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
Bernie Sanders calls Trump a racist in MLK
Day speech-Possible 2020 candidate says president ‘purposely and
aggressively attempted to divide us up’; GOP head calls comments
‘absolutely disgusting and wrong’-By Ron Kampeas-TOI-24 January 2019
WASHINGTON
(JTA) — Senator Bernie Sanders again called President Donald Trump a
“racist” — this time in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day speech in a key
primary state.Sanders, a Vermont Independent, is contemplating another
presidential run after mounting a surprisingly strong campaign in 2016
for the Democratic nomination, ultimately losing to Hillary Clinton, who
was defeated by Trump in the general election.“In terms of racism, and
it gives me no pleasure to say this, we today have a president who is a
racist,” Sanders said Monday in South Carolina. “Donald Trump, before he
was president, was one of the leaders of the so-called ‘birther
movement,’ which sought to portray Barack Obama as an illegitimate
president, someone not born in the United States.”Sanders in his ’16 run
was weakest among minorities, but has since gained ground among
African-Americans, polls show. South Carolina is the third presidential
nomination contest, and its Democratic primary attracts a relatively
high percentage of black voters.Sanders, who will be 79 in 2020, has yet
to say whether he will run again.“Instead of bringing us together as
Americans, [Trump] has purposely and aggressively attempted to divide us
up by the color of our skin, by our gender, by our nationality, by our
religion and by our sexual orientation,” Sanders said.In addition to
Trump’s embrace of birtherism, minorities have faulted Trump for saying
Hispanic judges cannot be impartial, for using pejoratives to describe
football players who protest what they say is discriminatory policing,
for targeting Muslims in his immigration policy and for equivocating in
his condemnation of neo-Nazi violence.Conservatives expressed outrage at
Sanders, who has called Trump a racist multiple times, as far back as
the 2016 campaign.“Absolutely disgusting and wrong,” Ronna McDaniel, the
Republican Party chairwoman, said on Twitter. “@realDonaldTrump has
brought African American and Hispanic unemployment to record lows,
passed historic criminal justice reform.”
After
settlements, Airbnb to delist rentals in Georgian breakaway
regions-Hospitality service to remove from its website all properties in
Abkhazia, South Ossetia following delisting of West Bank settlements-By
Marcy Oster-TOI-24 January 2019
JTA — Airbnb, which has
taken heat for removing listings in West Bank Jewish settlements, has
updated the areas it would delist, adding two contested autonomous areas
in the republic of Georgia.South Ossetia and Abhkazia has been added to
the places where Airbnb will not offer rooms and homes for rent.In
November, Airbnb announced that it would remove listings in the
settlements, citing the “dispute between Israelis and Palestinians.” At
the time, it was criticized for only including the West Bank and no
other disputed or occupied territories.“As a global platform operating
in 191 countries and regions and more than 81,000 cities, we must
consider the impact we have and act responsibly,” the company said late
last week in an updated statement titled “Framework for Evaluating
Listings in Disputed Areas.” “Accordingly, we have developed a framework
for evaluating how we should treat listings in disputed territories,
including territories some consider occupied where homes — the core of
our business — are central to ongoing tensions.”The company said it is
continuing to review other areas of the world that are the subject of
disputes.A visit to the Airbnb website shows that rentals in Jewish
settlements remain posted and are available to rent for the next several
months in most cases.According to the statement, the company is
“working with experts to develop and validate the means to implement our
policy,” including to “appropriately identify the precise boundaries of
the areas subject to our policy.”But at least one critic pointed out
that the ban on listings in the West Bank is discriminatory, despite the
addition of other banned areas.Eugene Kontorovich, a law professor at
George Mason University and the director of international law at the
Jerusalem-based Kohelet Policy Forum who has criticized Airbnb over the
West Bank policy, called the move a “fig leaf” and said it did not
address claims of discrimination.“Having been criticized for only
applying its supposed global policy to Israel, the company has now added
some tiny obscure Georgian territories, occupied by Russia. However
Airbnb’s has delisted all properties in these regions, whereas with
regard to the West Bank only Jewish properties were delisted,” he said
in a statement.
