KING JESUS IS COMING FOR US ANY TIME NOW. THE RAPTURE. BE PREPARED TO GO.
ISAIAH 17:1,12-14
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
12 Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations,(USELESS U.N) that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14 And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not.(ASSAD) This is the portion of them that spoil us,(ISRAEL) and the lot of them that rob us.
JEREMEIAH 49:23-27
23 Concerning Damascus.(SYRIA) Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea;(WAR SHIPS WITH NUKES COMING ON SYRIA) it cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.
27 And I will kindle a fire (NUKES OR BOMBS) in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.(ASSADS PALACES POSSIBLY IN DAMASCUS)
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
JEREMIAH 47:1-7
1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines,(PALESTINIAN/ARABS) before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.
2 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north,(NORTHERN TSUNAMI POSSIBLY) and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.
3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses,(ISRAELS ARMY) at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;(ISRAEL POSSIBLY NUKES GAZA)
4 Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines,(PALESTINIAN FAKE ARABS) and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.
5 Baldness is come upon Gaza;(NUKED POSSIBLY) Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself?
6 O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.
7 How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? (MEDITTERANEAN SEA) there hath he appointed it.
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south ( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS-MUSLIMS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them,(BEFORE THE NUKE GOES OFF) and behind them a desolate wilderness;(AFTER THE ATOMIC BOMB GOES OFF) yea, and nothing shall escape them.(EVERYTHING NUKED)
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,ARAB,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate,(SIBERIAN DESERT) with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(FOR COMING AGAINST ISRAEL)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
JEREMIAH 8:7
7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times;(MIGRATION TIME) and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming;(IN MIGRATION SEASON) but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.(WW3 MIGRATING BIRDS EAT ISRAELS ENEMIES FLESH AND BLOOD)
"The UK is clear that the use or proliferation of chemical weapons would demand a serious response from the international community and force us to revisit our approach so far," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.
A Reuters photographer said victims he had visited in Aleppo hospitals were suffering breathing problems and that people had said they could smell chlorine after the attack."I saw mostly women and children," said the photographer, who cannot be named for his own safetyHe quoted victims at the University of Aleppo hospital and the al-Rajaa hospital as saying people were dying in the streets and in their houses.
President Bashar al-Assad, battling an uprising against his rule, is widely believed to have a chemical weapons arsenal.Syrian officials have neither confirmed nor denied this, but have said that if it existed it would be used to defend against foreign aggression, not against Syrians. There have been no previous reports of chemical weapons in the hands of insurgents.
"CONVULSIONS, THEN DEATH"
Information Minister Omran al-Zoabi said rebels fired "a rocket containing poison gases" at the town of Khan al-Assal, southwest of Aleppo, from the city's southeastern district of Nairab, part of which is rebel-held."The substance in the rocket causes unconsciousness, then convulsions, then death," the minister said.
But a senior rebel commander, Qassim Saadeddine, who is also a spokesman for the Higher Military Council in Aleppo, denied this, blaming Assad's forces for the alleged chemical strike."We were hearing reports from early this morning about a regime attack on Khan al-Assal, and we believe they fired a Scud with chemical agents," he told Reuters by telephone from Aleppo.Washington has expressed concern about chemical weapons falling into the hands of militant groups - either hardline Islamist rebels fighting to topple Assad or his regional allies.Israel has threatened military action if such arms were sent to the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group.Zoabi said Turkey and Qatar, which have supported rebels, bore "legal, moral and political responsibility" for the strike - a charge dismissed by a Turkish official as baseless.
Zoabi told a news conference that Syria's military would never use internationally banned weapons."Syria's army leadership has stressed this before and we say it again, if we had chemical weapons we would never use them due to moral, humanitarian and political reasons," he said.Syrian state TV aired footage of what it said were casualties of the attack arriving at one hospital in Aleppo.Men, women and children were rushed inside on stretchers as doctors inserted medical drips into their arms and oxygen tubes into their mouths. None had visible wounds to their bodies, but some interviewed said they had trouble breathing.An unidentified doctor interviewed on the channel said the attack was either "phosphorus or poison" but did not elaborate.A young girl on a stretcher wept as she said: "My chest closed up. I couldn't talk. I couldn't breathe ... We saw people falling dead to the floor. My father fell, he fell and now we don't know where he is. God curse them, I hope they die."A man in a green surgical mask, who said he had been helping to evacuate the casualties, said: "It was like a powder, and anyone who breathed it in fell to the ground."
