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.
1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
LUKE 21:28-29
28 And when these
things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE)
then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE)
draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30
When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that
summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT
COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A
fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES
AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the
garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea,
and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12
And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the
people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume
away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and
their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)
and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM
ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD
PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that
day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they
shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand
shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN
WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say
to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the
Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour
every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall
not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be
burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor
their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath;
but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for
he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC
BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be
stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of
hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here
are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through
war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only
Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land
in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel,
Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half
of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18,
Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY
OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND
IN THE FUTURE
Lapid praises Trump as US president announces
fresh tariffs on Turkey-Yesh Atid chief hails American leader's
'decisive action against Erdogan and Turkey,' says it 'would not hurt'
for Netanyahu to do likewise-By TOI staff and AFP-AUG 13,18
Yesh
Atid party leader Yair Lapid applauded US President Donald Trump’s
decision Friday to impose tariffs on Turkey, further pressuring that
country’s troubled economy amid a diplomatic row with Washington.“I
praise President Trump for his decisive action against [President Recep
Tayyip] Erdogan and Turkey,” Lapid wrote on Twitter.Lapid said it “would
not hurt the Netanyahu government” to also take action against Turkey,
presumably due to Erdogan’s increasingly venomous statements against the
Jewish state.The Yesh Atid MK has previously implored Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu to adopt a tougher stance toward Turkey and slammed
as a “diplomatic mistake” the 2016 reconciliation deal between the
countries. The agreement had restored ties heavily strained by the
deadly 2010 raid on a Turkish ship trying to breach the blockade on the
Gaza Strip. Israel maintains the blockade is necessary to prevent
weapons reaching terror groups such as Hamas, which rules Gaza.Erdogan
is much maligned in Israel for his backing of Hamas and fiery comments
criticizing Israeli responses to violence on the Gaza border.Lapid’s
praise for Trump came after the US president announced the doubling of
steel and aluminum tariffs on Turkey.“I have just authorized a doubling
of Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum with respect to Turkey as their
currency, the Turkish Lira, slides rapidly downward against our very
strong Dollar!” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Our relations with Turkey are
not good at this time!”Trump’s announcement came as Turkey’s embattled
lira hit new record lows against the US dollar and euro, losing nearly
nine percent in value as strains with the United States showed no sign
of abating and fears grew over the exposure of European banks.However,
the White House later clarified that Trump’s announcement “authorized
the preparation of documents” to raise the tariffs. That means it likely
will take some time to implement.Washington imposed the metals tariffs
on national security grounds, claiming the glut of steel and aluminum
harmed US companies and the economy. It is unclear how that would
justify higher tariffs on Turkey but not other countries.Economist Chad
Bown, who specializes in trade issues, said Turkey accounted for just
over four percent of US steel imports in 2017, but a very small fraction
of the aluminum brought into the country.Turkey remains at loggerheads
with the United States in one of the worst spats between the two NATO
allies in years over the detention for the last two years of American
pastor Andrew Brunson and a host of other issues.Washington this month
imposed sanctions on senior Turkish officials, angering Erdogan and
prompting retaliatory measures by Ankara.Meanwhile, markets are deeply
concerned over the direction of economic policy under Erdogan, with
inflation at nearly 16% but the central bank reluctant to raise rates in
response.Erdogan on Friday called on Turks to support their struggling
currency.“We will not lose the economic war,” state-run TRT Haber
television quoted Erdogan as saying.“If you have dollars, euros or gold
under your pillow, go to banks to exchange them for Turkish lira. It is a
national fight.”Harsher US tariffs were likely to punish Turkey’s
already faltering steel exports to the United States.In the first three
months of 2018, Turkish steel exports to the United States fell nearly
50% over the same period in 2017, making it the only top-10 source of US
steel imports to see a decrease, according to the US Commerce
Department.
Britain in a frenzy over Boris Johnson’s ‘bank
robber’ burqa comments-Critics accuse former foreign secretary of
seeking attention, encouraging Islamophobia, while many Conservatives
support him-By Florence Biedermann-AUG 13,18
LONDON (AFP)
— In a quiet summer week, a disparaging quip about the burqa by
ex-foreign secretary Boris Johnson has sparked a frenzied debate in
Britain drawing in religion, politics and Brexit.The former London mayor
wrote a column in the Daily Telegraph newspaper on Monday saying the
full Muslim face veil should not be banned but women who wear it look
like “letter boxes” and “bank robbers.”The comment prompted a frenzy of
reaction, with campaigners accusing Johnson of encouraging
Islamophobia.Brandon Lewis, the chairman of the ruling Conservatives,
asked him to apologize and the party launched an investigation after
receiving dozens of complaints.But some Tory MPs defended Johnson’s
right to speak out, while he also drew support from some unexpected
areas.“Mr. Bean” and “Blackadder” star Rowan Atkinson noted on Friday
that “all jokes about religion cause offence,” and apologies were only
required where the joke was not funny.In the letter pages of The Times,
meanwhile, Muslim scholars sparred over whether the niqab and burqa had a
basis in the Quran, and veiled British women were interviewed on live
TV.Britain’s top police officer, Cressida Dick, was even asked whether
Johnson may have committed a hate crime, concluding that he had not,
even if many people found his words “offensive.”Johnson let it be known
he would not be apologizing, with a source close to him saying it was
important to “speak up for liberal values.”He publicly said nothing and
is now on holiday.Some critics suspect him of deliberately creating
controversy at a time when, with the British parliament in recess,
political reporters are desperate for something to write about.A
colleague at the Telegraph, for whom Johnson has worked on and off for
decades, said he often wrote his articles at the last minute, without
thinking too much about it.But critics accuse him of wooing right-wing
Conservatives with a populist message about Muslims, with an eye on a
future party leadership contest.Johnson resigned from the government
last month in protest at Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans for Brexit, a
move that won him support among many Conservative activists.The
euroskeptic Daily Mail newspaper reported Friday that the vast majority
of its readers support his stance on the burqa, with 19 out of 20
letters received offering their backing.Meanwhile The Telegraph — which
also backs Brexit — reported that many Conservative MPs were furious at
party chairman Lewis for asking Johnson to apologize.One unnamed source
said that the move, which helped turn the issue into a major news story,
was an attempt to “knee cap” Johnson in any forthcoming leadership
race.Johnson did not excel as Britain’s top diplomat — the Chatham House
think tank called him the “least successful” of all British foreign
ministers in the past 70 years.But he remains the most recognizable
politician in Britain, known widely just as “Boris” — and proved this
week that even out of government, he can still drive the news.