Lebanon: ‘Mossad agent’ arrested over
attempted killing of Hamas official-Beirut says second suspect has been
detained over January 2018 incident, claims he admitted to being spy for
Israel-By AFP-TOI-24 January 2019
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s
army said Tuesday it had arrested a suspected agent of Israel’s spy
agency Mossad over a failed bid to assassinate a Hamas official in the
south of the country.In January 2018, Mohammed Hamdan, a security
official with the Lebanese branch of the Palestinian Islamist terror
movement Hamas, was wounded in the leg in a car bomb blast in the
southern Lebanese port city of Sidon.Lebanon and Hamas blamed Israel for
the attack, and days after the January 14 blast Beirut authorities said
they had arrested a man suspected of involvement in the car bombing.A
statement at the time said he was “one of the main perpetrators of the
crime, who confessed to being tasked by Israeli intelligence.”On Tuesday
the Lebanese army said in a statement a second male suspect “who
carried out surveillance” before last year’s bombing had also been
arrested.The second suspect “has admitted to being a Mossad agent since
2014,” it said, without specifying his nationality.Hamas has fought
three wars with Israel in the past decade and is based in Gaza, but it
operates a branch in Lebanon and elsewhere in the region.Lebanon is also
home to tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees, many of whom live 12
camps across the country, the largest being Ain al-Hilweh near the port
city of Sidon.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Investigators
reject claim Mossad behind Brussels Jewish museum attack-Lawyer for
defendant Mehdi Nemmouche vows he’ll prove that Israeli victims in the
shooting worked for the intelligence agency-By AFP-TOI-24 January 2019
BRUSSELS
— Judges investigating the Jewish museum attack in Brussels rejected on
Tuesday defense claims that Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency may
have played a role.Lawyers defending Mehdi Nemmouche deny charges that
he shot dead four people at the museum in May 2014, suggesting instead
that Mossad agents staged “a targeted execution.”But investigating
judges Claire Bruyneel and Berta Bernardo Mendez told the court there
was no evidence to support such a claim.“Is there an element which can
suggest links with the Mossad?” presiding judge Laurence Massart asked
the pair. “None,” the investigating judges replied.Investigators allege
that Nemmouche was the museum gunman who killed Israeli visitors
Emmanuel Riva and his wife Miriam, a French volunteer and a Belgian
receptionist.However, lawyers for Nemmouche, a 33-year-old Frenchman,
have told the trial that he “is not the killer.”They said an image taken
from surveillance footage had been manipulated and that this, plus the
attitude of prosecutors, could suggest the murders were “not an attack
by the Islamic State but a targeted execution by Mossad agents.”Defense
lawyer Sebastien Courtoy has promised to provide proof that Emmanuel
Riva was not a simple accountant but the vice consul at Israel’s mission
in Berlin.“The Rivas worked for the Mossad, lived in Berlin and
monitored Shiite movements,” Courtoy said.Courtoy said the father of
Belgian victim Alexandre Strens was of Moroccan origin and had been
“flagged for subversive activities at the embassy of Iran.”He alleged
“there is a trail raised by [Belgian] state security that leads toward
Iran and Hezbollah,” the Shiite terror group in Lebanon.Investigating
judges Bruyneel and Mendez told the court the Rivas had lived in Berlin
between 2008 and 2012, when Emmanuel Riva worked for the Israeli
embassy.The judges also said Riva’s wife Miriam had indeed worked for
the Mossad until she retired, but as an accountant.Miriam Riva had not
been involved in field operations, according to the judges who traveled
to Israel as part of the investigation.Bruyneel and Mendez cited a memo
from the Belgian intelligence services that said: “Information that has
appeared stating [the Rivas] have a link with the Mossad and that it was
a targeted assassination is unfounded.”When Massart asked about his
line of defense, Nemmouche replied: “My lawyers will explain
later.”Jewish community leaders have voiced fears that the defense will
deflect attention from the anti-Semitic nature of the attacks.