"PINK SMOKE"
A rebel fighter in Khan al-Assal, about eight km (five miles) southwest of Aleppo, said he had seen pink-tinged smoke rising after a powerful blast shook the area.Ahmed al-Ahmed, from the Ansar brigade in a rebel-controlled military base near Khan al-Assal, told Reuters that a missile had hit the town at around 8 a.m. (02.00 a.m. EDT)."We were about two kilometers from the blast. It was incredibly loud and so powerful that everything in the room started falling over. When I finally got up to look at the explosion, I saw smoke with a pinkish-purple color rising up."I didn't smell anything, but I did not leave the building I was in," said Ahmed, speaking via Skype."The missile, maybe a Scud, hit a regime area, praise God, and I'm sure that it was an accident. My brigade certainly does not have that (chemical) capability and we've been talking to many units in the area, they all deny it."Ahmed said the explosion was quickly followed by an air strike. A fighter jet circled a police school held by the rebels on the outskirts of Khan al-Assal and bombed the area, he said.His account could not be independently verified.Ahmet Uzumcu, head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said in Vienna he had no independent information about any use of such arms in Syria.Fighting continued elsewhere, with rebels firing mortar bombs into central Damascus, residents and pro-Assad media said.Security forces have reinforced the center of the capital - home to state offices and the residences of government officials - but rebels pushing into the outskirts of Damascus are staging increased attacks on districts in the heart of the city.Syrian rebels said on Monday they had fired mortar bombs at the presidential palace, Damascus International Airport and security buildings to mark the second anniversary of the uprising that has left at least 70,000 dead.A government-run station, Addounia TV, said "terrorists", a term Assad's supporters use for the rebels, fired bombs at "civilian areas of Damascus, including near the Saudi embassy". It said there were casualties but gave no details.(Additional reporting by Dominic Evans, Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, Frerik Dahl in Vienna, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Mohammed Abbas in London and Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Michael Roddy)
Violence is still below the height of the sectarian slaughter that killed tens of thousands after Sunni Islamists bombed the Shi'ite Al Askari shrine in 2006, provoking a wave of retaliation by Shi'ite militias.But security officials say al Qaeda's local wing is regrouping in the vast desert of Anbar province bordering Syria and suicide bombers have carried out attacks nearly twice a week since January, a rate not seen for several years in Iraq.Further complicating security, thousands of Sunni protesters are also rallying in Anbar against Maliki, whose Shi'ite-led government they accuse of marginalizing their minority sect since the fall of Sunni strongman Saddam.Syria's war next door is also whipping up Iraq's volatile mix. Iraq is exposed to a regional tussle for influence between Turkey, which backs Sunni rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad, and Shi'ite Iran, the Syrian leader's main ally. Assad's Alawite faith is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.
UNENDING POLITICAL CRISIS
After Operation Iraqi Freedom promised to liberate the Iraqi people, Iraq has struggled with a decade that drove the country into sectarian mayhem which killed tens of thousands and the turmoil of a young democracy emerging out of dictatorship.Since the last election in 2010, Maliki's Sunni and Kurdish critics have accused him of consolidating his own authority, abusing his control of the security forces to pressure foes and failing to live up to a power-sharing deal.The political turmoil has only worsened since American troops left Iraq in December 2011, removing the symbolic buffer of U.S. military power and weakening Washington's influence.Iraq's Arab-led central government and the country's autonomous Kurdistan region, where ethnic Kurds have administered their affairs since 1991, are locked in a feud over control of disputed territories containing some of the world's richest oil reserves.Both have sent troops from their respective armies to reinforce positions along their contested internal border.Some of the current tensions may be posturing before the provincial vote and parliamentary elections in 2014, and a full-scale Iraqi breakup looks unlikely.
CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL 2ND WAVE OF WW3
REVELATION 16:12
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up,(AT THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY) that the way of the kings(CHINA,NORTH-SOUTH KOREA, of the east might be prepared.(THIS IS THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY,THEY CROSS OVER).
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(4 WINDS OF THE WORLD-WORLDWIDE WAR)(TURKEY-IRAQ-SYRIA)(EUPHRATES RIVER CONSISTS OF 760 MILES IN TURKEY,440 MILES IN SYRIA AND 660 MILES IN IRAQ)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,(COULD ALSO MEAN THE 4 CORNERS OF THE EARTH OR WORLDWIDE WAR) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS).
By Michael Martina
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has become the world's fifth-largest arms
exporter, a respected Sweden-based think-tank said on Monday, its
highest ranking since the Cold War, with Pakistan the main recipient.
China's volume of weapons exports between 2008 and 2012 rose 162 percent compared with the previous five-year period, with its share of the global arms trade rising from 2 percent to 5 percent, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said.China replaces Britain in the top five arms-dealing countries between 2008 and 2012, a group dominated by the United States and Russia, which accounted for 30 percent and 26 percent of weapons exports, SIPRI said."China is establishing itself as a significant arms supplier to a growing number of important recipient states," Paul Holtom, director of the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme, said in a statement.The shift, outlined in SIPRI's Trends in International Arms Transfers report, marks China's first time as a top-five arms exporter since the think-tank's 1986-1990 data period.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, asked about the report, said China was a responsible arms exporter which strictly adhered to international law."On arms exports, China sticks to three principles. First, that it is conducive to the recipient country's justifiable self-defense needs. Second, it does not damage regional and global peace, security and stability. Third, it does not interfere in other countries' internal affairs," he told reporters.Now the world's second-largest economy, China's rise has come with a new sense of military assertiveness with a growing budget to develop modern equipment including aircraft carriers and drones.At the Zhuhai air show in southern China in November, Chinese attack helicopters, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and air defenses were on public show for the first time.
PAKISTAN, MYANMAR, BANGLADESH
SIPRI maintains a global arms transfers database base that tracks arms exports back to the 1950s. It averages data over five-year periods because arms sales vary by year."Pakistan - which accounted for 55 percent of Chinese arms exports - is likely to remain the largest recipient of Chinese arms in the coming years due to large outstanding and planned orders for combat aircraft, submarines and frigates," SIPRI said.
