JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.
MATTHEW 24:37-42
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
NATIONS AGAINST THE WEST INCLUDING ISLAMIC LUNATICS ISIS
EZEKIEL 38:4-7
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
COUNTRIES WITH ISRAEL AND THE WEST
REVELATION 12:5-6,14
5 And she brought forth a man child,(MARY DID-JESUS WHO IS(JEWISH) who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
6 And the woman (MARY WHOS JEWISH REPRESENTING ISRAEL)fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.(3 1/2 YRS PROTECTED IN PETRA JORDAN)
14 And to the woman (ISRAEL) were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time,(3 1/2 YRS) from the face of the serpent.(PROTECTED FOR 3 1/2 YRS IN PETRA JORDAN)
EZEKIEL 38:10-19
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy (RUSSIAS) mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say,(RUSSIA,ARAB,MUSLIMS) I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13 Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDIA ARABIA) and the merchants of Tarshish,(ENGLAND) with all the young lions thereof,(USA,CANADA,AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND,EU,ENGLAND,ENGLISH SPEAKING) shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog,(RUSSIA-MUSLIMS) Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts,(RUSSIA) thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire (ATOMIC BOMB) of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
RADICAL ISLAM RECRUIT
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/featured/prime-time/867432237001/isis-and-the-idealism-of-youth/3812337998001
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/featured/prime-time/867432237001/radicalization-at-home-and-abroad/3812338001001
U.S., Kurds strike at Islamic State in Syria-Reuters-By Mariam Karouny and Jonny Hogg-SEPT 29,14-YAHOONEWS
BEIRUT/MURSITPINAR Turkey (Reuters) - U.S. warplanes attacked Islamic State targets in Syria overnight, in raids that a group monitoring the war said killed civilians as well as jihadist fighters.The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes hit mills and grain storage areas in the northern Syrian town of Manbij, in an area controlled by Islamic State, killing at least two civilian workers.Strikes on a building on a road leading out of the town also killed a number of Islamic State fighters, said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the observatory, which gathers information from sources in Syria.The U.S. military said on Monday an American air strike targeted Islamic State vehicles in a staging area adjacent to a grain storage facility near Manbij, but it had no evidence so far of civilian casualties.While raids in Iraq and Syria have taken a toll on Islamic State equipment and fighters on the ground, there is no sign the tide is turning against the group, which controls large areas of both countries.A U.S. Air Force general said Islamic State militants were changing their tactics in the face of American air strikes in Iraq and Syria, abandoning large formations such as convoys that had been easier for the U.S. military to target.“They are a smart adversary, and they have seen that that's not effective for their survival, so they are now dispersing themselves,” Air Force Major General Jeffrey Harrigian said at a Pentagon news conference.That “requires us to work harder to locate them, and then develop the situation to appropriately target them”, he said.In a statement to the United Nations that appeared to give approval of U.S. and Arab air strikes in Syria against the militants, Syria's foreign minister said his country backed the campaign against Islamic State.Syria "stands with any international effort aimed at fighting and combating terrorism", said Walid al-Moualem, whose government has long been an international pariah because of what critics say is its brutality in a civil war that has killed 190,000 people.U.S. congressional aides said Congress might not vote until next year on an authorization for President Barack Obama's air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, despite some lawmakers' insistence that approval is already overdue.Obama has said he does not need approval for the air strikes, despite the constitutional requirement that Congress authorize military action.The U.S.-led strikes have so far failed to halt an advance by Islamic State fighters in northern Syria on Kobani, a Kurdish town on the border with Turkey where fighting over the past week caused the fastest refugee flight of Syria's three-year-old war.At least 15 Turkish tanks could be seen at the frontier, some with guns pointed towards Syrian territory. More tanks and armored vehicles moved towards the border after shells landed in Turkey on Sunday and Monday.