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)
IDF officer
hurt by gunfire, Hamas fighter killed as Gaza border heats up-Soldier
lightly injured when sniper fire hits his helmet; in response, Israeli
tank destroys Hamas post, reportedly killing 1 and injuring 2-By Judah
Ari Gross-TOI-24 January 2019
An Israeli soldier was
injured and a fighter with the Hamas terror group killed Tuesday in an
exchange of fire along the Gaza border, as the restive frontier saw a
resurgence of violence.A Palestinian sniper opened fire at a group of
IDF soldiers during a riot along the Gaza border, hitting the helmet of
an officer and lightly injuring him, in the second shooting attack of
the day, the army said. The helmet saved the soldier’s life, military
sources said.In response, the Israel Defense Forces targeted an
observation post belonging to the Hamas terror group in eastern Gaza,
near the el-Bureij refugee camp, the army said.According to Hamas, one
of its fighters was killed in the strike on the terror group’s position
and two other members of the terror group were injured, one of them
seriously.The Israeli military later released video footage both of that
tank fire and an earlier strike on a Hamas post in response to another
shooting attack on IDF troops along the Gaza border.In the video, three
figures can be seen walking away from the observation post before an
incoming tank shell hits the structure and causes a large explosion,
which knocks them to the ground.The riot occurred in southern Gaza,
across from the Israeli community of Kibbutz Kissufim. The military said
rioters threw rocks at IDF soldiers on the other side of the security
fence.During the clashes, a sniper opened fire at the troops, according
to the IDF.“A bullet struck the helmet of an IDF officer who was
stationed at the scene,” the army said.The officer was taken to
Beerhsheba’s Soroka Medical Center for treatment. A cut on his head was
bandaged, and he was released hours later, the hospital said.Initially,
the IDF said it was not clear if the officer had been injured by gunfire
or by a rocks, but later determined that he had indeed been struck by a
sniper’s bullet.In addition, five Palestinians also approached the
border during the riot. Two of them breached the security fence and
entered Israeli territory before quickly running back into the Strip.The
IDF retaliated to the riot by targeting the Hamas post near the
border.The Hamas member who was killed was identified as 24-year-old
Mahmoud Abed al-Nabahin by the Gaza health ministry. On its website,
Hamas’s Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades wrote al-Nabahin was a “fighter”
who was “martyred” in the Israeli attack on its observation post.Earlier
in the day, shots were fired at Israeli troops on the border of the
northern Gaza Strip, similarly prompting the Israeli military to destroy
a nearby Hamas post, the army said.No troops were harmed in the
shooting attack.The Israeli military did not indicate who it believed
fired the shots. The Hamas post in northern Gaza was targeted because,
as a rule, the IDF holds the terror group responsible for all violence
emanating from the Gaza Strip, after it seized control of the enclave in
2007 by ousting the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.Tuesday’s
exchanges came as Qatar prepares to transfer $15 million in payouts to
Hamas civil servants in the Gaza Strip, the third such installment for
the terror group to be approved by the Israeli government. The funds
were expected to be transferred later this week, after they were
initially stalled by Israel in response to a flareup in cross-border
violence, a Qatari diplomat said on Sunday.Qatar’s envoy to the
Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Mohammed al-Emadi, told Reuters the latest cash
transfer was due to reach the Palestinian territory by Wednesday.Since
March, Palestinians have been holding regular protests on the border.
Israel has accused Gaza’s Hamas rulers of using the demonstrations as a
cover for attacks on troops and attempts to breach the security
fence.Israel has demanded an end to the violent demonstrations along the
border in any ceasefire agreement.Times of Israel staff contributed to
this report.