Myanmar, which has been undergoing fragile reforms that the United States thinks could help counter Beijing's influence in the region, received 8 percent of China's weapons exports.Bangladesh received 7 percent of the arms while Algeria, Venezuela and Morocco have bought Chinese-made frigates, aircraft or armored vehicles in the past several years.China does not release figures for its arms sales.Germany and France ranked third and fourth on the arms exporter list. China followed only India in the acquisition of arms, though its reliance on imports is decreasing as it ramps up domestic production.After decades of steep increases in military spending and cash injections into domestic contractors, experts say some Chinese-made equipment is now comparable to Russian or Western counterparts, though accurate information about the performance of Chinese weapons is scarce.China faces bans on Western military imports, dating back to anger over its crushing of pro-democracy protests in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989. That makes its domestic arms industry crucial in assembling a modern military that can enforce claims over Taiwan and disputed maritime territories.China has faced off recently with its Southeast Asian neighbors and Japan over rival claims to strings of islets in the South China Sea and East China Sea, even as the United States executes a so-called pivot towards the Pacific.(Additional reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Robert Birsel)
ISAIAH 17:1,12-14
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
12 Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations,(USELESS U.N) that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14 And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not.(ASSAD) This is the portion of them that spoil us,(ISRAEL) and the lot of them that rob us.
JEREMEIAH 49:23-27
23 Concerning Damascus.(SYRIA) Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea;(WAR SHIPS WITH NUKES COMING ON SYRIA) it cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.
27 And I will kindle a fire (NUKES OR BOMBS) in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.(ASSADS PALACES POSSIBLY IN DAMASCUS)
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
JEREMIAH 47:1-7
1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines,(PALESTINIAN/ARABS) before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.
2 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north,(NORTHERN TSUNAMI POSSIBLY) and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.
3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses,(ISRAELS ARMY) at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;(ISRAEL POSSIBLY NUKES GAZA)
4 Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines,(PALESTINIAN FAKE ARABS) and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.
5 Baldness is come upon Gaza;(NUKED POSSIBLY) Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself?
6 O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.
7 How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? (MEDITTERANEAN SEA) there hath he appointed it.
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south ( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS-MUSLIMS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them,(BEFORE THE NUKE GOES OFF) and behind them a desolate wilderness;(AFTER THE ATOMIC BOMB GOES OFF) yea, and nothing shall escape them.(EVERYTHING NUKED)
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,ARAB,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate,(SIBERIAN DESERT) with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(FOR COMING AGAINST ISRAEL)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
JEREMIAH 8:7
7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times;(MIGRATION TIME) and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming;(IN MIGRATION SEASON) but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.(WW3 MIGRATING BIRDS EAT ISRAELS ENEMIES FLESH AND BLOOD)
Alleged chemical attack kills 25 in northern Syria
By Oliver Holmes and Erika Solomon | Reuters – 1 hr 10 mins ago MAR 19,13
By Oliver Holmes and Erika Solomon
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's government and rebels accused each
other of launching a deadly chemical attack near the northern city of
Aleppo on Tuesday in what would, if confirmed, be the first use of such
weapons in the two-year-old conflict.U.S. President Barack Obama, who has resisted overt military
intervention in Syria, has warned Assad in the past that any use of
chemical weapons would be a "red line". There has, however, been no
suggestion of rebels possessing such arms.Syria's state television channel said rebels fired a rocket
carrying chemical agents that killed 25 people and wounded dozens. The
pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the
conflict, said 16 soldiers were among the dead.The reported toll is far below the mass slaughter inflicted on
the Iraqi Kurdish city of Halabja where an estimated 5,000 people died
in a chemical attack ordered by former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein 25
years ago.No Western governments or international organizations
confirmed a chemical attack, but Russia, an ally of Damascus, accused
rebels of carrying out such a strike.Syria's deputy foreign minister, Faisal Meqdad, said his
government would send a letter to the United Nations Security Council
"calling on it to handle its responsibilities and clarify a limit to
these crimes of terrorism and those that support it inside Syrian Arab
Republic".He warned that the violence that had engulfed Syria was a
regional threat. "This is rather a starting point from which (the
danger) will spread to the entire region, if not the entire world," he
said.In Washington, the United States said it had no evidence to
substantiate charges that the rebels had used chemical weapons.Britain said its calculations would change if a chemical attack had taken place."The UK is clear that the use or proliferation of chemical weapons would demand a serious response from the international community and force us to revisit our approach so far," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.
A Reuters photographer said victims he had visited in Aleppo hospitals were suffering breathing problems and that people had said they could smell chlorine after the attack."I saw mostly women and children," said the photographer, who cannot be named for his own safetyHe quoted victims at the University of Aleppo hospital and the al-Rajaa hospital as saying people were dying in the streets and in their houses.
President Bashar al-Assad, battling an uprising against his rule, is widely believed to have a chemical weapons arsenal.Syrian officials have neither confirmed nor denied this, but have said that if it existed it would be used to defend against foreign aggression, not against Syrians. There have been no previous reports of chemical weapons in the hands of insurgents.
"CONVULSIONS, THEN DEATH"
Information Minister Omran al-Zoabi said rebels fired "a rocket containing poison gases" at the town of Khan al-Assal, southwest of Aleppo, from the city's southeastern district of Nairab, part of which is rebel-held."The substance in the rocket causes unconsciousness, then convulsions, then death," the minister said.
But a senior rebel commander, Qassim Saadeddine, who is also a spokesman for the Higher Military Council in Aleppo, denied this, blaming Assad's forces for the alleged chemical strike."We were hearing reports from early this morning about a regime attack on Khan al-Assal, and we believe they fired a Scud with chemical agents," he told Reuters by telephone from Aleppo.Washington has expressed concern about chemical weapons falling into the hands of militant groups - either hardline Islamist rebels fighting to topple Assad or his regional allies.Israel has threatened military action if such arms were sent to the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group.Zoabi said Turkey and Qatar, which have supported rebels, bore "legal, moral and political responsibility" for the strike - a charge dismissed by a Turkish official as baseless.
