in fact be attacked, because they have the mistaken belief that Isaiah 17:1 has never been fulfilled and therefore Damascus in Syria must yet be destroyed before Christ returns. This commentary explains how Isaiah's prophecy in chapter 17 was probably already fulfilled centuries ago, and does not need to be repeated before Christ returns; and therefore why Christians have no business cheering on or rooting for Obama and his puppetmasters in this insane pursuit of global domination.

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So my question is - is it FOR SURE if the Isaiah 17:1 prophecy was already fulfilled centuries ago? Or is it FOR SURE that it is STILL YET to be fulfilled?

Again, I'm not asking anyone to listen to this(I don't plan to either), but I just want to MAKE SURE which is the correct interpretation.

Thank you.

OK - sorry to bump this from last year - but the Spirit is moving me to point something out...

Notice how Sam Adams(the guy here that's trying to push the idea that Isaiah 17:1-3 has already been fulfilled centuries ago) says it PROBABLY happened. "Probably"? Seriously - either it DID or it DIDN'T, there's no 2 ways about it - IOW, please back it up with PROOF if you claim it didn't.

With that being said...

2Timothy 2:16  But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
2Ti 2:17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
2Ti 2:18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

The part in the 18th verse here where it says "...saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some" reminds me of alot of those false prophet preterists/scoffers who've slowly but surely chipped away at alot of these Israel/ME bible/scripture prophecies that have yet to be fulfilled(and say they were already fulfilled centuries ago), and the more they chip away - the more they end up throwing the baby out of the bathwater(Israel being the primary focus in the end times). And the more they do this, the more they end up ripping pages out of scripture. See where this is going? It ends up coming to a point where they end up telling everyone how Jesus' return for his saints either won't happen for a long, long time, or won't happen at all.("and overthrow the faith of some")

And yes - when they use words like "It PROBABLY happened..." - like said, either it did happen, or didn't. They end up talking "vain babblings" and raising more doubt.

1Timothy 1:4  Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.

2Timothy 2:23  But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.

Titus 3:9  But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

[Psalm 51:17]

Syria's Assad wins presidential vote in landslide @AP

[Mark]

Did Israel Just Start World War III?

Doug Hagmann and I have been very consistent in stating that World War III would begin in Syria. Further, my military sources have been telling me for 15 months that war in the Middle East, and possibly World War III, will commence in Syria for a variety of reasons. The world is beginning to witness the unfolding of this prediction. Historians may look back upon Israel’s recent attack upon nine military targets inside of Syria as the Archduke moment for World War III.
A Convenient Provocation

A total of nine Syrian military targets have been hit by Israeli jets and guided missiles, according to IDF officials. The IDF claims they were a part of a clear message being delivered to the Syrians in response to a series of cross-border shootings to protect the citizens of Israel. As many as 10 Syrian soldiers have been killed, but that is not the real story. The attacks, on the surface appear to be a retaliation to the threats posed by Syria against Israeli citizens, most notably, the killing of anIsraeli teen, Mohammed Karaka.

On the surface, the attacks appear to be measured and completely justified. However, when one examines the nature of the attacks, a very ominous picture begins to emerge. The bulk of the attacks were directed against targets on the Golan Heights. This is highly significant because any conventional military force incursion into Syria would have to be precipitated by eliminating the threat to Israel posed by forces on the Golan Heights.

As tragic as the killing of the Israeli teen, Mohammed Karaka is, his death is being exploited by Israel because the boy was an Arab who was also an Israeli citizen. To some degree, this gives Israel the moral high ground because Israel’s military actions are not just based upon retaliation for the killing of an Israeli teen, he is also an Arab. What a perfect poster child, pun intended, to justify Israel’s actions against Syria.

Israel is exploiting the situation for military gain and I am speaking directly about some of the military targets which were attacked by Israel that have nothing to do with retaliating against Syria for the death of the boy. Many of the targets included, anti-aircraft military installations. And what would be the one target that Israel would have to take out prior to having its tanks cross the board and attack Damascus?  Any prelude to invasion, whether it be by the U.S., NATO, Israel or ISIS, would consist of taking out the anti-aircraft capabilities of Syrian military bases.

In order to launch a successful invasion, either by proxy forces or through direct intervention, Israel would need to have an immediate and complete control of the skies. The “retaliation” for the death of the Israeli teen allowed Israel the pretext and ability to test the capabilities of the anti-aircraft facilities by striking at them under the guise of retaliating for the killing of a teen.
Why Syria?

It is no secret that Russia cannot match America/NATO airpower. Therefore, the Russians have built the best anti-aircraft facilities in the world and the Russian capabilities in this area are second to none. Since Russia is considered to be the architect of the Syrian military, it would make sense that Syria could be expected to have some of the same capabilities that Russia enjoys with regard to this type of defense. Therefore, it makes even more sense that Israel needs to test the Syrian defenses prior to attacking. Hence,  you have the real reason for yesterday’s attacks.

Israel wants to escalate the situation. They want the world to believe that it can expect Syria to have a provoking counter response. However, Assad is not ignorant enough to play into Israel’s hand and retaliate. Therefore, a reason must be invented and yes, I am speaking about a major false flag event which will be promoted by and carried out by the CIA and possibly the Mossad.
The ISIS Factor

ISIS will no doubt cross into Syria and its actions will lead to widespread destabilization of the Syrian government. The world would soon see a horrific carnage as ISIS’ actions in Iraq are merely the preliminary event.