US lawmaker says she ‘unknowingly’ used
anti-Semitic trope in Israel criticism-Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar
says she didn’t know that accusing Israel of ‘hypnotizing the world’ was
offensive-By TOI staff-24 January 2019
Freshman US
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar on Tuesday said she “unknowingly” used an
anti-Semitic trope to criticize Israel in 2012, but the Minnesota
Democrat insisted she won’t shy away from future criticism of the Jewish
state.Responding to a New York Times op-ed that criticized her 2012
comment accusing Israel of “hypnotizing the world” to carry out “evil,”
Omar said she was unaware of the “ugly sentiment” that accompanied the
remark.“In all sincerity, it was after my CNN interview that I heard
from Jewish orgs. that my use of the word ‘Hypnotize’ and the ugly
sentiment it holds was offensive,” she tweeted.The tweet, which said
that “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and
help them see the evil doings of Israel,” came in reaction to Israel’s
November 2012 operation against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.“It’s now
apparent to me that I spent lots of energy putting my 2012 tweet in
context and little energy iמ disavowing the anti-Semitic trope I
unknowingly used, which is unfortunate and offensive,” she
continued.Earlier this month, Omar defended her tweet. “Those
unfortunate words were the only words I could think about expressing at
that moment,” Omar told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview.In her
tweet thread on Tuesday, Omar indicated she would continue to criticize
Israeli military activity in Gaza.“With that said, it is important to
distinguish between criticizing a military action by a government and
attacking a particular people of faith. I will not shy away of criticism
of any government when I see injustice — whether it be Saudi Arabia,
Somalia, even our own government!” she wrote.Omar — who supports the
boycott Israel movement — was appointed to the House Foreign Affairs
Committee last Thursday.
Most Israelis don’t want
non-Jewish migrants, even if they are highly skilled-Pew poll of 12
developed countries shows Israel and Italy only places where majority
opposes immigration of those with advanced degrees-By Melanie
Lidman-TOI-24 January 2019
The majority of Israelis don’t
support non-Jewish immigration to the country, even when the immigrants
are highly trained or have advanced degrees, according to a new Pew
Research Center report released on Tuesday.The Pew poll found that 51
percent of Israelis oppose high-skilled immigration of foreigners moving
to the country with a bachelor’s degree or higher. The Pew poll focused
on immigration of those not entitled to Israeli citizenship under the
law of return, which applies to anybody with at least one Jewish
grandparent.Out of the 12 economically advanced countries surveyed, only
Israel and Italy had the majority of the population oppose high-skilled
immigration.In contrast, most of the other countries surveyed supported
high-skilled immigration. In the US, 78% of the public supports
high-skilled immigration. In the United Kingdom, 85% of the population
support high-skilled immigration.More than three out of four adults in
Sweden, Canada, Germany, and Australia also support high-skilled
immigration, the Pew poll found.Even among people who would like to see
overall immigration reduced, half or more of the respondents in all the
countries support high-skilled immigration, except for the Netherlands,
Israel, and Italy.Highly educated migrants can be a boon for economies,
and the European Union has special programs to attract highly educated
migrants. Some countries, like Canada and Australia, have points-based
immigration policies that favor immigrants with more education as well
as other characteristics such as age and language ability.Despite
Israel’s overall opposition to immigration, the country has the highest
percentage of immigrants with higher education among the countries
surveyed, when including Jewish immigration. Almost half, or 49% of
foreign-born adults over age 25 in Israel have a graduate degree,
compared to just 35% of the native-born population.That is a similar
ratio to the UK, which also has 49% of foreign-born adults with advanced
degrees, compared to 37% of native-born adults. In contrast, just 36%
of foreign-born adults in the US hold a secondary degree, compared to
40% of the native-born population.Israel offers grants to those moving
to Israel under the law of return allowing them to study for a bachelors
degree, masters degree or technical certificate at highly subsidized
rates.In addition, many of Israel’s 1 million immigrants from the former
Soviet Union came with advanced degrees.