Israeli
hospitals witness record-breaking baby boom-With maternity wards at
full capacity, some mothers are delivering in hallways; Soroka Medical
Center in Beersheba breaks record with 1,518 deliveries in July-TOI-AUG
13,18
Several Israeli hospitals have reported
record-breaking numbers of deliveries of newborns.Maternity wards in
most of the country’s hospitals are at capacity, with some mothers being
referred to other departments and others having their babies being
delivered in hallways, the Ynet news website reported Thursday.Soroka
Medical Center in Beersheba broke its all-time record for births in any
given month with 1,518 deliveries in July. That’s almost an increase of
10 percentage points over the 1,395 births recorded there in July
2017.Soroka has Israel’s largest number of births — approximately 17,000
annually. That means that July was higher by seven percentage points
than the monthly average of 1,415 births at the hospital. In July 2017,
Soroka had 1,510 births — a previous record for July.The Israeli
hospital with the second-largest number of births, Ichilov Hospital, saw
1,014 births in July – nearly 10% above that hospital’s monthly average
of 916 births. Ichilov last month opened a new maternity ward with 51
private rooms and a new infant department.Smaller hospitals, including
Ha’emek in Afula, also saw a noticeable increase. Whereas last year,
Ha’Emek had 341 deliveries in July, this year the tally for last month
was 392 births.The uptick is connected to rising fertility rates and the
fact that there is a significantly higher number of births during the
summer months compared to winter, according to the report.August usually
has the highest number of births of the year — 16,540 of them in August
2016 nationwide, compared to approximately 14,000 in February.In 2016,
Israel had 181,405 deliveries and a fertility rate of 3.11 children per
mother. This figure is by far the highest fertility rate among the
members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a
club of 34 industrialized nations. Israel had a fertility rate of four
children per mother in 1970, but it had dropped to 2.9 by 1999 before
climbing up to its current level.The average fertility rate within the
OECD is 1.7 children per mother.
Ferrari
bursts into flames on main Israeli highway-Firefighters on Route 6
extinguish burning sports car estimated to have cost some NIS 800,000;
unclear what sparked blaze-By TOI staff-AUG 13,18
A
Ferrari sports car went up in flames in southern Israel Friday, snarling
traffic on one of the country’s main highways.Firefighters from
Ashkelon extinguished the burning vehicle on Route 6 near the southern
city of Kiryat Gat, a spokesman for the Israel Fire and Rescue Services’
southern district said. No one was injured.It was not immediately clear
what caused the Ferrari to catch fire.As firefighters extinguished the
blaze, the northbound lane of Route 6 was briefly blocked, while heavy
traffic was recorded heading south as curious passersby slowed to catch a
glimpse of the burning sports car.The car was a Ferrari 458 model from
2012, according to Ynet, and was estimated to have cost some NIS 800,000
($215,000).