ARAB ALLIES
The United States has been bombing Islamic State and other groups in Syria for a week with the help of Arab allies, and hitting targets in neighboring Iraq since last month. European countries have joined the campaign in Iraq but not in Syria.Islamic State, a Sunni militant group that broke off from al Qaeda, alarmed the West and the Middle East by sweeping through northern Iraq in June, slaughtering prisoners and ordering Shi'ites and non-Muslims to convert or die.It is battling Shi'ite-backed governments in both Iraq and Syria, as well as other Sunni groups in Syria and Kurdish groups in both countries, part of complex multi-sided civil wars in which nearly every country in the Middle East has a stake.The head of Syria's al Qaeda branch, the Nusra Front, a Sunni militant group that is a rival of Islamic State and has also been targeted by U.S. strikes, said Islamists would carry out attacks on the West in retaliation for the campaign.Obama has worked since August to build an international coalition to combat the fighters, describing them last week in an address to the United Nations as a "network of death".His comments in an interview broadcast on Sunday that U.S. intelligence had underestimated Islamic State offered an explanation for why Washington appeared to have been taken by surprise when the fighters surged through northern Iraq in June.The militants had gone underground when U.S. forces quashed al Qaeda in Iraq with the aid of local tribes during the U.S. war there that ended in 2011, Obama told CBS's "60 Minutes"."But over the past couple of years, during the chaos of the Syrian civil war, where essentially you have huge swathes of the country that are completely ungoverned, they were able to reconstitute themselves and take advantage of that chaos," he said.Obama's remarks came under fire on Monday from several U.S. lawmakers and members of the intelligence community."This was not an intelligence community failure but a failure by policy makers to confront the threat," said Mike Rogers, Republican chairman of the House of Representative Intelligence Committee.
BATTLE ON BORDER
Gunfire rang out from across the border, and a plume of smoke rose over Kobani as periodic shelling by Islamic State fighters took place. Kurds watching the fighting from the Turkish side of the border said the Syrian Kurdish group, the YPG, was putting up a strong defense."Many Islamic State fighters have been killed. They're not taking the bodies with them," said Ayhan, a Turkish Kurd who had spoken by phone with one of his friends fighting with the YPG. He said Kurdish forces had picked up eight Islamic State bodies.At Mursitpinar, the nearby border crossing, scores of young men were returning to Syria saying they would join the fight. More refugees were fleeing in the opposite direction."Because of the bombs, everyone is running away. We heard people have been killed," said Xelil, a 39-year-old engineer who fled Kobani on Monday. "The YPG have got light weapons, but Islamic State has big guns and tanks."A local official in Kobani said Islamic State continued to besiege the town from the east, west and south and that the militants were 10 km (6 miles) from the outskirts."From the morning there has been shelling into Kobani and ... maybe about 20 rockets," Idris Nassan, deputy foreign minister in a local Kurdish administration said by phone. He said the rockets had killed at least three people in the town.Turkey has not permitted its own Kurds to cross to join the battle: "If they've got Syrian identity or passports, they can go. But only Syrians, not Turks," said one Turkish official at the border where security has been tightened.A NATO member with the most powerful army in the area, Turkey has so far kept out of the U.S.-led coalition, angering many of its own Kurds who say the policy has abandoned their cousins in Syria to the wrath of Islamic State fighters.(Additiona reporting by Sylvia Westall in Beirut, Philip Stewart, Patricia Zengerle and Mark Hosenball in Washington; Writing by Sylvia Westall, Peter Graff and Giles Elgood; Editing by Philippa Fletcher, Peter Cooney and Ken Wills)
Qatar's foreign minister denies paying ransoms to militant groups-Reuters-By Daniel Bases-SEPT 29,14-YAHOONEWS