Zoabi told a news conference that Syria's military would never use internationally banned weapons."Syria's army leadership has stressed this before and we say it again, if we had chemical weapons we would never use them due to moral, humanitarian and political reasons," he said.Syrian state TV aired footage of what it said were casualties of the attack arriving at one hospital in Aleppo.Men, women and children were rushed inside on stretchers as doctors inserted medical drips into their arms and oxygen tubes into their mouths. None had visible wounds to their bodies, but some interviewed said they had trouble breathing.An unidentified doctor interviewed on the channel said the attack was either "phosphorus or poison" but did not elaborate.A young girl on a stretcher wept as she said: "My chest closed up. I couldn't talk. I couldn't breathe ... We saw people falling dead to the floor. My father fell, he fell and now we don't know where he is. God curse them, I hope they die."A man in a green surgical mask, who said he had been helping to evacuate the casualties, said: "It was like a powder, and anyone who breathed it in fell to the ground."
"PINK SMOKE"
A rebel fighter in Khan al-Assal, about eight km (five miles) southwest of Aleppo, said he had seen pink-tinged smoke rising after a powerful blast shook the area.Ahmed al-Ahmed, from the Ansar brigade in a rebel-controlled military base near Khan al-Assal, told Reuters that a missile had hit the town at around 8 a.m. (02.00 a.m. EDT)."We were about two kilometers from the blast. It was incredibly loud and so powerful that everything in the room started falling over. When I finally got up to look at the explosion, I saw smoke with a pinkish-purple color rising up."I didn't smell anything, but I did not leave the building I was in," said Ahmed, speaking via Skype."The missile, maybe a Scud, hit a regime area, praise God, and I'm sure that it was an accident. My brigade certainly does not have that (chemical) capability and we've been talking to many units in the area, they all deny it."Ahmed said the explosion was quickly followed by an air strike. A fighter jet circled a police school held by the rebels on the outskirts of Khan al-Assal and bombed the area, he said.His account could not be independently verified.Ahmet Uzumcu, head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said in Vienna he had no independent information about any use of such arms in Syria.Fighting continued elsewhere, with rebels firing mortar bombs into central Damascus, residents and pro-Assad media said.Security forces have reinforced the center of the capital - home to state offices and the residences of government officials - but rebels pushing into the outskirts of Damascus are staging increased attacks on districts in the heart of the city.Syrian rebels said on Monday they had fired mortar bombs at the presidential palace, Damascus International Airport and security buildings to mark the second anniversary of the uprising that has left at least 70,000 dead.A government-run station, Addounia TV, said "terrorists", a term Assad's supporters use for the rebels, fired bombs at "civilian areas of Damascus, including near the Saudi embassy". It said there were casualties but gave no details.(Additional reporting by Dominic Evans, Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, Frerik Dahl in Vienna, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Mohammed Abbas in London and Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Michael Roddy)
Bombs kill nearly 60 on Iraq invasion anniversary
By Patrick Markey and Kareem Raheem | Reuters – 2 hrs 25 mins ago MAR 19,13
By Patrick Markey and Kareem Raheem
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - More than a dozen car bombs and
suicide blasts tore through Shi'ite Muslim districts in the Iraqi
capital Baghdad and other areas on Tuesday, killing nearly 60 people on the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.Sunni Islamist insurgents linked to al Qaeda are regaining ground in Iraq, invigorated by the war next door in Syria and have stepped up attacks on Shi'ite targets in an attempt to provoke a wider sectarian confrontation.One car bomb exploded in a busy Baghdad market, three
detonated in the Shi'ite district of Sadr City and another near the
entrance of the heavily fortified Green Zone that sent a plume of dark
smoke into the air alongside the River Tigris.A suicide bomber in a truck attacked a police base in a
Shi'ite town south of the capital, and another blew himself up inside a
restaurant to target a police major in the northern city of Mosul."I was driving my taxi and suddenly I felt my car
rocked. Smoke was all around. I saw two bodies on the ground. People
were running and shouting everywhere," said Ali Radi, a taxi driver
caught in one of the blasts in Baghdad's Sadr City.The Iraq war began shortly before dawn in Baghdad on
Thursday, March 20, 2003, with U.S. air strikes on the capital. Shortly
afterwards, President George W. Bush, addressing Americans on television
late on March 19 U.S. time, said the offensive was under way.Now a decade after U.S. and Western troops swept Saddam from power, Iraq
still struggles with insurgents, sectarian friction and political feuds
among Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish factions who share power in the
government of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.In a sign of concern over security, the cabinet on
Tuesday postponed local elections in two provinces, Anbar and Nineveh,
for up to six months because of threats to electoral workers and
violence there, according to Maliki's media adviser Ali al-Moussawi. The
polls will go ahead elsewhere on April 20.No group claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attacks, but Islamic State of Iraq,
a wing of al Qaeda, has vowed to take back ground lost in its war with
U.S. troops. This year the group has carried out a string of
high-profile attacks.Violence is still below the height of the sectarian slaughter that killed tens of thousands after Sunni Islamists bombed the Shi'ite Al Askari shrine in 2006, provoking a wave of retaliation by Shi'ite militias.But security officials say al Qaeda's local wing is regrouping in the vast desert of Anbar province bordering Syria and suicide bombers have carried out attacks nearly twice a week since January, a rate not seen for several years in Iraq.Further complicating security, thousands of Sunni protesters are also rallying in Anbar against Maliki, whose Shi'ite-led government they accuse of marginalizing their minority sect since the fall of Sunni strongman Saddam.Syria's war next door is also whipping up Iraq's volatile mix. Iraq is exposed to a regional tussle for influence between Turkey, which backs Sunni rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad, and Shi'ite Iran, the Syrian leader's main ally. Assad's Alawite faith is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.