State Comptroller probing why gas platform
being built close to Israeli coast-As protests grow, watchdog opens
inquiry into government's use of security argument to justify putting
Leviathan processing facility only 10 km from shore, rather than out at
sea-By Sue Surkes-TOI-AUG 13,18
Amid bitter opposition
from environmentalists and others, the State Comptroller is looking into
the extent to which security concerns were relevant to the government’s
decision to locate the processing platform for Israel’s largest
natural gas field just 10 kilometers, or 6.2 miles, from the shores of
central Israel, The Times of Israel has learned.Citizens’ groups,
several local authorities, environmental NGOs and a clutch of academics
are fighting an 11th-hour campaign to reverse the decision and have the
processing platform moved 125 kilometers (78 miles) away from the coast,
to the area of the gas wells themselves.The protesters fear that a
platform so close to densely populated areas of the country risks a
major environmental and public health disaster.The government and Noble
Energy — the Texas-based company which is developing and operating the
field — strongly deny the claims. A senior figure at Noble Energy,
Israel told The Times of Israel that the $4 billion Leviathan is 60%
complete and irreversible.Built in the United States, the processing
platform is due to arrive off-shore in December, and its legs are to be
lowered into the sea the following month just 9.7 km (6 miles) from the
popular Dor Beach, north of Caesarea. Production is due to start a year
later.In a related concern over the Leviathan project, some of the
protesters also alleged in Haifa District Court this week that the
government has given a permit for a highly toxic by-product of the gas
to be piped on land, without meeting key environmental conditions set by
the court earlier this year.The process and the placement-After
extraction, raw natural gas must be processed to separate the dry gas
used by power plants to run their turbines from two other main
components — condensate and waste water.Condensate forms when gas cools
as pressure drops and it rises to the surface of the sea. Used in the
oil industry, it contains dangerous and carcinogenic products such as
benzene and arsenic.Waste water that comes out of the well contains high
concentrations of heavy metals, mercury and lead.Throughout the world,
companies process both gas and oil either on land, on platforms near the
shore, or on a floating vessel close to the wells themselves.Noble
Energy, which developed Israel’s first major natural gas field, Tamar,
initially planned to locate processing for the Leviathan field near the
wells on an FPSO (Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading), a large
floating vessel.While the gas is piped to shore from an FPSO, the
condensate is loaded onto tankers to be taken wherever it is needed.In a
2013 submission to the National Planning and Building Council, which
was charged with creating what became known as National Outline Plan 37 H
for all of Israel’s gas fields, the Environmental Protection Ministry
recommended that as much processing as possible be carried out at
sea.But according to witnesses who spoke to The Times of Israel, the
Council refused to discuss an FPSO option. This was apparently because
it had received mistaken technical advice about the number of such
vessels that would be needed, and flawed legal advice that it lacked the
authority to deal with matters beyond Israel’s territorial waters,
which end 22 km (13.5 miles) from the shore.The Council leaned toward a
land-based processing facility, which was what the government then
approved.But in response to a petition, the High Court subsequently
ordered that a sea-based option be considered after all.That process led
the government to decide in 2016 to locate the platform less than 10 km
from Dor beach.But in the case of two smaller gas fields, Karish (shark
in Hebrew) and Tanin (crocodile), the government did approve use of an
FPSO. In explaining the benefits of the floating vessel, the company
developing those two fields, Energean, said, “Using an FPSO located 75
km (46 miles) from the Israel coast should result in the development
having very low environmental impacts, substantially less than the other
schemes considered.”The spokesperson added, “Environmental impacts
should be lower during all project phases: construction, operation and
abandonment. …The FPSO scheme also limits the potential for oil
pollution resulting from pipeline leaks. Hydrocarbon liquids
[condensate] are not transported to shore and hence the consequence of
any spillage is significantly reduced,”Asked why the government decided
to locate Leviathan’s processing facility close to the shore, while
Karish and Tanin will use an FPSO, the Energy Ministry told The Times of
Israel the former was chosen “after many tests, an environmental impact
assessment and the considerations of the security
establishment.”Ya’alon steps in-Leviathan holds ten times more gas than
Karish and Tanin combined, and twice as much as Tamar, a spokesman said,
and only a near-shore option could guarantee its defense.“Leviathan is
of essential importance to Israel’s economy and therefore it is
preferable that its production facilities be located within Israel’s
territorial waters to ensure maximum protection for our energy security
as well as reliability of supply.”An army spokesperson told The Times of
Israel that the IDF had been charged with defending Israel’s exclusive
economic zone, which extends 230 miles, or 370 km, from the coast.“The
IDF, via the navy, knows how to defend all of the economic zone. That
said, locating the [gas] facilities in close proximity to the shore will
improve the level of defense for them. We emphasize that the decision
regarding the platform’s location is not limited to security
considerations, nor is it within the jurisdiction of the IDF.”Late last
month, however, former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon — a sharp critic
of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a self-declared candidate for
prime minister — threw a spoke into the wheels of the security reasoning
when he revealed to Home Guardians, one of the citizen groups
campaigning for an FPSO, that during his tenure from 2013 to 2016, the
plan was to locate the production facilities close to the wells and that
no discussions were ever held about moving them closer to the
shore.Ya’alon checked recently with senior defense brass who, he wrote
to Home Guardians, knew nothing about the location change.On the
contrary, he wrote that he saw a “defense advantage” to a Leviathan
FPSO, because new warships ordered to defend the gas platforms in the
Mediterranean Sea were “supposed to give defense coverage to the
drilling wells and production platform as one unit.”Ya’alon added that,
“if the issue had been brought before me for a security assessment, I
would have recommended approving the original plan which was based on a
sea platform close to the Leviathan drilling and not a separate platform
close to the shore.”Ya’alon resigned from the government on May 20,
2016.The near-shore location of the platform was approved by the
government a month before he left.Ya’alon asked the state comptroller to
look into the matter. Now, indeed, a spokesman for the ombudsman told
The Times of Israel, “the security aspect of the decision-making process
regarding the location of the gas platform is being examined.”The first
of four German-built Sa’ar 6 corvettes is due to reach Israel in
November 2019 to be equipped with highly sensitive detection equipment,
offensive weapons and interceptors for both simpler ballistic attacks
and advanced guided missiles.-Great cause for concern? Those campaigning
for the platform to be replaced by an FPSO or something similar, may
have woken up too late.After successfully helping to force the
government to change course over the location of the Tamar platform —
which is today situated 23 km (14 miles) off the coast, close to the
southern city of Ashkelon — they were caught off guard by the plan for
such a near-shore platform for Leviathan and were shocked to discover
Environmental Protection Ministry figures for potentially carcinogenic
air emissions from Tamar.Data for 2016, published by the ministry in
November 2017, clearly shows that emissions from Tamar that are “known
or suspected to be carcinogenic” equaled the total of such emissions
from 570 large industrial plants across the country, including the Haifa
oil refineries.Indeed, according to Amy Rosenstein, a risk assessment
and toxicology consultant, Tamar’s non-methane VOC emissions (a variety
of chemically different compounds, such as highly carcinogenic benzene)
were 30 times higher than Noble had originally predicted in the
environmental impact assessment it had been required to carry out before
operating the field.In something of a rearguard action, the ministry
ordered Noble to design a program for emissions reduction to be
incorporated as conditions for a license that was due to be signed in
the first half of this year.The Energy Ministry has meanwhile announced
online that Tamar’s platform will be upgraded to reduce total air
emissions from 1,160 tons to just 10 tons per year.In light of these
revelations, the people living within a radius of Dor Beach are
wondering whether they can trust Noble’s promises about the Leviathan
platform’s safety.Prof. Richard Steiner, a world expert on marine
conservation, who advises governments and citizen groups about the
impact of drilling and mining, told a press conference organized by the
campaigners earlier this month that on the basis of the publicly
available information, there was great cause for concern.He said he saw
“an old pattern of governments accepting information from the industry”
and of an “inherent contradiction in the government’s role as both the
beneficiary of revenues and the regulator.”To buttress his claim that
the government is behaving with a lack of transparency, he displayed a
2017 amendment to a 2016 environmental impact assessment carried out for
Noble Energy in which most of the information in the second half of the
document has been “redacted” or blacked out. (See from p.