PRINCETON N.J. (Reuters) - Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiya defended on Monday his government's connections with armed militant groups in the Middle East and its involvement in negotiating the release of hostages but denied ever paying ransoms to secure their freedom."No, Qatar does not pay ransoms. Again, Qatar will not apologize for any soul or life we saved in Syria. If we can mediate to save another life we will do so," al-Attiya said in response to a question from Reuters after giving a speech at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.The energy-rich Gulf Arab state, which does back some rebel factions fighting to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has mediated the release of foreign and Syrian captives on several occasions in the course of Syria's three-year-old civil war.Islamic State, a splinter of al Qaeda, has exploited the chaos in Syria to carve out territory in the country's eastern provinces and northern Iraq. It is accused of massacres and beheadings of civilians and soldiers.Qatar supported the U.S. strikes against Islamic State in Syria, contributing one plane on the first night of attacks on Tuesday but did not take an active role in the operation.Other U.S. allies Jordan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia joined in the strikes. All are ruled by Sunni Muslims and are opponents of Assad, a member of a Shi'ite-derived sect, and his main regional ally, Shi'ite Iran.Although the Gulf states all oppose Assad, Qatar has long faced criticism, including from its Gulf Arab neighbors, for using its vast oil and gas wealth to back Islamists across the region including groups inside Syria.Qatar assured the West on Sept. 24 it was not aiding Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.In September it helped negotiate the release of 45 Fijian U.N. Peacekeepers taken hostage along the Syrian/Israeli border after being attacked by Islamist militant groups, including the al-Nusra Front, an al Qaeda affiliate, in the volatile area between Syria and Israel."The Fijians were working close with us, so they saw they saw our steps and movement to release their soldiers. We don’t believe in paying ransoms. This is another way of fueling, if you may call it supporting through the backdoor, and this we don’t do," al-Attiya said.Qatar helped secure the release, among others, of Peter Theo Curtis, an American held for nearly two years by al-Nusra; 13 Greek Orthodox nuns in March after more than three months of being held by Islamist fighters. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights identified the nuns captors as al-Nusra."Sometimes criticized, this important and complicated role should neither be questioned nor taken for granted," he said, adding: "To the naked eye, Qatar might be a challenging case to fully understand, especially in the context of non-stop media bashing predicated by hired guns and a few lobbyists."(Reporting by Daniel Bases; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.
MATTHEW 24:37-42
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
NATIONS AGAINST THE WEST INCLUDING ISLAMIC LUNATICS ISIS
EZEKIEL 38:4-7
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
COUNTRIES WITH ISRAEL AND THE WEST
REVELATION 12:5-6,14
5 And she brought forth a man child,(MARY DID-JESUS WHO IS(JEWISH) who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
6 And the woman (MARY WHOS JEWISH REPRESENTING ISRAEL)fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.(3 1/2 YRS PROTECTED IN PETRA JORDAN)
14 And to the woman (ISRAEL) were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time,(3 1/2 YRS) from the face of the serpent.(PROTECTED FOR 3 1/2 YRS IN PETRA JORDAN)
EZEKIEL 38:10-19
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy (RUSSIAS) mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say,(RUSSIA,ARAB,MUSLIMS) I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13 Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDIA ARABIA) and the merchants of Tarshish,(ENGLAND) with all the young lions thereof,(USA,CANADA,AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND,EU,ENGLAND,ENGLISH SPEAKING) shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog,(RUSSIA-MUSLIMS) Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts,(RUSSIA) thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire (ATOMIC BOMB) of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
RADICAL ISLAM RECRUIT
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/featured/prime-time/867432237001/isis-and-the-idealism-of-youth/3812337998001
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/featured/prime-time/867432237001/radicalization-at-home-and-abroad/3812338001001
U.S., Kurds strike at Islamic State in Syria-Reuters-By Mariam Karouny and Jonny Hogg-SEPT 29,14-YAHOONEWS