UNENDING POLITICAL CRISIS
After Operation Iraqi Freedom promised to liberate the Iraqi people, Iraq has struggled with a decade that drove the country into sectarian mayhem which killed tens of thousands and the turmoil of a young democracy emerging out of dictatorship.Since the last election in 2010, Maliki's Sunni and Kurdish critics have accused him of consolidating his own authority, abusing his control of the security forces to pressure foes and failing to live up to a power-sharing deal.The political turmoil has only worsened since American troops left Iraq in December 2011, removing the symbolic buffer of U.S. military power and weakening Washington's influence.Iraq's Arab-led central government and the country's autonomous Kurdistan region, where ethnic Kurds have administered their affairs since 1991, are locked in a feud over control of disputed territories containing some of the world's richest oil reserves.Both have sent troops from their respective armies to reinforce positions along their contested internal border.Some of the current tensions may be posturing before the provincial vote and parliamentary elections in 2014, and a full-scale Iraqi breakup looks unlikely.
In south Egypt, fears over Islamist vigilantes
By | Associated Press – 32 mins ago MAR 19,13
ASSIUT, Egypt (AP) — The Gamaa Islamiya
once waged a bloody insurgency here, attacking police and Christians in
a campaign to create an Islamic state. Now a political force, the
former jihadis say they are setting up their own parallel police and are
determined to ensure law and order in this southern Egyptian province.Their declaration has set in motion a spiral of tensions in Assiut
province, raising fears that hard-line Islamists who call for a strict
version of Shariah, or Islamic law, will take the law into their own
hands, threatening the delicate sectarian balance of Muslims and
Christians here. Opponents warn that if they succeed here, hard-liners
elsewhere in Egypt will try to take advantage of the country's lawlessness to increase their power.Worries over vigilante action, whether Islamist or not, are already
high in Egypt, which has been shaken by months of political turmoil.Protests and strikes have been
boiling nationwide against the Islamist president and the Muslim
Brotherhood, from which he hails. The police and security forces have
themselves been caught up in the political struggles, often not doing
their job. The result is a rise in crime, sometimes prompting a backlash
from the public. Residents of a town in northern Egypt this week killed two alleged thieves and hung their bodies by the feet from the rafters of a bus station.The Gamaa says its move was in response to a strike last week by some
police in Assiut, the capital of the southern province of the same
name. The group declared it would set up "popular committees" to carry
out security duties in the police's absence. Riding on motorbikes and
waving banners, hundreds of Gamaa supporters toured the city last week
to show they could keep order.Since then, police have returned to work. But the Gamaa, which is allied to President Mohammed Morsi,
says it is pressing ahead with its plans. A sign plastered on the wall
near the entrance of an Assiut mosque used as the Gamaa's headquarters
guides volunteers to where they can register to join the committees."We don't need anyone's permission to send our popular committees to
the streets if the police abandon their role to protect the nation,"
said Hussein Abdel-Al, a senior Gamaa leader in Assiut. The Gamaa's
political arm, the Construction and Development Party, said it planned
to submit to parliament a draft legislation to legalize the creation of
popular committees nationwide.So far, the Gamaa's popular committees do not appear to have taken any strong action in the street.But the police are pushing back. Provincial security chief
Abul-Qassim Deif ordered police to take action against anyone other than
the police attempting to carry out security duties. He stepped up
police patrols in Assiut, a city of some 1 million, and elsewhere in the
province."We will take all legal measures against them if they appear," Deif told The Associated Press.In an apparent attempt to reduce the Gamaa's influence, he also
ordered his officers not to allow the group's members to act as
mediators in "reconciliation sessions" — police-backed mediation by
prominent sheikhs that is often used to settle local disputes.Assiut's governor, who is a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood's
Freedom and Justice party, said creating popular committees is "not
suitable from a political or security perspective.""Any attempt to take away from the capabilities or rights of the
Interior Ministry amounts to a reduction in the state's prestige," Gov.
Yehya Taha Kishk, a British-trained heart doctor, told the AP. "The
state does not encourage that civilians take over police duties to
maintain security. This is a red line."But some in the Brotherhood have appeared sympathetic to the Gamaa's
motivation. Ahmed Aref, a Brotherhood spokesman, told the AP, "We don't
call for or promote the idea of popular committees.""But we have to say this: The responsibility (for security) rests
with the police and it cannot be transferred, unless the responsible
party abandons it," he said.Assiut, 400 kilometers (235 miles) south of the capital Cairo, is a
particularly sensitive area for the Gamaa to carry out its experiment.
It is Egypt's poorest province, with more than 60 percent of its 4.2
million people living in poverty, according to the governor. It also has
the second highest percentage of Christians, estimated at 32 percent of
the population — and even higher in Assiut city — compared to an
estimated 10 percent nationwide.The province was a stronghold for the Gamaa during its incarnation as
a violent militant group. The Gamaa and the Islamic Jihad, another
hard-line group, were behind the October 6, 1981 assassination of
President Anwar Sadat. Days afterward, it attacked Assiut's security
headquarters, prompting a battle with the military.