Syria must be taken and fortified by the West. Holding Syria is the key to warding off a Russian invasion should the IDF and NATO invade Iran to stop its practice of selling its oil for gold to the BRICS.

If Syria is occupied, the United States will be able to employ airpower and utilize its small and medium missile batteries. These weapons would be able to repel a Russian counter-attack in Syria. With Russia being stopped at the gate, the door is open to invade Iran. Yet, another false flag will have to be unleashed to give the U.S. the justification to invade Iran.

In retaliation, Ukraine may be overrun by Russia, however, this might be an acceptable loss as the real threat to American hegemony and Western central banking dominance is more threatened by Iran’s rogue move of forsaking the dollar. The Petrodollar is gasping for breath and the U.S. must act now.

While appearing as a guest on my show on June 15, 2014, Doug Hagmann predicted that ISIS will not only consume Iraq but will blow by the border and go into Syria as well. Israeli air support would be needed to use these CIA funded proxy troops to stir up civil unrest, otherwise ISIS would be crushed by the Syrian military. This action against Syria will require either the Americans or the IDF to take out the Syrian command and control structures, such as its air defenses, thus leaving Damascus basically undefended. The CIA has attempted to destabilize Assad for three years by starting and supporting a bloody civil war. However, these actions have not resulted in the desired regime change. Therefore, intervention in Syria is being taken to a whole new level.
Conclusion

Israel’s controversial military actions were not motivated by the death of one teenager. The teen is the convenient excuse. Now that the IDF has its answers as to Syrian military air defenses, the path is paved for an invasion of Syria and the fall of Assad has begun. With regime change in sight, an occupied Syria will result as a new puppet Syrian regime will do exactly what they are told to do. The only remaining question is who will use nuclear weapons first. This will be the topic of a future article.

http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2014/06/23/did-israel-just-start-world-war-iii/

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-seeks-500m-train-equip-syrian-rebels-185903098--politics.html
Obama seeks $500M to train, equip Syrian rebels
6/26/14

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama asked Congress Thursday for $500 million to train and arm vetted members of the Syrian opposition, as the U.S. struggles for a way to stem a civil war that has also fueled the al-Qaida inspired insurgency in neighboring Iraq.

The military training program would deepen the Obama administration's involvement in the more than four-year conflict between rebels and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad. If approved by Congress, the program would supplement a covert train-and-assistance program run by U.S. intelligence agencies.

The Syria program is part of a broader $65.8 billion overseas operations request that the administration sent to Congress Thursday. The package includes $1 billion to help stabilize nations bordering Syria that are struggling with the effects of the civil war. It also formalizes a request for a previously announced $1 billion to strengthen the U.S. military presence in Central and Eastern Europe amid Russia's threatening moves in Ukraine.

The requests come as Obama faces fresh criticism of his restrained policies in Syria, which some White House opponents contend allowed the Sunni insurgency pressing through Iraq to gain strength. U.S. officials increasingly see the instability in Syria and Iraq as a single challenge, with the border between the two countries increasingly blurred.

Obama hinted earlier this year that he was seeking ways to boost assistance to moderate Syrian rebels who are struggling to make gains in their clashes with Assad's forces.

"In helping those who fight for the right of all Syrians to choose their own future, we also push back against the growing number of extremists who find safe haven in the chaos," Obama told graduating cadets during a May 28 commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy.

Officials said the administration would coordinate with Congress and regional players on the specific types of training and assistance the U.S. would provide the opposition. One potential option would be to base U.S. personnel in Jordan and conduct the training exercise there.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has already approved a version of the sweeping defense policy bill authorizing the Defense Department to provide "equipment, supplies, training and defense services" to elements of the Syrian opposition that have been screened. The Senate could act on the bill before the August recess.

In addition to the covert train-and-equip mission, the U.S. has also provided nearly $287 million in nonlethal assistance to the moderate opposition.

The military program would be supplemented by $1 billion in assistance to Syria's neighbors — Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Iraq — to help them deal with an influx of refugees and the threat of extremists spilling over their borders.

Iraq in particular is buckling amid lightening gains by the Sunni extremist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which also has a stronghold inside Syria. The group has seized large swaths of Iraq and seeks to carve out a purist Islamic enclave across both sides of the Syria-Iraq border.

The instability in Iraq comes as Obama continues to grapple with a crisis in Ukraine, with Russia widely believed to be backing pro-Moscow insurgents in eastern Ukrainian cities. Russia's threats have stoked anxiety among U.S. allies in the region, who are seeking deeper military assistance from the U.S.

The overseas contingency requests includes a $1 billion program that would increase the U.S. military presence in Central and Eastern Europe, boost training exercises with allies and allow the Pentagon to position equipment in the region. Obama announced the program during a trip to Poland earlier this month.

The total overseas contingency package is about $21 billion less than the administration said it expected to request when Obama submitted his fiscal year 2015 budget to Congress earlier this year. Officials said the decrease is in part of reflection of Obama's plans to drawdown the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan to about 10,000 forces by the beginning of next year.

Obama is still waiting for the Afghan government to sign a security agreement with the U.S. that would allow those forces to stay.