BEIRUT/MURSITPINAR Turkey (Reuters) - U.S. warplanes attacked Islamic State targets in Syria overnight, in raids that a group monitoring the war said killed civilians as well as jihadist fighters.The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes hit mills and grain storage areas in the northern Syrian town of Manbij, in an area controlled by Islamic State, killing at least two civilian workers.Strikes on a building on a road leading out of the town also killed a number of Islamic State fighters, said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the observatory, which gathers information from sources in Syria.The U.S. military said on Monday an American air strike targeted Islamic State vehicles in a staging area adjacent to a grain storage facility near Manbij, but it had no evidence so far of civilian casualties.While raids in Iraq and Syria have taken a toll on Islamic State equipment and fighters on the ground, there is no sign the tide is turning against the group, which controls large areas of both countries.A U.S. Air Force general said Islamic State militants were changing their tactics in the face of American air strikes in Iraq and Syria, abandoning large formations such as convoys that had been easier for the U.S. military to target.“They are a smart adversary, and they have seen that that's not effective for their survival, so they are now dispersing themselves,” Air Force Major General Jeffrey Harrigian said at a Pentagon news conference.That “requires us to work harder to locate them, and then develop the situation to appropriately target them”, he said.In a statement to the United Nations that appeared to give approval of U.S. and Arab air strikes in Syria against the militants, Syria's foreign minister said his country backed the campaign against Islamic State.Syria "stands with any international effort aimed at fighting and combating terrorism", said Walid al-Moualem, whose government has long been an international pariah because of what critics say is its brutality in a civil war that has killed 190,000 people.U.S. congressional aides said Congress might not vote until next year on an authorization for President Barack Obama's air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, despite some lawmakers' insistence that approval is already overdue.Obama has said he does not need approval for the air strikes, despite the constitutional requirement that Congress authorize military action.The U.S.-led strikes have so far failed to halt an advance by Islamic State fighters in northern Syria on Kobani, a Kurdish town on the border with Turkey where fighting over the past week caused the fastest refugee flight of Syria's three-year-old war.At least 15 Turkish tanks could be seen at the frontier, some with guns pointed towards Syrian territory. More tanks and armored vehicles moved towards the border after shells landed in Turkey on Sunday and Monday.
ARAB ALLIES
The United States has been bombing Islamic State and other groups in Syria for a week with the help of Arab allies, and hitting targets in neighboring Iraq since last month. European countries have joined the campaign in Iraq but not in Syria.Islamic State, a Sunni militant group that broke off from al Qaeda, alarmed the West and the Middle East by sweeping through northern Iraq in June, slaughtering prisoners and ordering Shi'ites and non-Muslims to convert or die.It is battling Shi'ite-backed governments in both Iraq and Syria, as well as other Sunni groups in Syria and Kurdish groups in both countries, part of complex multi-sided civil wars in which nearly every country in the Middle East has a stake.The head of Syria's al Qaeda branch, the Nusra Front, a Sunni militant group that is a rival of Islamic State and has also been targeted by U.S. strikes, said Islamists would carry out attacks on the West in retaliation for the campaign.Obama has worked since August to build an international coalition to combat the fighters, describing them last week in an address to the United Nations as a "network of death".His comments in an interview broadcast on Sunday that U.S. intelligence had underestimated Islamic State offered an explanation for why Washington appeared to have been taken by surprise when the fighters surged through northern Iraq in June.The militants had gone underground when U.S. forces quashed al Qaeda in Iraq with the aid of local tribes during the U.S. war there that ended in 2011, Obama told CBS's "60 Minutes"."But over the past couple of years, during the chaos of the Syrian civil war, where essentially you have huge swathes of the country that are completely ungoverned, they were able to reconstitute themselves and take advantage of that chaos," he said.Obama's remarks came under fire on Monday from several U.S. lawmakers and members of the intelligence community."This was not an intelligence community failure but a failure by policy makers to confront the threat," said Mike Rogers, Republican chairman of the House of Representative Intelligence Committee.