31).“Everything we need to know about the technical details for making
this a safe project has been eliminated,” he said. “When we asked why,
they said it was to protect security and commercial secrets.“On a daily
basis, the concern [about a platform so close to shore] is marine
discharge from waste water, which contains heavy metals, as well as air
pollution, noise, seabed habitat disturbance and the visual impact of a
big platform 10 kilometers off Dor Beach,” he said.“But I’m most worried
about the catastrophic impact risk.”In a stinging 73-page report on the
Leviathan project, Steiner says that Noble’s documents fail to provide a
“clear plan for preventing well blowouts [the uncontrolled release of
gas in cases where pressure control systems fail] or seabed pipeline
failure… pipeline leak detection, personnel training… near-casualty
reporting and investigation, risk assessment, subcontractor management,
and equipment maintenance and surveillance.”The company’s information,
he charges, is “poorly integrated, redundant, [and] often inconsistent,”
with “significant errors… significant gaps in essential information,
and often … vague and general assertions lacking detail” – all factors
which make it hard for the public to understand the project and evaluate
potential risks.The documents “understate the risks and impacts of the
Leviathan project” and “overstate response capabilities.”Noble Energy’s
reliance on mechanical methods and chemicals used to disperse oil slicks
is mistaken, he charges, because they are “not known to be effective in
most condensate release scenarios.”That view was echoed by Alex Hunt, a
technical manager at the International Tanker Owners Pollution
Federation in London, which assists with oil spills around the
world.Following January’s disastrous collision of an Iranian
condensate-carrying tanker with a Chinese cargo ship off Shanghai, Hunt
told The Atlantic, “Condensate, as you might expect, is highly flammable
….There is the classic image of a spill at sea — black oil floating on
the water, people attempting to use booms and skimmers or to use
dispersants. In a case like this, a product like this, those techniques
would not be recommended. It’s flammable so you wouldn’t want to contain
it, or use a skimmer to recover it, because then you are risking a
fire.”Steiner went on to say that following the Deepwater Horizon
disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, when an oil drilling rig ignited
and exploded, kick-starting the biggest marine oil spill disaster in
history, it is unacceptable that Leviathan’s documents “fail to account
for the many ways in which a complex system such as a deep water gas
project can fail…. catastrophic risks have not been adequately
assessed.”He said, “Natural gas (99% methane) is known to be toxic to
marine organisms, particularly at warmer water temperatures…found off
the coast of Israel. The lack of detailed evaluation of a large gas
release is a significant gap in the environmental assessment of the
project” which suggests “a troubling sense of complacency about this
very real risk.”Steiner discovered that a Leviathan well had indeed
blown out before reaching any gas reserves during an experimental drill
by Noble Energy in May 2011, with the result that briny water spilled
out into the sea for 16 months until the well was plugged. The impact on
the sea bed reportedly lasted for at least five years.The slow response
time “calls into question the veracity of many of the well control
assertions made in the documents,” Steiner said.Noble’s Energy’s
environmental impact assessment for one of the blocks in the Tamar Field
Development Project noted that, “Because the Application Area is more
than ten km from the Israeli coast, onshore air quality is not reviewed
in this report,” indicating that for a project within 10 km of the
shore, it should be.Yet for the Leviathan project, it did not prepare a
comprehensive health assessment because Israeli environmental impact
assessment law does not explicitly require it.Instead, according to Amy
Rosenstein, who was brought to Israel by the campaigners to address the
press conference alongside Steiner, it complied with the “minimum
requirements” of the Environmental Protection Ministry and produced an
EIA [environmental impact assessment] in 2016 that claimed “with little
supporting evidence provided, that potential impacts to the health and
safety of affected communities have been assessed and no significant
impacts have been identified.”It is crucial, Rosenstein claimed, to have
a detailed health assessment carried out to meet international
standards in developed countries, and because the platform will be the
closest of all the oil and gas facilities to Israel’s shore.Warning that
emissions into the water could potentially contaminate desalination
plants and fish, Rosenstein writes, “Based on the record of Noble Energy
at the existing Tamar platform…. where emissions have been
significantly greater (by more than an order of magnitude) than
predicted, and at its gas platforms around the world, where similarly
high emissions, as well as accidents, have been recorded, it is vitally
important to predict and understand the impacts of the proposed platform
on the health of people living at the shore.”In April 2015, Noble
Energy, Inc. agreed a $73 million settlement with the US Environmental
Protection Agency, the Department of Justice, and the State of Colorado
over “issues with vapor control systems” at Noble’s condensate storage
tank batteries in Colorado.-Haifa court battle-For Leviathan, Noble
Energy is planning a backup condensate storage tank at the Hagit power
plant, east of Route 70 between the northern towns of Zichron Yaakov and
Yokneam.Racing against the clock, Home Guardians – which is planning a
mass protest in Tel Aviv on September 1 — asked the Haifa District Court
on Tuesday to temporarily delay the award of a permit to Noble Energy