In the 1990s, it waged a bloody insurgency that killed more than 1,000 people, and the group systematically attacked Christians, their churches and businesses. Then-President Hosni Mubarak ruthlessly crushed the insurgency with a security crackdown notorious for human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, abductions and torture. During the last years of Mubarak's rule, Gamaa leaders renounced violence — though they still advocate rule by a hard-line version of Islamic law. After Mubarak's ouster two years ago, the Gamaa formed a political party.Sectarian tension is never far below the surface in the province. Church leaders claim that Islamists in the province have been emboldened by Morsi's election in June, with incidents of discrimination against or harassment of Christians on the rise.Father Banoub, a priest who is the Coptic Orthodox Church's point man on relations with local authorities and Islamist groups in Assiut, warned that a Gamaa move to take up policing duties could spark a backlash from Christians."We will not accept, under any circumstances, that a group takes over the streets," he told the AP.Christian dialogue with Islamists has established a "fragile sectarian peace" in Assiut, he said. "But the intimidation of Christians makes the potential for an eruption of Christian anger a real possibility," he told the AP.A senior leader of the liberal Wafd Party's youth wing in Assiut, Mahmoud Moawad, said in a statement that, "We just cannot imagine that the Gamaa Islamiya killed all those innocent people and police officers and now wants to assume the role of the police."The potential for vigilante action adds yet a new layer to Egypt's turmoil since Mubarak's ouster. The country has become deeply polarized between Morsi and his Islamist backers on one side and the opposition made up of moderate Muslims, liberals and Christians on the other. Amid wave after wave of political unrest and violence, the economy has fallen into dire straits. Calls for the military to seize the reins of power have grown.Mistrust is high among all sides.Father Banoub said he believed Islamists themselves fomented the police strikes to have an excuse to take control of the province.The Gamaa, in turn, has depicted a wave of police strikes around the country the past weeks as a plot aimed at causing chaos so the military will move in to take power and remove the Islamist Morsi."If the partial police strike in Assiut and elsewhere succeeded, it would have spread nationwide. Our action has foiled an attempt to bring down the state," Tareq Bedeir, the Gamaa's leader in the city of Assiut, told the AP, speaking in the group's main mosque.A spokesman for the Gamaa's Construction and Development Party, Khaled el-Shareef, warned of a conspiracy by "the counter-revolution" for the police to strike, forcing the public to choose between chaos and the return of the military.Some in Assiut feared the Gamaa's plans are a recipe for chaos."If every faction in the country forms a popular committee, then the country will have to deal with gang warfare," said Assiut tax officer Ahmed Fathi Abdel-Hamid.Khaled Mehanny, a 22-year-old Islamic law student, said the Gamaa wants to impose itself on the city."We completely reject this. And if the police disappear one day, we will protect ourselves as we had done in the past," he said.
In the 1990s, it waged a bloody insurgency that killed more than 1,000 people, and the group systematically attacked Christians, their churches and businesses. Then-President Hosni Mubarak ruthlessly crushed the insurgency with a security crackdown notorious for human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, abductions and torture. During the last years of Mubarak's rule, Gamaa leaders renounced violence — though they still advocate rule by a hard-line version of Islamic law. After Mubarak's ouster two years ago, the Gamaa formed a political party.Sectarian tension is never far below the surface in the province. Church leaders claim that Islamists in the province have been emboldened by Morsi's election in June, with incidents of discrimination against or harassment of Christians on the rise.Father Banoub, a priest who is the Coptic Orthodox Church's point man on relations with local authorities and Islamist groups in Assiut, warned that a Gamaa move to take up policing duties could spark a backlash from Christians."We will not accept, under any circumstances, that a group takes over the streets," he told the AP.Christian dialogue with Islamists has established a "fragile sectarian peace" in Assiut, he said. "But the intimidation of Christians makes the potential for an eruption of Christian anger a real possibility," he told the AP.A senior leader of the liberal Wafd Party's youth wing in Assiut, Mahmoud Moawad, said in a statement that, "We just cannot imagine that the Gamaa Islamiya killed all those innocent people and police officers and now wants to assume the role of the police."The potential for vigilante action adds yet a new layer to Egypt's turmoil since Mubarak's ouster. The country has become deeply polarized between Morsi and his Islamist backers on one side and the opposition made up of moderate Muslims, liberals and Christians on the other. Amid wave after wave of political unrest and violence, the economy has fallen into dire straits. Calls for the military to seize the reins of power have grown.Mistrust is high among all sides.Father Banoub said he believed Islamists themselves fomented the police strikes to have an excuse to take control of the province.The Gamaa, in turn, has depicted a wave of police strikes around the country the past weeks as a plot aimed at causing chaos so the military will move in to take power and remove the Islamist Morsi."If the partial police strike in Assiut and elsewhere succeeded, it would have spread nationwide. Our action has foiled an attempt to bring down the state," Tareq Bedeir, the Gamaa's leader in the city of Assiut, told the AP, speaking in the group's main mosque.A spokesman for the Gamaa's Construction and Development Party, Khaled el-Shareef, warned of a conspiracy by "the counter-revolution" for the police to strike, forcing the public to choose between chaos and the return of the military.Some in Assiut feared the Gamaa's plans are a recipe for chaos."If every faction in the country forms a popular committee, then the country will have to deal with gang warfare," said Assiut tax officer Ahmed Fathi Abdel-Hamid.Khaled Mehanny, a 22-year-old Islamic law student, said the Gamaa wants to impose itself on the city."We completely reject this. And if the police disappear one day, we will protect ourselves as we had done in the past," he said.