BATTLE ON BORDER
Gunfire rang out from across the border, and a plume of smoke rose over Kobani as periodic shelling by Islamic State fighters took place. Kurds watching the fighting from the Turkish side of the border said the Syrian Kurdish group, the YPG, was putting up a strong defense."Many Islamic State fighters have been killed. They're not taking the bodies with them," said Ayhan, a Turkish Kurd who had spoken by phone with one of his friends fighting with the YPG. He said Kurdish forces had picked up eight Islamic State bodies.At Mursitpinar, the nearby border crossing, scores of young men were returning to Syria saying they would join the fight. More refugees were fleeing in the opposite direction."Because of the bombs, everyone is running away. We heard people have been killed," said Xelil, a 39-year-old engineer who fled Kobani on Monday. "The YPG have got light weapons, but Islamic State has big guns and tanks."A local official in Kobani said Islamic State continued to besiege the town from the east, west and south and that the militants were 10 km (6 miles) from the outskirts."From the morning there has been shelling into Kobani and ... maybe about 20 rockets," Idris Nassan, deputy foreign minister in a local Kurdish administration said by phone. He said the rockets had killed at least three people in the town.Turkey has not permitted its own Kurds to cross to join the battle: "If they've got Syrian identity or passports, they can go. But only Syrians, not Turks," said one Turkish official at the border where security has been tightened.A NATO member with the most powerful army in the area, Turkey has so far kept out of the U.S.-led coalition, angering many of its own Kurds who say the policy has abandoned their cousins in Syria to the wrath of Islamic State fighters.(Additiona reporting by Sylvia Westall in Beirut, Philip Stewart, Patricia Zengerle and Mark Hosenball in Washington; Writing by Sylvia Westall, Peter Graff and Giles Elgood; Editing by Philippa Fletcher, Peter Cooney and Ken Wills)
Qatar's foreign minister denies paying ransoms to militant groups-Reuters-By Daniel Bases-SEPT 29,14-YAHOONEWS
PRINCETON N.J. (Reuters) - Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiya defended on Monday his government's connections with armed militant groups in the Middle East and its involvement in negotiating the release of hostages but denied ever paying ransoms to secure their freedom."No, Qatar does not pay ransoms. Again, Qatar will not apologize for any soul or life we saved in Syria. If we can mediate to save another life we will do so," al-Attiya said in response to a question from Reuters after giving a speech at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.The energy-rich Gulf Arab state, which does back some rebel factions fighting to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has mediated the release of foreign and Syrian captives on several occasions in the course of Syria's three-year-old civil war.Islamic State, a splinter of al Qaeda, has exploited the chaos in Syria to carve out territory in the country's eastern provinces and northern Iraq. It is accused of massacres and beheadings of civilians and soldiers.Qatar supported the U.S. strikes against Islamic State in Syria, contributing one plane on the first night of attacks on Tuesday but did not take an active role in the operation.Other U.S. allies Jordan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia joined in the strikes. All are ruled by Sunni Muslims and are opponents of Assad, a member of a Shi'ite-derived sect, and his main regional ally, Shi'ite Iran.Although the Gulf states all oppose Assad, Qatar has long faced criticism, including from its Gulf Arab neighbors, for using its vast oil and gas wealth to back Islamists across the region including groups inside Syria.Qatar assured the West on Sept. 24 it was not aiding Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.In September it helped negotiate the release of 45 Fijian U.N. Peacekeepers taken hostage along the Syrian/Israeli border after being attacked by Islamist militant groups, including the al-Nusra Front, an al Qaeda affiliate, in the volatile area between Syria and Israel."The Fijians were working close with us, so they saw they saw our steps and movement to release their soldiers. We don’t believe in paying ransoms. This is another way of fueling, if you may call it supporting through the backdoor, and this we don’t do," al-Attiya said.Qatar helped secure the release, among others, of Peter Theo Curtis, an American held for nearly two years by al-Nusra; 13 Greek Orthodox nuns in March after more than three months of being held by Islamist fighters. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights identified the nuns captors as al-Nusra."Sometimes criticized, this important and complicated role should neither be questioned nor taken for granted," he said, adding: "To the naked eye, Qatar might be a challenging case to fully understand, especially in the context of non-stop media bashing predicated by hired guns and a few lobbyists."(Reporting by Daniel Bases; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