to operate a condensate pipe on land that will connect the platform to
the national oil pipeline that takes crude oil to the Haifa
Refineries.Lawyers for the group told the court that the government
approved the permit on Monday despite the court’s ruling in May
conditioning such a permit on Noble Energy providing an emergency plan
for a condensate leak that had to be approved by the environmental
protection ministry.Those conditions, the lawyers said, had not been
met.Who’s in charge? Zalul, a veteran NGO dedicated to protecting the
marine environment, has been focusing on the potential effects of
Israel’s gas fields since 2012.It lamented what it says is the excessive
authority granted to the Energy Ministry at the expense of the
environmental protection ministry and the difficulty of obtaining
information from the former.One of the key conclusions in the US and
Europe following the Gulf of Mexico disaster has been to ensure a
complete separation between government departments working to advance
oil and gas extraction and those charged with protecting the
environment, the organization said.“Since January 2018, the energy and
environmental protection ministries have refused to provide answers to
both the Local Authorities Association and a citizens’ NGO about
emergency planning for both the Tamar and Leviathan gas fields. In May,
the environmental protection ministry wrote that the energy ministry did
not wish it to be made available to the public,” it noted.The Times of
Israel tried to ascertain who is supervising the activity of government
on this issue.A review of Knesset committee debates reveals that since
2014, no discussions relating to natural gas have taken place within the
interior and environmental protection committee.A committee
spokesperson said that matters connected to energy [but not the
potential environmental implications of energy initiatives] are overseen
by the economic affairs committee which , according to the protocols,
has discussed natural gas fairly frequently.The interior and
environmental protection committee, the spokesperson continued, is one
of the most overloaded in the Knesset. In addition to environment, it is
responsible for internal security, interior ministry matters (including
all local government and planning and building issues) and religious
services.It is the committee chairman, currently the Likud’s Yoav Kisch,
who decides which subjects to discuss.Asked what happened if fears are
raised about an environmental issue, the spokesperson said, “We’ll often
just ask for a report from an NGO or from the Environmental Protection
Ministry.”-Noble: No going back-The Energy Ministry, meanwhile, remains
upbeat about the near-shore Leviathan processing platform.A spokesman
said it would create pollution neither on the beach nor in the sea.The
platform will contain “advanced technology” for environmental
protection, including “a closed system” for the handling of natural gas
with “advanced means of monitoring, supervision and control to prevent
any deviations from environmental conditions in the air and sea, as
defined by the environmental protection ministry,” said the
spokesman.Furthermore, the operation of Leviathan will enable the
closure of four coal power-generating units in nearby coastal Hadera,
significantly reducing air pollution in Israel overall, the spokesman
said.Bini Zomer, Noble Energy’s VP for Regional Affairs, said, “This is
an irreversible $4 billion project that is 60% complete. The legs of the
platform will be set in January. The pipelines have been laid from the
field to the platform and from the platform to the shore. There is no
going back on this and it’s a shame some people thing this is still a
possibility.”He explained, “We’ll have a maximum of around 2,000
barrels-worth of condensate on the platform at any one time.“If you have
an FPSO far from the shore, you’ll be storing condensate in the hull
and there will be hundreds of thousands of barrels so that the impact of
a spill could be far greater and take longer to reach to clean up.“If
you have a pipeline [from the wells to the platform and from the
platform to the shore] it’s the safest way to transport anything.
They’re designed for 50 years. There’s no movement. They are seamlessly
welded,” he went on. “But with an FPSO, you have to transport the
condensate by ship.”Zomer added, “We are required to have an oil spill
response plan — condensate is a lighter version of oil — and we have a
strict regimen, which we train for.”Waste water, meanwhile, would be
flushed back into the sea close to the platform but only after it had
been treated to meet environmental protection ministry
regulations.Regarding transparency, said Nobel’s Zomer, “All the
information is available on the Ministry of Environmental Protection
website. This is probably one of the most transparent infrastructure
projects in the history of Israel.”
EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH IN NOAHS DAY(BECAUSE OF SIN,VIOLENCE AND GODLESS PEOPLE)
GENESIS 6:11-13
11
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with
violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13
And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the
earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and,
behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
HOSEA 4:1-3
1 Hear
the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a
controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth,
nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
3
Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein
shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of
heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
DEUTORONOMY 28:22-24
22
The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and
with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword,
and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until
thou perish.