In Congress, some lawmakers have looked at the overseas account as a source of cash as the Pentagon has been forced to cut its core budget. The House's version of the sweeping defense policy bill for next year shifts some $600 million from the overseas account to spare the A-10 Warthog, the close air support aircraft that has a strong coalition of Republican and Democratic support on Capitol Hill.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iraq-turmoil/isis-creating-safe-haven-terrorists-syria-say-officials-n153831
ISIS Creating 'Safe Haven' For Terrorists in Syria, Say Officials
By Robert Windrem

While the world focuses on the military advances ISIS has made in western Iraq, U.S. officials and terrorism experts point across the border to Syria, where the radical Islamist militia has consolidated recent gains and maybe forming a “safe haven” from which terror attacks against Western targets could be launched.

"In recent weeks, ISIS has consolidated its control over a large area in eastern Syria, where it has established a safe haven, from which external operations can be planned," said a senior U.S. counterterrorism official.

Mosul, Iraq may be the city where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi publicly proclaimed the existence of a new Islamic state, or “caliphate,” but the capital of his domain is Raqqa, in eastern Syria. The city of 220,000 is where ISIS is at its strongest, and also the place that officials and experts fear could serve as a base of operations for terrorists.

"The Sunni region of Iraq remains an active and chaotic battlefield for the most part, while there are areas of eastern Syria which have become secure redoubts for both ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusrah (the al-Qaeda affiliate fighting in Syria) and serve as home to fixed training camps, bases, and headquarters for these jihadi groups," said Evan Kohlmann of Flashpoint Intelligence, an NBC News analyst. "It is these locations, such as the city of Raqqa, that present the most serious potential terrorist threat to Western countries including the United States."

Until recently, ISIS and al-Nusrah, the two most powerful Islamist groups in the Syrian resistance, had been battling for dominance in the region. About nine months ago, they had a falling out over tactics. Al Qaeda central objected to the wanton killing of Shia Muslim civilians by ISIS, and reminded the Islamic world that it supported al-Nusrah, its local affiliate.

In the past few weeks, however, ISIS has consolidated its control over Eastern Syria, even if that ascendance.

"There is always a lot of back and forth on gains between ISIS and Nusrah," said Michael Leiter, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center and an NBC News analyst. "Certainly ISIS feels even more secure in eastern Syria than it does in Iraq and in that regard it shows that the fight against ISIS must clearly be a transborder one."

The question for U.S. intelligence in this mix is the intentions of ISIS -- particularly its leader, al-Baghdadi, who has called for attacks on the west and U.S. As of yet, he hasn't carried them out, perhaps because he is too busy with the fight in Iraq and the establishment of the caliphate, said one U.S. counter-terrorism official.

Still, says the official, there is growing concern about the ambitions of al-Baghdadi, whose real name is Ibrahim Awad al-Badry. As one U.S. official said, he is certainly ambitious enough to name himself caliph, official political successor to the Prophet Muhammad. And the violence he has reaped across the two countries, killing thousands in the last year alone speaks to his ruthlessness. Moreover, U.S. officials note that al Baghdadi was captured and held by the U.S. military for ten months in 2004. From February through December, he was a prisoner at Camp Bucca near Basra in southern Iraq. Officials are reviewing records to determine if there's anything to be gleaned about his intentions.

Officials say there is already intelligence that some radical groups in eastern Syria, not necessarily either ISIS or al-Nusrah, have reached out to bombmakers in Yemen, asking for help in sophisticated bomb-making, but perhaps signaling a more expansive role beyond the current battlefield.

The U.S. is limited in what it can do as long as it retains its policy of not conducting military operations in Syria or Iraq, but Kohlmann suggests that if there is intelligence of planning, the U.S. may be forced to act.

"Any serious effort to strike at the ability of ISIS to launch attacks on the United States would almost certainly have to focus on these areas as much (if not more so) than Iraqi territory."

First published July 12th 2014, 2:44 am

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-president-assad-sworn-3rd-term-095432372.html
Syrian President Assad sworn in for 3rd term
7/16/14

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Proclaiming the Syrian people winners in a "dirty war" waged by outsiders, President Bashar Assad was sworn in on Wednesday for a third seven-year term despite the bloody civil war ignited by a mass uprising against his rule.

Assad, who appeared confident and occasionally made jokes during his inaugural address, declared victory over "terrorism" and said countries that supported the Syrian opposition "will pay a high price."

The grandiose ceremony at the presidential palace in Damascus caps a year of steady battlefield advances by Assad's forces against the outgunned rebels, who have been bogged down by infighting since January.

Syrian state TV broadcast what it said was a live ceremony Wednesday during which Assad took the oath of office. The TV showed Assad arriving in a black sedan at the People's Palace in the Qassioun Mountain, the scenic plateau that overlooks the capital from the north.