Syrian opposition elects interim prime minister
By | Associated Press – 12 hrs ago MAR 19,13
ISTANBUL (AP) — Syria's
opposition coalition early Tuesday elected a little-known
American-educated IT manager and Islamic activist to head an interim
government to administer areas seized by rebel forces from President
Bashar Assad's troops.Ghassan Hitto received 35 votes out of 48 ballots cast by the
opposition Syrian National Coalition's 63 active members during a
meeting in Istanbul. The results were read aloud by coalition member
Hisham Marwa to applause from a few dozen of his colleagues who had
waited until after 1 a.m. to hear the results."I miss my wife and children and I look forward to seeing them soon,"
said Hitto, who has lived in the United States for decades and recently
moved from Texas to Turkey to help coordinate aid to rebel-held areas.When asked what his interim government's first priority would be,
Hitto said he planned to give a speech later Tuesday outlining his
plans.Coalition members hope the new government will unite the rebels
fighting Assad's forces on the ground and provide services to Syrians
living in rebel-held areas, many of which have been battered by the
country's civil war and suffer acute shortages of food, electricity and
medical services.But the new government faces huge challenges, starting with its ability to gain recognition from rebel factions on the ground.As rebels have progressed in northern and eastern Syria, a patchwork
of rebel groups and local councils have sought to fill the void left by
the government's withdrawal by organizing security patrols, reopening
bakeries and running courts and prisons. It is unclear if these groups,
many of which have taken charge of their own towns, will accept an
outside authority, especially if it is headed by someone who has spent
decades abroad."How can a civilian come and tell these fighters on the ground, 'Drop
your weapons. It's my turn to rule'?" asked Adib Shishakly, the
coalition's representative to a group of Gulf nations known as the Gulf
Cooperation Council, before the results were announced.Hitto's election follows two failed attempts to form interim
governments due to opposition infighting. Coalition members also say
they received insufficient international support to allow them to
project their authority to groups inside Syria. The new government could
have the same problem."You have to find a way to cooperate with these groups and you can
only rule by providing services, which requires funding," Shishakly
said.The council's creation of an interim government renders even more
remote the chances of ending the war through negotiations with Assad's
government — the preferred solution of the U.S. and other world powers.The U.S. has been cool to the idea of a rebel
government to rival Assad's and supports a peace plan put forward by the
U.N. and the Arab League that calls for the formation of a transitional
government that represents both the regime and the opposition.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday reiterated his call for
a political solution "while there is still time to prevent Syria's
complete destruction."On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also said the Obama
administration wants to leave the door open for a political solution.
Regarding the rebels, he also said the U.S. would not "stand in the way
of other countries that made a decision to provide arms, whether it's
France or Britain or others."
French President Francois Hollande said last week that his country and Britain were pushing the European Union to lift its arms embargo on Syria so they can arm the rebels. Germany and other EU nations oppose the move, saying it will exacerbate the violence.Coalition members in Istanbul rejected the idea of negotiating with the Syrian government before Assad leaves power."We've heard a lot about this 'peaceful solution,' but there are no positive, real steps from the regime," said Nizar Al Hrakey, a coalition member.On Monday, the head of Syria's largest official rebel group, the Free Syrian Army, threw his weight behind the idea of an interim government."We consider it the only legal government in the country," Gen. Salim Idris told reporters in Istanbul.However, Idris's authority within the country remains limited, with some of the most successful rebel groups on the ground rejecting his authority.The Syrian government did not immediately comment on the Istanbul meeting. It blames the war on a foreign conspiracy to weaken Syria being carried out by terrorists on the ground.Hitto did not receive a resounding mandate from the coalition, of which he is not a member. Of the group's 63 active members, only 48 voted. Four cast blank ballots and Hitto received 35 of the remaining votes.Hitto was born in Damascus, the Syrian capital, in 1963, according to his official resume provided by the coalition. Little known in Syria, he has lived in the United States for more than two decades, most recently in Texas. He has academic degrees from Purdue University in Indiana and Indiana Wesleyan University.He worked for a number of different technology companies and helped run a Muslim private school called the Brighter Horizons Academy. He is also a founding member of the Muslim Legal Fund of America, which was founded to give legal aid to Muslims following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.He is married with four children.Activist Ghassan Yassin, who watched the vote after traveling from the embattled city of Aleppo, said he saw "no reasons to be optimistic about the formation of an interim government."Yassin said he had only heard of Hitto recently and doubted his government would have the resources to make a difference."The question is not whether there is an interim government, but whether there will be any support for it," Yassin said.Syria's conflict began with political protests in March 2011, and has since spiraled into a civil war, with hundreds of rebel groups fighting Assad's forces across the country. The U.N. says more than 70,000 people have been killed and millions pushed from their homes by the violence.Also on Monday, Assad's fighter jets struck targets near the town of Arsal, Lebanon, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency. The two countries share a porous border.State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland confirmed that Syrian warplanes and helicopters had fired rockets into northern Lebanon, striking near Arsal."This constitutes a significant escalation in the violations of Lebanese sovereignty that the Syrian regime has been guilty of," Nuland said. "These kinds of violations of sovereignty are absolutely unacceptable.'___Associated Press writer Bradley S. Klapper in Washington contributed to this report.