23 And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
24 The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25
And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in
the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC)
and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION)
the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing
them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those
things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of
heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the
seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the
great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with
blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees
was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Death toll rises to 259 from Sunday's quake in Indonesia's Lombok island-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-August 9, 2018
JAKARTA
(Reuters) - The number of confirmed deaths from a strong earthquake
that hit the Indonesian island of Lombok on Sunday has risen to 259 and
would rise as more victims are found in the rubble, the disaster
mitigation agency said."The 259 number of deaths are those who have been
verified. This number will continue increasing as rescue teams continue
to find victims under collapsed buildings," the agency said in a
statement on Thursday.The death toll was 131 a day earlier.(Reporting by
Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Puerto Rico: 1,400 died from hurricane but toll still at 64-[Associated Press]-YAHOONEWS-August 9, 2018
SAN
JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico is estimating in a report to
Congress that Hurricane Maria killed more than 1,400 people, though an
island official said Thursday that the confirmed toll remains frozen at
64 pending a scientific review due out soon.The government, relying on
updated statistics it first reported in June, said in a report to
Congress detailing a $139 billion reconstruction plan that there were
1,427 more deaths from September to December 2017 than the average for
the same time period over the previous four years.The territory's
government said that the additional deaths resulted from the effects of a
storm that led to a "cascading failures" in infrastructure across the
island of 3.3 million people.The administration of Gov. Ricardo Rossello
stopped updating its official death toll months ago and ordered an
investigation amid reports that the number was substantially
undercounted. Public Safety Department Secretary Hector Pesquera said
the new total will reflect the findings of the investigation, which is
expected in the coming weeks.The figure of more than 1,400, Pesquera
said, "is simple math" based on the number of excess deaths. "This is
not the official number of deaths attributable to Hurricane Maria," he
said.Hurricane Maria, which came just two weeks after Hurricane Irma
passed near enough to cause damage to the island, knocked out power and
water across Puerto Rico and caused widespread flooding that left many
sick and elderly people unable to get medical treatment."The hurricanes'
devastating effects on people's health and safety cannot be
overstated," the government said in the report seeking assistance from
Congress to help rebuild an island that was already struggling from a
deep economic crisis at the time of the storm.In the weeks after the
storm, Puerto Rican officials said the storm directly caused 64 deaths,
many in landslides or flooding. But they have also said that more people
likely died due to indirect effects of the powerful storm. "We always
anticipated that this number would increase as more official studies
were conducted," Pesquera said.The government commissioned an
independent epidemiological study by George Washington University and
the Milken Institute of Public Health that is due in coming weeks.The
use of the higher death toll in the report to Congress was first
reported Thursday by The New York Times.Most of the deaths occurred not
in the initial storm on Sept. 20, but in the ensuing days and weeks when
the island-wide electricity outage and roads blocked by downed power
lines and other debris made it difficult to move around and emergency
services were stretched beyond their capabilities.Government agencies
have used various methods to count storm deaths over the years, with
authorities generally trying to sort them into direct and indirect to
include people whose deaths are tied to a natural disaster without
necessarily being obviously caused by it.New York Congresswoman Nydia
Velazquez, who was born in Puerto Rico, has called for legislation that
would establish federal standards for death counts after disaster. "It
has been tragically clear for some time that the devastation from Irma
and Maria was many magnitudes worse than the official death toll
suggested," she said.
WORLD POWERS IN THE LAST DAYS (END OF AGE OF GRACE NOT THE WORLD)
EUROPEAN UNION-KING OF WEST-DAN 9:26-27,DAN 7:23-24,DAN 11:40,REV 13:1-10
EGYPT-KING OF THE SOUTH-DAN 11:40
RUSSIA-KING OF THE NORTH-EZEK 38:1-2,EZEK 39:1-3
CHINA-KING OF THE EAST-DAN 11:44,REV 9:16,18
VATICAN-RELIGIOUS LEADER-REV 13:11-18,REV 17:4-5,9,18
WORLD TERRORISM
OH
BY THE WAY WHEN THE MEDIA SAYS ALLU-AK-BAR MEANS GOD IS GREAT LIE. IN
ISLAM ALLU-AK-BAR MEANS OUR GOD IS GREATER OR GREATEST. THIS IS HOW THE
MEDIA SUCK HOLES UP TO ISLAMIC-QURANIC-MUSLIMS. BY WATERING DOWN THE
REAL MEANING OF THE SEX FOR MURDER DEATH CULT ISLAM. TO MAKE IT SOUND
LIKE A PEACEFUL RELIGION (CULT OF DEATH AND WORLD DOMINATION).