A band played the Syrian national anthem after which the 48-year-old president was seen walking a red carpet past an honor guard into a hall packed with members of parliament and Christian and Muslim clergyman.

more

[Mark]

U.S. ship finishes neutralizing Syria's worst chemical arms: Pentagon

A specially equipped U.S. ship has finished neutralizing all 600 metric tons of the most dangerous of Syria's chemical weapons components surrendered to the international community this year to avert threatened air strikes, the Pentagon said on Monday.   

http://news.yahoo.com/u-ship-finishes-neutralizing-syrias-worst-chemical-arms-225005664--finance.html

[Mark]

West poised to join forces with President Assad in face of Islamic State

Islamist forces are fighting their way into western Syria from bases further east, bringing forward the prospect of US military intervention to stop their advance. If Isis, which styles itself Islamic State, threatens to take all or part of Aleppo, establishing complete dominance over the anti-government rebels, the US may be compelled to act publicly or secretly in concert with President Bashar al-Assad, whom it has been trying to displace.

The US has already covertly assisted the Assad government by passing on intelligence about the exact location of jihadi leaders through the BND, the German intelligence service, a source has told The Independent. This may explain why Syrian aircraft and artillery have been able on occasion to target accurately rebel commanders and headquarters.

Syrian army troops are engaged in a fierce battle to hold Tabqa airbase in Raqqa province, the fall of which would open the way to Hama, Syria’s fourth-largest city.

Further north, Isis has captured crucial territory that brings it close to cutting rebel supply lines between Aleppo and the Turkish border. The caliphate declared by Isis on 29 June already covers the eastern third of Syria in addition to a quarter of Iraq. It stretches from Jalawla, a town 20 miles from Iran, which the Iraqi army and Kurdish Peshmerga are trying to recapture, to towns 30 miles north of Aleppo.

rest: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/west-poised-to-join-forces-with-president-assad-in-face-of-islamic-state-9686666.html

[Mark]

 

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/12/isis-deal-syria_n_5814128.html
9/12/14
ISIS Strikes Deal With Moderate Syrian Rebels: Reports

As the United States begins to deepen ties with moderate Syrian rebels to combat the extremist group ISIS, also known as the Islamic State, a key component of its coalition appears to have struck a non-aggression pact with the group.

According to Agence France-Presse, ISIS and a number of moderate and hard-line rebel groups have agreed not to fight each other so that they can focus on taking down the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Other sources say the signatories include a major U.S. ally linked to the Free Syrian Army.

The deal between ISIS and the moderate Syrian groups casts doubt over President Barack Obama's freshly announced strategy to arm and train the groups against ISIS.

The AFP report cited information from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based group monitoring the Syrian civil war, which said parties to the agreement "promise not to attack each other because they consider the principal enemy to be the Nussayri regime." The term Nussayri refers to the Alawite ethnic group that Assad and many of his supporters belong to. AFP said the agreement was signed in a suburb of the Syrian capital, where ISIS has a strong presence.

Charles Lister, a fellow at the Brookings Institution's Doha Center, cited a report from the anti-regime Orient Net website to suggest on Twitter that the signatories of the ceasefire include a U.S.-backed coalition called the Syrian Revolutionary Front. According to the U.K.-based outlet Middle East Eye, that same Orient Net report says the ceasefire between groups described in the U.S. as "moderate rebels" and the Islamic State was mediated by the al-Nusra Front, al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria.

As recently as March, the Syrian Revolutionary Front and its leader were described in Foreign Policy as "the West's best fighting chance against Syria's Islamist armies." As of that report, the group controlled 25,000 fighters and its leader had close ties with the Western-friendly Syrian National Coalition.

Its leader initially won Western favor by successfully fighting ISIS in northern Syria.

"He proved his mettle in a sense and that's what endeared him to the Americans," said Joshua Landis, a prominent Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma. "The Americans are looking for people who can actually fight. That's been their problem: they've gone with people who are moderate but they don't know to fight. This guy appears to be both moderate and he knows how to fight."

The Orient Net report on the ceasefire identified the Syrian Revolutionary Front as part of the Free Syrian Army, the loose array of non-jihadist rebel brigades that the U.S. has directly supported since last year. Obama asked Congress to approve $500 million to train and equip "vetted" Syrian rebels this summer. He repeated his request in his address Wednesday about ISIS.

Despite its reputation as a palatable ally, the U.S.-backed Syrian Revolutionary Front has previously said that its chief goal is not to stop the rise of extremists, but to topple Assad. In April, its leader told The Independent, "It’s clear that I’m not fighting against al-Qa’ida. This is a problem outside of Syria’s border, so it’s not our problem. I don’t have a problem with anyone who fights against the regime inside Syria."

The prospect of a group once supported by the U.S. now sitting down with ISIS raises fundamental questions about U.S. strategy in Syria. Why support Syrians who have a very different, clearly stated goal and who will act as they see fit to achieve it? What assurance does the administration have that fighters it trains and arms in Syria won't ally with ISIS if it seems like the most effective anti-Assad force?

The White House argues that its ability to spotlight and support reliable rebel groups has been heightened by improved and expanded intelligence. In an interview with The Huffington Post before news of the pact broke, deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes expressed confidence in U.S. allies in the region.

"We have been working with the Syrian opposition now for a couple of years, providing them assistance, non-lethal at first but then we [now] provide them with some military assistance, so we know them better today than we did a year, two years ago," Rhodes said. "There are people who have been vetted who we have relationships with, who we deliver assistance to, so we're not starting from scratch."