Palestinian
inmates refusing Israeli prison food after riot-Prisoners’ action
follows raid on cells for phones; public security minister pledges to
toughen incarceration conditions-By TOI staff-JAN 24,19
Palestinian
inmates at Ofer Prison in the West Bank were refusing meals on Tuesday,
a day after guards carried out a search for phones they suspected had
been smuggled in by newly arrived detainees.The raid caused unrest among
the prisoners and a few needed hospital treatment after they set fire
to a mattress in one of the cells, Hebrew media reports said. Two prison
guards were hurt, and were also treated in a hospital.Public Security
Minister Gilad Erdan said in a statement that prisons would “continue to
act with full force to quell the riots” and that the Israel Prisons
Service (IPS) would “use all means at its disposal to restore
order.”Erdan added that it was his intention to toughen prison
conditions for Palestinian inmates to “the minimum required.” He
announced a change in conditions at the beginning of the year.“No threat
or pressure on the part of the terrorists will divert me from my
decision to act to change incarceration conditions,” the statement
said.Human rights group B’Tselem, quoting data from the IPS and the
military, said that at the end of 2018, Israel was holding 5,370
Palestinians in its jails, including 298 from the Gaza Strip. A further
564 Palestinians, including 10 from the Gaza Strip, were being held for
being in Israel without a permit.
Egypt says recent Sinai
clashes killed 7 troops, 59 jihadist militants-Weeks after President
Sissi confirms Israel helping fight jihadists, military releases details
of successful anti-IS operations in northern peninsula-By TOI staff and
AP-TOI-24 January 2019
At least seven Egyptian soldiers,
including an officer, have been killed in clashes with jihadist
militants in recent operations in restive northern Sinai Peninsula, the
Egyptian army said Tuesday.The military said in a statement that forces
have killed at least 59 suspected militants and arrested another 142
suspected militants and criminals, and airstrikes destroyed 56 vehicles
containing weapons and ammunition in the Western Desert, south and
northeastern border areas.The military statement gave no timeframe for
the recent operations. It wasn’t possible to independently confirm the
details as access to northern Sinai is heavily restricted.Since the army
toppled Egypt’s Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, hundreds of
policemen and soldiers have been killed in attacks in the Sinai by
jihadists and other extremist groups, including the Islamic
State-affiliated Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis.Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah
el-Sissi has ordered a series of devastating operations meant to return
calm to Sinai’s restive north, but troops have struggled to contain the
Islamist insurgency.Earlier this month, Sissi confirmed reports that
Israel was assisting Egyptian battle jihadists in the Sinai, telling CBS
News that military cooperation between Cairo and Jerusalem was
“wide-ranging” and closer than it has ever been.According to foreign
reports, Israel shares intelligence with Cairo and the IDF regularly
conducts drone strikes in the peninsula on Islamic State
targets.Jihadists in the Sinai regularly claim to have been targeted by
Israeli aircraft.More publicly, Israel in 2013 began to allow additional
Egyptian forces into the peninsula, beyond the level permitted under
the 1979 peace accord between the two countries.Ties between Egypt and
Israel, once mortal enemies, have thawed in recent years. Since 2017,
Sissi has twice met openly with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a
sign of improved relations between the countries, though normalization
with Israel is still taboo among many Egyptians.Talks between Netanyahu
and Sissi have been thought to revolve around Gaza, which borders the
Sinai Peninsula. Egypt has played a key role in attempts to broker calm
along the Gaza frontier between Israel and the Hamas terror group.