GENESIS 6:11-13
11
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with
violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13
And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the
earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and,
behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11
And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with
child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF
THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And
he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS)
man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be
against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against
him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL
ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his
brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
ISAIAH 14:12-14
12
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the
morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground,
which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine
heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars
of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the
sides of the north:
14 I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above
the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF
THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)
JOHN 16:2
2
They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that
whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM
MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
4 killed,
including 2 cops, in eastern Canada shooting-Police say one suspect in
custody, call on residents of Fredericton to stay in their homes after
early morning attack-By AP-AUG 13,18
FREDERICTON, New
Brunswick — Police in the eastern Canadian city of Fredericton, New
Brunswick, said Friday that one suspect is in custody after at least
four people were killed in a shooting.Police said two of the four killed
in the Fredericton shooting were police officers.Fredericton police are
asking residents to avoid the area and stay in their homes, but the
circumstances of the shooting are unclear.Police were also asking people
on Facebook not to use social media to report on police
locations.UPDATE: Police in Fredericton say they have one suspect in
custody but advise residents that the area will remain "contained for
the foreseeable future" https://t.co/k7E0lRJM4k
pic.twitter.com/eSUBTTfxDB— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 10, 2018-David
MacCoubrey, who lives in Fredericton, said he heard about 20 shots and
was hiding on his kitchen floor.“I’m on my floor,” he said in a phone
interview. “The cops have come through my place. They have searched all
the apartments in the building. It sounded like it started in the
courtyard area.”He awoke in his apartment on Brookside Drive around 7
a.m. local time to the sound of three gunshots 33 feet (10 meters) from
his bed.MacCoubrey said his apartment complex has four buildings in a
square, and it sounded like the shots were coming from the middle of the
complex.He said police have been searching the buildings, and he’s been
sitting away from windows.“It’s not something that happens here
regularly,” he said.Travis Hrubeniuk said his fiancee had just left for
work around 7:45 when he began hearing a steady stream of
sirens.Hrubeniuk said residents have been advised to stay inside with
their doors locked. The quiet residential neighborhood, which has
houses, grocery stores, a church and an elementary school, is the last
place Hrubeniuk said he expected to encounter a dangerous
situation.“This is the first time I’ve even heard of any serious crime
or violent crime in this city,” he said.In 2014, a shooting in Moncton,
New Brunswick left three Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers dead and
two wounded.Fredericton has a population of about 58,000 and is located
just northeast of Maine.
Israel faces crocodile conundrum
with 700 stranded reptiles-Hundreds are housed at a defunct tourist
attraction and they are multiplying; official warns that a loose croc in
the Jordan River could spark 'an international incident'-By ISAAC
SCHARF and Alon Bernstein-TOI-AIG 13,18
PETZAEL, West
Bank (AP) — An Israeli businessman appears to have bitten off more than
he can chew with plans for a crocodile farm in a West Bank
settlement.Hundreds of crocodiles have been stranded at the farm in a
remote spot in the Jordan Valley — left behind by a pair of failed
business ventures.The crocodiles — 700 in all, according to a Hadashot
TV report on Friday — were brought to the settlement of Petzael in the
mid-1990s as a tourist attraction. Ensuing Israeli-Palestinian violence
kept visitors away, prompting the crocodiles’ purchase by entrepreneur
Gadi Biton, who hoped to sell them for their skin.But his venture
flopped after Israel passed a law in 2012 defining the crocodile as a
protected animal, and banning raising the animals for sale as meat or
merchandise. Multiple attempts to sell them abroad have failed.“We found
ourselves with hundreds of crocodiles in this farm that no one knows
what to do with,” said David Elhayani, head of the Jordan Valley
Regional Council. A lone worker feeds the animals dead chickens once
every eight days.Dozens of the crocodiles lazed recently on the
sun-baked shores of a lagoon on the property, their jaws ajar, revealing
menacing teeth.The animals have become a pain for the owner, the region
and Israel. Dozens of crocodiles have escaped on two occasions,
including once when 70 flew the coop only to be found after a three-day
croc-hunt. The reptiles, which can live well into their 70s, are also
reproducing. Their numbers are expected to grow to the thousands in the
coming years.“I don’t want to think of what will happen if a crocodile
manages to escape and reaches the Jordan River, and then we’ll have an
international incident,” Elhayani said. “Maybe then someone will wake up
and find a quick solution to this problem.”Biton, who declined to speak
to The Associated Press, has attempted to resettle the crocodiles in
Cyprus, but numerous attempts to do so have failed because of opposition
by residents there.COGAT, the Israeli defense body that administers
civilian affairs in the West Bank, said it is working to find a
“practical solution” to the crocodile conundrum. It accused the farm
owner of a “lack of cooperation,” without elaborating.
Saudi-led coalition to probe Yemen air raid, Houthis report 40 children dead-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-August 12, 2018
SANAA/DUBAI/GENEVA
(Reuters) - A Saudi-led Arab military coalition said on Friday it would
investigate an air strike that killed dozens of children in Yemen, an
apparent shift of stance on an attack Riyadh has portrayed as a
legitimate action against its Houthi foes.At least 40 children were
killed in Thursday's strike on a bus in northern Yemen, the armed Houthi
group which controls Yemen's capital said. That raised the toll of
children killed in the raid from 29.The strike by the Western-backed
alliance of Arab countries outraged human rights groups and was strongly
condemned by U.N. officials. Henrietta Fore, executive director of the
U.N. Children's Fund UNICEF, said the "horrific" attack marked "a low
point in (Yemen’s) brutal war".People in Saada started to dig graves in
preparation for funerals to be held on Saturday."God may give us
patience," said Hussein Hussein Tayeb, who lost three sons on the bus,
on a trip with other pupils to visit a mosque and tombs."I was one of
the first to arrive on the scene, seeking to rescue the wounded; I
lifted a body and I found that it was Ahmed's face. I hugged him, he was
my son."Ahmed was 11. His brothers Yusef and Ali were 14 and 9.U.N.