Many of those groups, the administration acknowledges, have not passed a vetting process, which explains the delay in expanding assistance. But the news that the Syrian Revolutionary Front, a major player in the moderate coalition, has now chosen to stop fighting ISIS may inspire other groups, either already vetted or still waiting for aid, to determine that a deal with the extremist group is worthwhile. Given reports that Assad avoided fighting ISIS in order to crush the moderate rebels -- his calculus being that the West would eventually combat the extremists, as it is now doing -- potential U.S. partners may decide that instead of being prey to both extremists and the government, they should settle one battle.

"These guys are all starved for arms," Landis said. "They don’t want to go get themselves killed by fighting ISIS until they figure out where Obama is."

That turns a conflict that the White House hopes is three-sided -- with radical Sunnis, moderate Sunnis and Assad all battling each other -- into a sectarian, two-sided war of Sunnis against Assad. Reports already suggest that Syrians who entered the civil war opposing Assad are now turning to ISIS as their best bet for a different kind of government.

Rhodes warned that a wrong move by the U.S. may lead to that precise perception and reality.

"If we were to try to run a play with Assad, we would ensure that they" -- all Sunni rebel groups -- "were turned against us, and in fact we would be taking sides in a sectarian war against one side. We need a Sunni partner in these countries," he said. "That's why we need this inclusive government [in Iraq] and that's why we need a Sunni opposition partner in Syria."

This news suggests that partners will be hard to find. Lister said the pact is a product of failed U.S.-led Western policy in Syria.

"This underlines serious frustration w. lack of US-backing to [Free Syrian Army] opposition in fight vs Assad," he tweeted.

If true, Landis said, the news of a ceasefire proves Washington does not know who it can support or trust within the fractured country.

"We don't know who the moderates are," Landis said. Describing a recent interview in which a Free Syrian Army commander told an Arab outlet that the U.S. wanted to make Syrian rebels "slaves," he added, "These guys are supposed to be our buddies?"

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/sep/13/us-train-5000-syrian-rebels-fight-militants/
9/13/14
U.S. to train 5,000 Syrian rebels to fight militants

Obama junks earlier doubts about rebels’ abilities

The Pentagon has announced that it expects to train 5,000 Syrian rebels per year as part of President Obama’s new campaign to battle Islamic State militants.

Details of the administration’s $500 million plan to train and equip Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State began to surface Friday when Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby outlined the goals that U.S. military planners expected to achieve.

That goal includes training and equipping the Syrian rebels in a foreign country over the course of about a year, according to Rear Adm. Kirby.

Mr. Obama had long resisted called to arm and train the rebels, pro-U.S. moderates who had been battling the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, belittling their ability to take on the government and to control the most extremist elements of the rebel coalition.

The U.S. military has already located a partner nation willing to host the training force, Rear Adm. Kirby said. Saudi Arabia has already indicated that it would play a key component in the Obama administration’s training plan, he said.

“We think that, now that we’ve got a partner in the region to help us with the training, is that we could train more than 5,000 fighters over the course of one year,” he said. “Now, that would be in phases. It would not be all at once. The training itself would not take a full year, but we think that we could get more than 5,000 done in one year.”

The Pentagon is still trying to work out details of that plan, such as how to vet and recruit those Syrian fighters who are qualified to train with U.S. military personnel, according to Rear Adm. Kirby.

Congress has to approve the Obama administration’s request for the funding before military personnel could proceed with their training plan.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://allenbwest.com/2014/09/house-resolution-fund-syrian-rebels-pure-unadulterated-madness/
House resolution to fund Syrian rebels: pure unadulterated madness
Written by Allen West on September 17, 2014

The Obama administration and indeed now Congress are apparently dead set on “arming” Syrian rebels to fight against ISIS. These are the same folks to which the president referred to as doctors, farmers, and pharmacists and said any endeavor to arm them was a “fantasy.” Well, looks like that fantasy is about to come true.

As reported by USA Today, “The U.S. House is preparing a resolution to authorize President Obama’s plan to arm and train Syrian rebels to fight the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The language, drafted by the House Armed Services Committee and unveiled Monday evening, is on track for a Wednesday vote to add it to a stop-gap funding bill to keep the government open until early December. While the amendment is likely to draw opposition from both GOP and Democratic corners, it is likely to ultimately pass with bipartisan support.”

If you’re wondering how I would vote on the resolution in committee and on the House floor — it would be a resounding nay! And I would be as vocal in speaking out against this resolution as I am right now.

Imagine the disrespect to our men and women in uniform who have recently received “pink slips” essentially firing them from service to our country — some of them are in combat zones receiving this notification.

So now we’re going to expend resources to hire — outsource — individuals who without a thorough vetting to fight the enemy of America, ISIS? If we cannot afford to pay our own, why should we be paying and using taxpayer funds for these shadow figures?

Members of Congress are about to sign off on $500 million of American taxpayer dollars while we refuse to take care of our own military — that ladies and gents makes no doggone sense.

Now, I understand the Special Forces mission of Foreign Internal Defense (FID) and fully support that — as we did working with the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan. However, the U.S. history of arming one group of jihadis to fight is not that great.

We did so in Afghanistan supporting the Mujahideen against the Soviets and that gave way to what became the Taliban and ultimately al-Qaida. We should never forget that it was Osama bin Laden who fought with the Mujahids.

If you want recent history, just look at Libya where we armed and supported Islamists forces to overthrow Qaddafy — and what has been the result? We had an American Special Mission Compound (SMC) attacked, four dead Americans (to include an Ambassador), and the evacuation of our embassy.