Shots
fired at Israeli troops on Gaza border; IDF tank destroys Hamas post-No
injuries reported in skirmish along the northern Strip’s security
fence; incident comes as Israel due to allow transfer of $15 million
from Qatar to Hamas-By Judah Ari Gross-TOI-24 January 2019
Shots
were fired at Israeli troops on the Gaza Strip border Tuesday morning,
prompting the Israeli military to destroy a nearby Hamas post, the army
said.According to the Israel Defense Forces, soldiers stationed along
the northern Gaza security fence came under fire. No troops were
harmed.In response, an IDF tank attacked a nearby observation post that
belonged to the Gaza-ruling Hamas terror group.The Israeli military did
not indicate who it believed fired the shots. As a rule, the IDF holds
Hamas responsible for all violence emanating from the Gaza Strip, where
the group seized control in 2007 by ousting the West Bank-based
Palestinian Authority.Tuesday’s exchange came as Qatar prepares to
transfer $15 million in payouts to Hamas civil servants in the Gaza
Strip, the third such installment for the terror group to be approved by
the Israeli government. The funds were expected to be transferred later
this week, after they were initially stalled by Israel in response to a
flareup in cross-border violence, a Qatari diplomat said on
Sunday.Qatar’s envoy to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Mohammed al-Emadi,
told Reuters the latest cash transfer was due to reach the Palestinian
territory by Wednesday.Since March, Palestinians have been holding
weekly protests on the border that Israel has accused Gaza’s Hamas
rulers of using as a cover for attacks on troops and attempts to breach
the security fence. Israel has demanded an end to the violent
demonstrations along the border in any ceasefire agreement.Some 10,000
Palestinians participated in riots along the border Friday afternoon,
throwing rocks, fire bombs and hand grenades at Israeli troops. Israeli
soldiers responded with tear gas and live fire in some cases.The
Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said 19 people were injured in the
clashes, including two members of the press and three medical
personnel.The protest appeared subdued compared to the previous week’s
violence, in which one woman was killed and more than two dozen
Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were wounded, prompting retaliatory
Israeli airstrikes.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Monitor:
21 died in Israeli strikes in Syria Monday, 12 of them Iranian
fighters-Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 6 Syrian soldiers, 3
more foreign nationals among those killed in retaliatory raids after
missile attack from Syria on Golan Heights-By Judah Ari Gross-TOI-24
January 2019
Twenty-one people were killed in Israeli
retaliatory airstrikes in Syria early on Monday, 12 of them members of
the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, a Britain-based Syrian war monitor
said Tuesday.On Sunday, Israel reportedly conducted a rare daylight
missile attack on Iranian targets in Syria. In response, Iran fired a
surface-to-surface missile at the northern Golan Heights, which was
intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system over the Hermon ski
resort, according to the Israel Defense Forces.Hours later, in the
predawn hours of Monday morning, the Israeli Air Force launched
retaliatory strikes on Iranian targets near Damascus and on the Syrian
air defense batteries that fired upon the attacking Israeli fighter
jets, the army said.The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
initially reported the death toll from the Israeli strikes to be 11. But
on Tuesday, the war monitor said the number had risen to 21, making it
one of the deadliest attacks by Israel in Syria.According to SOHR, 12 of
those killed were members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps;
six were Syrian military fighters; and the other three were other
non-Syrian nationals.In July 2018, 22 people, nine of them Iranians,
were said to have been killed in an airstrike attributed to Israel on an
Iranian-controlled base in northern Syria.In May 2018, in an air battle
sparked by Iran launching dozens of rockets at the Golan, at least 23
fighters were killed in Syria. Eighteen of them were said to be
foreigners, though it was not immediately clear how many were Iranians
and how many were non-Syrian nationals from elsewhere in the Muslim
world fighting in Shiite militias.Escalating attacks-The IDF said Monday
that Iranian troops in Syria launched their missile at the Golan in a
“premeditated” attack aimed at deterring Israel from conducting
airstrikes against the Islamic Republic’s troops and proxies in
Syria.Israeli troops on Monday were put on high alert in the
north.Military spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said the three response
sorties destroyed a number of Iranian intelligence sites, training bases
and weapons caches connected to the Quds Force, the expeditionary arm
of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.According to Conricus, one
of the targets of the raids was “the main storage hub for Quds Force.”On
Monday morning, the IDF also released video footage of its airstrikes
on Syrian air defenses, including on social media.According to Conricus,
the Iranian retaliatory strike aimed at the northern Golan was “not a
spur-of-the-moment” response, but had been planned months in advance,
based on intelligence collected by the IDF.“We understand that the
Iranians are trying to change the context and deter us from our policy
and our strategy of fighting Iranian troops in Syria,” Conricus said.