chief Antonio Guterres called for an independent investigation of the
raid which hit the bus as it drove through a market in Dahyan, a town in
the Houthis' home province of Saada.The U.N. Security Council on Friday
called for a "credible and transparent" investigation after receiving a
closed-door briefing on the strike by a senior U.N. official.A Reuters
TV crew saw boys injured in the strike lying on beds in the Dahyan
hospital, many with their heads wrapped. The face of one was covered in
lacerations.The Arab states carried out new air strikes on Friday,
killing a girl and injuring several other people whose home was targeted
in Marib province, east of the capital Sanaa, the Houthis' al-Masirah
TV said.Announcing the investigation into the strike on the bus, the
Saudi Press Agency quoted an alliance official as saying: "The coalition
is firmly committed to investigating all claims regarding mistakes or
violations of international law, to sanction those who caused these
incidents and to provide assistance to the victims."The Saudi-led Arab
alliance, whose members receive Western political support and buy
billions of dollars a year in arms from the United States, Britain and
France, has been fighting for three years to drive out the Houthis,
Iran-aligned fighters who pushed a Saudi-backed government out of the
capital in 2014.Yemen is the poorest country in the Arabian peninsula,
and the United Nations says the war has created the world's most urgent
humanitarian disaster, with millions of people totally dependent on aid
and at risk of famine if supply lines are cut."LEGITIMATE"-The Arab
states initially said the air strikes on the bus were "legitimate
military action" against missile launchers, carried out in accordance
with international humanitarian law.Houthi-run al-Masirah TV cited the
group's health minister Taha Mutawakil as saying that the estimated
number of casualties stood at 51 killed including 40 children, and at
least 79 people wounded, of whom 56 were children.The International
Committee of the Red Cross reported the same toll on Friday, citing
authorities in Saada. It had said on its Twitter account on Thursday
that its medical team at the ICRC-supported hospital in Saada had
received the bodies of 29 children, all under 15 years old. The hospital
also received 48 wounded people, among them 30 children.Masirah TV said
on Friday the Houthis had fired a number of ballistic missiles at Saudi
Arabia, targeting Jizan and Aseer provinces which lie at the border.
Saudi Arabia intercepted two missiles fired at Jizan, Al-Arabiya TV
reported.The head of the Houthis' supreme revolutionary committee,
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, hailed Friday's call by U.N. Secretary-General
António Guterres for an independent investigation into the air strike.In
Paris, the French foreign ministry said France condemned the strike and
backed a U.N. call to bring all parties in the war together for talks
in Geneva on Sept. 6.The Houthis have however barred without explanation
the head of the U.N.'s human rights office in Yemen from returning to
the country, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Friday.Elobaid Elobaid, a
Canadian citizen, had been based in Yemen since October 2016, leading 17
staff in Sanaa and 13 monitors in 11 of Yemen's governorates. His visa
expired in June but was not renewed.The U.N. human rights office has
frequently accused all sides of violating international law and
committing war crimes.(Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli in Dubai, Stephanie
Ulmer-Nebehay in Geneva and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations;
Editing by William Maclean and James Dalgleish)
Syria: At least 22 killed in Idlib and Aleppo airstrikes-[Associated Press]-PHILIP ISSA-YAHOONEWS-August 13, 2018
BEIRUT
(AP) — Government airstrikes on opposition-held territory in northwest
Syria killed at least 22 people, a monitoring group said Friday, as the
U.N.'s children's agency warned a new battle in the war-torn country
could affect the lives of 1 million children.Government forces unleashed
a wave of airstrikes across Idlib, Aleppo and Hama provinces after days
of building up ground forces at the edge of opposition territory, the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.The group said 14 people were
killed in the Aleppo province and another eight in the province of
Idlib.Fears have been building for days of a government offensive
against the last major bastion for the opposition, centered in the Idlib
province and along the edges of the Aleppo and Hama provinces.U.N.
agencies are warning a campaign to capture Idlib would aggravate an
already dire humanitarian situation.Food, water and medicine are already
in short supply in the largely rural Idlib province, which is now home
to over 1 million Syrians displaced from their homes by government
offensives in other parts of the country, said UNICEF, the U.N.
children's agency.Some 350,000 children, many already living in refugee
camps, are at risk of displacement in the event of war, said the
agency.A local search-and-rescue group said in an initial report on the
airstrikes that at least one child had been killed.The Civil Defense,
also known as the White Helmets, said government aircraft bombed homes
in the towns of Khan Sheikhoun, Altmana, Sukayk and Alteh.Hussein Kayal,
a media activist in Khan Sheikhoun, said the attack was sudden and
shattered nearly three months of calm in the town, as the government
focused on defeating opposition forces in south Syria."It's been three
hours of non-stop bombing," he said.Syria's government dropped leaflets
across the province Thursday, urging residents to reconcile with its
rule. Officials have warned that government forces will take back the
province by force if necessary.The Observatory said the government was
moving ground forces to the north in preparation for an all-out assault,
including tanks and artillery.The U.N. has warned the consequences of
such a campaign could be catastrophic."War cannot be allowed to go to
Idlib," said Jan Egeland, a top U.N. humanitarian adviser on Syria.There
are 2.9 million people living in Idlib and surrounding opposition-held
areas, according to U.N. estimates.The U.N. has appealed to Turkey to
open its border to refugees, should the Syrian government decide to
attack the province, Egeland said.Turkey, which has established itself
as a sponsor of rebels in northern Syria, already hosts some 3.5 million
Syrian refugees - the most of any nation. It has also established 12
monitoring posts in Idlib and deployed 1,000 troops in the province.But
Kayal in Khan Sheikhoun said there were doubts the Turkish presence
would deter the Syrian government from attacking."People here won't be
surprised if there's a ground attack. The Turkish points are weak - they
won't repel anything. We're scared that if anything happens, (the
Turkish forces) will pull out immediately," he said.Syria's civil war
has killed at least 400,000 people, according to monitors. More than 11
million - or half of Syria's pre-war population - have been displaced
from their homes, according to the U.N., including some 5.6 million who
have been made refugees abroad.