We hear the U.S. will monitor the Syrian rebels to ensure our weapons don’t fall into the wrong hands — we did a crappy job of that in Libya. Furthermore, there have been instances of these Syrian rebels teaming up with al-Qaida offshoots, like Jabhat al-Nusra who attacked UN peacekeepers.

USA Today says “the House resolution makes clear that it does not authorize sending U.S. ground troops to fight the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. It puts requirements on the Pentagon to report back to Congress 15 days before the mission begins. Those restraints are necessary for winning congressional support from lawmakers wary of continued U.S. involvement in the Middle East.”

So here we now have our U.S. House of Representatives, the House Armed Services Committee, drafting a resolution stating how we’re not going to fight a combat operation? This is pure unadulterated madness and why I have absolutely no confidence in this decision to fund Syrian rebels.

We are looking at arming “moderates” who are fighting against a dictator to fight against “extremists” while we sit back at 30,000 ft and just hope? Why aren’t we allowing the U.S. military to plan an operation that advances the defeat of ISIS — not about holding terrain, just killing the enemy? We look completely dysfunctional as a nation.

Even more disconcerting is that the action on the amendment and the underlying funding bill are likely to be the last major acts of Congress before they adjourn for the final stretch ahead of the midterm elections. So our elected representatives will pass some mess and then run home and ask for your vote?

I will not support any Member of the U.S. House who supports this resolution. This is a horrible response and if this is the future of U.S. national security, let’s just dissolve our U.S. military and outsource our security – that’s what Rome ended up doing as it glided towards its demise. We have an enemy, ISIS, who has declared war against us and beheaded our citizens and we want to trust someone else to fight for us.

At a time of global crisis this is the answer? Pass a terrible resolution and go home? Can this actually be the best that America can do? Obama didn’t present a viable strategy — this is just a matter of kicking the can down the road — but hey, here’s your blank check for $500 million.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/wary-lawmakers-ready-ok-arms-syrian-rebels-071034181--politics.html
House grudgingly approves arms for Syrian rebels
9/17/14

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-controlled House voted grudgingly Wednesday to give the administration authority to train and arm Syrian rebels as President Barack Obama emphasized anew that American forces "do not and will not have a combat mission" in the struggle against Islamic State militants in either Iraq or Syria.

The 273-156 vote crossed party lines to an unusual degree in a Congress marked by near-ceaseless partisanship. Top Republican and Democratic leaders backed Obama's plan seven weeks before midterm elections, while dozens of rank-and-file lawmakers in both parties opposed it.

The provision was added to spending legislation that will ensure the federal government operates normally after the Sept. 30 end of the budget year. Final approval is expected in the Senate on Thursday.

Even supporters of the military plan found little to trumpet. "This is the best of a long list of bad options," said Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va.

One Republican supporter noted the measure includes strict limits on Obama's authority. "Members on both sides of the aisle are very concerned that too much of Congress' warmaking power has gone to the president," said Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma.

Obama's remarks and similar comments Wednesday by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California seemed designed to reassure liberal lawmakers that the new military mission would be limited.

In a statement following the vote, Obama said the House "took an important step forward as our nation unites to confront the threat posed" by the Islamic State group, showing bipartisan support for a "critical component" of his strategy against the extremists.

Only a day earlier, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, drew widespread attention when he told Congress he might recommend the use of U.S. ground combat forces if Obama's current strategy fails to stop the militants.

Across the political aisle from the president and Pelosi, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California swung behind the plan. Yet many other Republicans expressed concerns that it would be insufficient to defeat militants who have overrun parts of Syria and Iraq and beheaded two American journalists.

In all, 85 Democrats and 71 Republicans voted to deny Obama the authority he sought. The measure passed on the strength of 159 votes from Republicans and 114 from Democrats.

GOP lawmakers took solace in the short-term nature of the legislation. It grants Obama authority only until Dec. 11, giving Congress plenty of time to return to the issue in a postelection session set to begin in mid-November.

While the military provision was given a separate vote in the House — to tack it onto the spending bill — it seemed unlikely there would be a yes-or-no vote in the Senate on Obama's new military strategy to train rebel forces in Saudi Arabia to be used in conjunction with potential U.S. airstrikes.

Instead, the Senate is likely to vote only once on the legislation that combines approval for arming and training rebels with the no-shutdown federal spending provisions.

Officials put a $500 million price tag on Obama's request to train and equip rebels. The cost generated virtually no discussion among lawmakers, who focused instead on the possible consequences of a new military mission not long after America ended participation in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Testifying before a Senate Committee, Secretary of State John Kerry said the forces seeking to create an Islamic state " must be defeated. Period. End of story."

There was little, if any dissent on that, but debate aplenty about the best way to accomplish it.

"We simply don't know if somewhere down the line it will turn our guns back against us," said Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., giving voice to a fear that rebels seeking the removal of Syrian president Bashar Assad would eventually prove unreliable allies.

Republican Rep. Tom McClintock of California expressed a different concern. "Committing insufficient force in any conflict is self-defeating, and airstrikes alone cannot win a war," he said.

Dempsey's day-old remarks had staying power.

U.S. troops "will support Iraqi forces on the ground as they fight for their own country against these terrorists," Obama told officers in Florida at U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military efforts in the Middle East. He added, "As your commander in chief, I will not commit you and the rest of our armed forces to fighting another ground war in Iraq."