“They thought they could change the rules of engagement. Our response
was a rather clear one, with a message to Iran and Syria that our
policies have not changed.”He acknowledged that while the military
believed it was planned in advance, the trigger for Sunday’s attack was
likely the airstrikes reported moments before.The spokesman said Iran
was directly responsible for the launch, and disputed reports that the
projectile had been fired by pro-Iranian militias or by the Syrian
regime.Conricus said the location from which the missile was fired was
“an area that we have been promised that the Iranians would not be
in.”That assurance appeared to have been made by Russia — Syrian
dictator Bashar Assad’s prime ally in the civil war — but Conricus said
he “won’t go into who made the promise.”Israel has reached a number of
understandings with Russia about the permitted location of Iranian
troops in Syria, mostly about their deployment along the Golan border
with Syria.The IDF spokesperson said the military ultimately holds Syria
responsible for the attack and warned that the country would “pay the
price” for allowing Iran to establish a permanent military presence in
its territory. Iran officially denies having troops in Syria beyond a
small number of advisers — a claim that is widely disregarded among
Western intelligence officials.
Iranian security official:
We’ll remain in Syria as long as we’re asked to-Member of Tehran’s
Supreme National Security Council says his country’s involvement comes
at request of Damascus, is aimed at saving innocent lives-By Stuart
Winer-TOI-JAN 24,19
A senior Iranian official said that
his country’s military will continue to be involved in Syria as long as
the Damascus regime wants its help, the Mehr news agency reported
Tuesday.Ali Shamkhani, a member of Iran’s Supreme National Security
Council, made the remarks in an interview published a day earlier by a
Tehran-based international relations magazine.His comments came the same
day Israel carried out a series of airstrikes on Iranian military sites
in Syria, as well as Syrian air defense units, in response to a rocket
fired from Syria at the Israeli Golan Heights, allegedly by Iranian
forces. The clash followed a rare daytime strike attributed to Israel on
weapons depots in and around Damascus on Sunday.Israel has accused Iran
of seeking to establish a military presence in Syria that could
threaten Israeli security and attempting to transfer advanced weaponry
to the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon. Jerusalem has vowed to prevent
Iran’s military entrenchment in Syria and has sought help from the US
and Russia in getting the Iranians to pull their military out of the
country. Russia, along with Iran and its military proxies, are fighting
on behalf of the Damascus regime in the country’s civil war, now in its
eighth year.Shamkhani said that as long as the Syrian and Iraqi
governments continue to ask for Iran’s help in defeating “terror,” it
will provide assistance. The Syrian regime and its allies refer to
opposition forces as terrorists.Instead of “exporting terrorism to
Syria” and imposing their own ideas, Western countries should let the
Syrian people speak for themselves, he said.He also criticized US
hostility toward Iran’s involvement in the two countries, saying that
Tehran was there to defeat the Islamic State terror group and prevent
the killing of innocent people.Shamkhani lamented that while the US
condemns Iranian involvement in Syria, it remains silent about Yemen,
where airstrikes by a Saudi Arabian-led coalition have reportedly killed
thousands of civilians during attacks on Iran-backed Houthi
rebels.Israel responded to Monday’s missile attack on the Golan by
pounding both Iranian military targets in Syria and the Syrian air
defense systems that fired on its jets.Amid fears of escalation, Iran’s
air force chief said in the hours that followed that his country was
“impatient” to eliminate Israel in a war.In the weeks since US President
Donald Trump’s abrupt announcement in December that he will pull US
ground forces out of Syria, Israel has become more open in admitting
that it carries out raids on Iranian assets in the country, which, it
says, destroyed thousands of targets in the last few years.