French President Francois Hollande said last week that his country and Britain were pushing the European Union to lift its arms embargo on Syria so they can arm the rebels. Germany and other EU nations oppose the move, saying it will exacerbate the violence.Coalition members in Istanbul rejected the idea of negotiating with the Syrian government before Assad leaves power."We've heard a lot about this 'peaceful solution,' but there are no positive, real steps from the regime," said Nizar Al Hrakey, a coalition member.On Monday, the head of Syria's largest official rebel group, the Free Syrian Army, threw his weight behind the idea of an interim government."We consider it the only legal government in the country," Gen. Salim Idris told reporters in Istanbul.However, Idris's authority within the country remains limited, with some of the most successful rebel groups on the ground rejecting his authority.The Syrian government did not immediately comment on the Istanbul meeting. It blames the war on a foreign conspiracy to weaken Syria being carried out by terrorists on the ground.Hitto did not receive a resounding mandate from the coalition, of which he is not a member. Of the group's 63 active members, only 48 voted. Four cast blank ballots and Hitto received 35 of the remaining votes.Hitto was born in Damascus, the Syrian capital, in 1963, according to his official resume provided by the coalition. Little known in Syria, he has lived in the United States for more than two decades, most recently in Texas. He has academic degrees from Purdue University in Indiana and Indiana Wesleyan University.He worked for a number of different technology companies and helped run a Muslim private school called the Brighter Horizons Academy. He is also a founding member of the Muslim Legal Fund of America, which was founded to give legal aid to Muslims following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.He is married with four children.Activist Ghassan Yassin, who watched the vote after traveling from the embattled city of Aleppo, said he saw "no reasons to be optimistic about the formation of an interim government."Yassin said he had only heard of Hitto recently and doubted his government would have the resources to make a difference."The question is not whether there is an interim government, but whether there will be any support for it," Yassin said.Syria's conflict began with political protests in March 2011, and has since spiraled into a civil war, with hundreds of rebel groups fighting Assad's forces across the country. The U.N. says more than 70,000 people have been killed and millions pushed from their homes by the violence.Also on Monday, Assad's fighter jets struck targets near the town of Arsal, Lebanon, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency. The two countries share a porous border.State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland confirmed that Syrian warplanes and helicopters had fired rockets into northern Lebanon, striking near Arsal."This constitutes a significant escalation in the violations of Lebanese sovereignty that the Syrian regime has been guilty of," Nuland said. "These kinds of violations of sovereignty are absolutely unacceptable.'___Associated Press writer Bradley S. Klapper in Washington contributed to this report.
CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL 2ND WAVE OF WW3
REVELATION 16:12
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up,(AT THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY) that the way of the kings(CHINA,NORTH-SOUTH KOREA, of the east might be prepared.(THIS IS THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY,THEY CROSS OVER).
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(4 WINDS OF THE WORLD-WORLDWIDE WAR)(TURKEY-IRAQ-SYRIA)(EUPHRATES RIVER CONSISTS OF 760 MILES IN TURKEY,440 MILES IN SYRIA AND 660 MILES IN IRAQ)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,(COULD ALSO MEAN THE 4 CORNERS OF THE EARTH OR WORLDWIDE WAR) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS).
China replaces Britain in world's top five arms exporters: report
By Michael Martina | Reuters – Mon, Mar 18, 2013China's volume of weapons exports between 2008 and 2012 rose 162 percent compared with the previous five-year period, with its share of the global arms trade rising from 2 percent to 5 percent, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said.China replaces Britain in the top five arms-dealing countries between 2008 and 2012, a group dominated by the United States and Russia, which accounted for 30 percent and 26 percent of weapons exports, SIPRI said."China is establishing itself as a significant arms supplier to a growing number of important recipient states," Paul Holtom, director of the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme, said in a statement.The shift, outlined in SIPRI's Trends in International Arms Transfers report, marks China's first time as a top-five arms exporter since the think-tank's 1986-1990 data period.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, asked about the report, said China was a responsible arms exporter which strictly adhered to international law."On arms exports, China sticks to three principles. First, that it is conducive to the recipient country's justifiable self-defense needs. Second, it does not damage regional and global peace, security and stability. Third, it does not interfere in other countries' internal affairs," he told reporters.Now the world's second-largest economy, China's rise has come with a new sense of military assertiveness with a growing budget to develop modern equipment including aircraft carriers and drones.At the Zhuhai air show in southern China in November, Chinese attack helicopters, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and air defenses were on public show for the first time.
PAKISTAN, MYANMAR, BANGLADESH
SIPRI maintains a global arms transfers database base that tracks arms exports back to the 1950s. It averages data over five-year periods because arms sales vary by year."Pakistan - which accounted for 55 percent of Chinese arms exports - is likely to remain the largest recipient of Chinese arms in the coming years due to large outstanding and planned orders for combat aircraft, submarines and frigates," SIPRI said.
Myanmar, which has been undergoing fragile reforms that the United States thinks could help counter Beijing's influence in the region, received 8 percent of China's weapons exports.Bangladesh received 7 percent of the arms while Algeria, Venezuela and Morocco have bought Chinese-made frigates, aircraft or armored vehicles in the past several years.China does not release figures for its arms sales.Germany and France ranked third and fourth on the arms exporter list. China followed only India in the acquisition of arms, though its reliance on imports is decreasing as it ramps up domestic production.After decades of steep increases in military spending and cash injections into domestic contractors, experts say some Chinese-made equipment is now comparable to Russian or Western counterparts, though accurate information about the performance of Chinese weapons is scarce.China faces bans on Western military imports, dating back to anger over its crushing of pro-democracy protests in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989. That makes its domestic arms industry crucial in assembling a modern military that can enforce claims over Taiwan and disputed maritime territories.China has faced off recently with its Southeast Asian neighbors and Japan over rival claims to strings of islets in the South China Sea and East China Sea, even as the United States executes a so-called pivot towards the Pacific.(Additional reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Robert Birsel)