Vice President Joe Biden said in Iowa that Gen. Dempsey's "conclusion is that it is not needed now." Biden added: "We'll determine that based on how the effort goes."

Pelosi said the House action "is not to be confused with any authorization to go further. ... I will not vote for combat troops to engage in war."

In Baghdad, Iraq's new prime minister told The Associated Press in an interview that his government wants no part of a U.S. ground combat mission. "Not only is it not necessary; we don't want them. We won't allow them," Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said.

The spending legislation also renews the charter of the Export-Import Bank, which helps finance purchases of U.S. exports. That postpones until next June a battle between tea party forces opposing the bank and business-oriented Republicans who support it.

The legislation also includes $88 million to combat the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa.

It passed on a vote of 319-108.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/thousands-syrian-kurds-enter-turkey-fleeing-islamic-state-083358378.html
About 60,000 Syrian Kurds flee to Turkey from Islamic State advance
9/20/14

 SURUC Turkey (Reuters) - About 60,000 Syrian Kurds fled into Turkey in the space of 24 hours, a deputy prime minister said on Saturday, as Islamic State militants seized dozens of villages close to the border.

Turkey opened a stretch of the frontier on Friday after Kurdish civilians fled their homes, fearing an imminent attack on the border town of Ayn al-Arab, also known as Kobani. A Kurdish commander on the ground said Islamic State had advanced to within 15 km (9 miles) of the town.

Local Kurds said they feared a massacre in Kobani, whose strategic location has been blocking the radical Sunni Muslim militants from consolidating their gains across northern Syria.

The United States has said it is prepared to carry out airstrikes in Syria to stop the advances of Islamic State, which has also seized tracts of territory in neighbouring Iraq and has proclaimed a caliphate in the heart of the Middle East.

U.S. forces have bombed the group in Iraq at the request of the government, but it is unclear when or where any military action might take place in Syria, whose president, Bashar al-Assad, Washington says is no longer legitimate.

more

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/watchdog-french-hostage-killed-extremists-152926915.html
Algerian Islamic militants behead French hostage
9/24/14

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — An Algerian splinter group from al-Qaida has beheaded a French hostage over France's airstrikes on the Islamic State group, in a sign of the possible widening of the crisis in Iraq and Syria to the rest of the region.

The killing of Herve Gourdel, a mountaineer who was kidnapped while hiking in Algeria, was a "cowardly assassination," a visibly upset French President Francois Hollande said Wednesday, but he vowed to continue the military operation.

"Herve Gourdel is dead because he is the representative of a people — ours — that defends human dignity against barbarity," Hollande said on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York. "France will never cede to terrorism because it is our duty, and, more than that, because it is our honor."

On Friday, France joined the U.S. in conducting airstrikes on the Islamic State group in Iraq. Two days later, the Islamic State group called on Muslims to attack foreign targets, and the response in Algeria raised the specter of attacks on Westerners elsewhere.

Gourdel, a 55-year-old mountaineering guide from Nice, was seized Sunday night while hiking in the Djura Djura mountains of northern Algeria. His Algerian companions were released.

more

[Psalm 51:17]

 

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/12/07/israeli-airstrikes-hit-near-damascus-syria-state-news-agency-says/?intcmp=latestnews
12/7/14
Israeli airstrikes reportedly hit near Damascus

DAMASCUS, Syria –  Israeli warplanes reportedly carried out two airstrikes Sunday near Damascus, one near the city's international airport and a second outside a town close to the Lebanese border.

Sources told Fox News the strike targeted weapons that were about to be delivered to Hezbollah in the next couple of days. The source refused to officially confirm any Israeli involvement.

Fox News learned that the military part of the airport in Damascus was one of the targets. This is the first strike that was carried out in broad daylight.

SANA, Syria's state news agency, called the attack "an aggression against Syria" and said there were no reports of casualties. The Israeli military said it does not comment on "foreign reports."

Syria's state news agency did not provide any details on what was hit near the Damascus airport or in the town of Dimas, which is located along the main highway from the Syrian capital to the Lebanese frontier crossing.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that monitors the country's civil war through a network of activists on the ground, said the strike near the Damascus airport hit a warehouse, although it was unclear what was in the building.

The Observatory also said that around 10 explosions could be heard outside a military area near Dimas. It had no word on casualties in either strike.

Israel has carried out several airstrikes in Syria since the revolt against President Bashar Assad began in March 2011. Most of the strikes have targeted sophisticated weapons systems, including Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles and Iranian-made missiles, believed to be destined for Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group.

Israel has never confirmed the airstrikes.

While Israel has tried to stay out of the war in neighboring Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly threatened to take military action to prevent Syria from transferring sophisticated weapons to its ally Hezbollah. Israel and Hezbollah are bitter enemies and fought an intense monthlong war in 2006.

[Mark]

ISIS Closing in on Israel from the North and the South

The war against ISIS is taking a dangerous, perhaps inevitable turn. The terror organization has been keen to expand to southern Syria and the Syrian capital of Damascus. Now it says it has recruited three Syrian rebel groups operating in the south of the country in an area bordering the Israeli occupied Golan Heights — that have switched their loyalties to ISIS.

This switch means that Israel, the U.S.’s closest ally in the Middle East, could be threatened from the southwest by the Egyptian ISIS group of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis in Sinai and by ISIS in southern Syria.

The ISIS war is not going well at all for the US-led alliance in Syria. ISIS and al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, are still the dominant rebel groups in the country. The U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army is still not a reliable fighting force.

The three rebel groups that just joined ISIS could make that situation even worse. Two of the groups are small in number, but the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade has hundreds of fighters. The Yarmouk Brigades has been at odds with al-Nusra Front and switched now to join what leaders of all thrwee groups believe is the future of Islam.

“If Israel was attacked by ISIS, America would expect a proportionate response by Israel, which is militarily capable of defending itself,” said Geoffrey Levin, a professor at New York University. “America would counsel against sustained Israeli involvement because it could threaten the tacit alliance between America, Iran, Turkey, and several Arab states against ISIS.”

“More recent reports indicated a closer alliance with [the Islamic State] due to tensions with JN [al-Nusra Front],” said Jasmine Opperman, a researcher at Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium (TRAC). She said al-Nusra attacked the headquarters of the Yarmouk Brigade in southern Syria in early December 2014 following clashes between the two groups.

Al-Yarmuk Martyrs Brigade controlled an area near the Jordan-Israel border in March 2013. That same month, the brigade took as hostages some of the United Nations peacekeeping mission soldiers. Even so, Israel reportedly allowed the brigade to have its wounded fighters treated in Israeli hospitals.

ISIS has been known for launching surprise attacks and opening new battlefronts when it seems to be losing. ISIS also has been criticized by many Arabs and Muslims for not taking its fight to Israel and instead fighting fellow Arabs and Muslims. An attack aimed at Israel may boost ISIS’s popularity in the Arab world and refresh its recruitment and funding efforts.

On the other hand, some of ISIS’s top military commanders were former officers in Saddam Hussein’s army, and they may resort to what Saddam did in the 1991 Gulf War when he attacked Israel with mid-range rockets, hoping to drag the Israelis into a conflict that he was losing.

An Israeli retaliation in 1991 could have jeopardized the U.S-led coalition that then included Arab countries like Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia. The same is true now.

“It would be more likely a sign of desperation, as were Saddam's attempts to lure Israel into the 1991 war as a way of breaking the Arab coalition against him,” said NYU’s Levin. At that time, continuous pressure from the first Bush administration and the installation of the Patriot anti-rocket system convinced the Israelis to refrain from reacting to Saddam’s attack.

Israel could launch a preemptive attack to destroy or significantly damage these ISIS-affiliated units whether by air or by ground forces. Israel used its advanced air force to launch attacks in Syria several times since the beginning of Syrian civil war in 2011.

Meanwhile, Israel has recently boosted its defenses in the Golan Heights, saying its main concern was to prevent any major weapon transfer from Syria to Hezbollah, the Lebanese guerrilla organization that has engaged in several rounds of war with the Israelis since the 1980s.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/isis-closing-israel-north-south-113000327.html

[Psalm 51:17]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/International/damascus-syria-wakes-massive-rocket-attacks/story?id=28743309
Damascus, Syria, Wakes Up to Massive Rocket Attacks
Feb 5, 2015, 7:58 AM ET

Residents of Damascus, Syria, awoke Thursday morning to rocket attacks in the center of the city, apparently by the Jaysh al-Islam (Army of Islam), the second attack in as many weeks.

Syrian state news agency SANA said five people were killed and at least 30 injured when missiles hit areas near the city’s famous Umayyad mosque. Local radio station Sham FM said the projectiles hit at least five areas of the city, according to Reuters.

Jaysh al-Islam claimed today's attacks in central Damascus were retaliation for government attacks two days ago on an area where the group operates in the town of Douma, located in the eastern Ghouta farming belt near Damascus. Charles Lister, an expert on Syria and current visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar, pointed to a Twitter account believed to be operated by Jaysh al-Islam leader Zahran Alloush.


Alloush tweeted that the group was retaliating against the “horrific massacres” committed by government warplanes in Ghouta.


A Twitter account linked to the group’s website also claimed responsibility for today’s attacks.


Following this morning’s shelling, the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory on Human Rights said the government was pounding areas to the northeast of the city, killing at least 12 and wounding some 100 people.


The videos below are described as showing the government strikes in Douma and the aftermath.

[Christian40]

"At least three people died and 30 were injured in a heavy rebel rocket and mortar barrage of the capital Damascus on Thursday, the Syrian state news agency said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 38 rockets were fired on Damascus Thursday, adding that a number of people were wounded.

The Local Coordination Committees in Syria reported that at least 15 people were killed or wounded in Damascus and its suburbs as nearly 50 rockets struck the city.

Thursday’s early morning salvo came after Army of Islam leader Zahran Alloush warned he would shower the capital with mortar shells to avenge government airstrikes on nearby rebel-held suburbs over the past week.

The group warned residents to stay indoors.

Alloush said on Twitter that Damascus would become a “security zone” as of Wednesday and until further notice.

The shelling on Thursday hit several upscale districts, including al-Malki, Abu Rummanah, Kfar Sousseh and Mazzeh."

http://www.timesofisrael.com/several-killed-as-rebels-barrage-damascus-with-rockets/