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
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
Liberman Calls to Retake Gaza Following Renewed Rocket Fire-Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman reiterates call to crack down on Hamas in Gaza, says 'limited' operation could prove ineffective.Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on email Share on print More Sharing Services 8By Tova Dvorin-First Publish: 6/29/2014, 8:33 AM-IsraelNationalNews
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman proposed that Israel should "consider" retaking Gaza on Sunday, noting that a "limited" operation in Judea and Samaria against Hamas could prove ineffective. "We have to decide whether we are going to explore the alternative of full occupation of the Gaza Strip," Liberman said, on IDF Radio's "Good Morning Israel" show. "We saw that a limited operation only strengthens Hamas in the end; the alternative is clear."This is not the first time Liberman has suggested retaking Gaza. The Foreign Minister has proposed a full operation against Hamas there multiple times over the past year, following several periods of heavy rocket fire from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Liberman's comments surface less than 24 hours after Gaza terrorists rained even more rockets on Israel, with one setting fire to plastics and paint factories in the southern city of Sderot Saturday. Four workers managed to escape the factories before they were set ablaze, police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld told AFP. The IAF responded Saturday night by striking nine terror targets in Gaza. Since Operation Brother's Keeper began seventeen days ago, no fewer than 23 rockets from Gaza have hit Israel, an IDF spokesperson noted Sunday.
Netanyahu Vows to Outlaw Raed Salah's Islamic Movement in Israel-Prime Minister blames Friday's anti-Israel rally on terror-linked group, promises to crack down following calls to abduct IDF soldiers.By Hezki Ezra, Tova Dvorin-First Publish: 6/29/2014, 11:27 AM / Last Update: 6/29/2014, 11:50 AM-IsraelNationalNews
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened his weekly cabinet meeting by addressing anti-Israel incitement on Friday outside Umm-Al-Fahm, adding to a chorus of criticism regarding a rally calling for the abduction of Israeli soldiers. "Outrageous calls were heard supporting the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers," the Prime Minister began. "Most of Israel's Arab citizens do not support this, and I call on their leaders to stand boldly and firmly in condemning these statements."Until then, he said, he would fight the incitement. "As Israeli citizens, we cannot accept and put up with such outrageous statements," Netanyahu warned. "The IDF protects all of us."Netanyahu also warned that the incident is directly linked to activity from the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, headed by Sheikh Raeh Salah. Salah was recently banned from traveling abroad in connection with anti-Israel incitement, and Netanyahu vowed to outlaw the group entirely. "In many cases, those behind these readings, behind these protests, are the northern branch of the Islamic Movement," the Prime Minister said. "[The movement] constantly preaches against Israel, and has publicly identified with terrorist organizations like Hamas. Therefore, I have instructed the competent officials to explore the possibility of declaring the northern branch of the Islamic movement as blacklisted.""This announcement will provide significant tools for the security authorities to battle the movement," he added. Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) agreed. "It is a most necessary action, following a weekend demonstration in Umm al-Fahm, [to outlaw the group], as I requested years ago," Katz said, explaining that the group's activities are known throughout the Middle East. The Israeli government in late May began discussions on whether to declare Salah's Islamic Movement in Israel an illegal organization. Salah has been jailed for incitement in the past after calling followers to physically block Jews from entering the Temple Mount, and has been sentenced in the past for incitement and assault, among other nationalistically-motivated crimes.The Islamic Movement has also been involved in the violent "Nakba Day" protests opposing Israel's existence.
ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST
1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
IAF Drone Strike Kills Gaza Terrorist-An IAF aircraft struck a terror cell that was about to launch rockets, after terrorists fired 6 rockets at Israeli civilians.By Uzi Baruch, Gil Ronen-First Publish: 6/29/2014, 10:19 PM-IsraelNationalNews
An IAF drone aircraft fired a missile Sunday evening at a terror cell that was making final preparations to launch a rocket at Israel, the IDF Spokesman said."The IDF will continue to act with determination, and to any extent necessary, against every element, until quiet and routine life is restored to the citizens of the state of Israel,” the Spokesman added. “Hamas, the terror organization, along with its offshoots, is the address, and it bears responsibility.”Gaza media reported Sunday that one person was killed in the IDF strike. It is possible that the terrorist belongs to the armed wing of Hamas.Earlier Sunday, Gaza terrorists fired six rockets at the town of Netivot. Two of them were intercepted by the Iron Dome system, and struck harmlessly in open, uninhabited spaces.
Gaza Terrorists Fire 6 Rockets at Israel-Two Iron Dome rockets intercept missiles fired at Netivot. Four other rockets fall in empty spaces.By Gil Ronen-First Publish: 6/29/2014, 9:07 PM-IsraelNationalNews
Gaza terrorists peppered southern Israel with rocket fire aimed at the town of Netivot Sunday evening. No one was hurt and no damage was reported. Two of the rockets, reported to be Grad Katyushas, were intercepted by Iron Dome batteries stationed near the town. The four others fell in uninhabited and empty areas and did not cause any injuries or damage.Gaza terrorists fired two rockets on Israel on Saturday evening, hitting communities in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council area to the immediate east of the Hamas-enclave.One rocket directly hit the "Denber" plastic factory in Sderot's industrial area, causing a large fire to break out. The factory is attached to a paint factory, and both caught fire.Ten firefighting units from Sderot, Be'er Sheva, Ashkelon and Netivot succeeded in controlling the fire and prevent it from spreading to other factories after an hour-long struggle with the massive blaze. However, the factory apparently was completely burned to the ground.Four workers who were in the factory at the time it was struck by the rocket managed to rescue themselves, escaping from the blazing building, reported Walla!. The four were reportedly unharmed, and police continue to search if anyone remains trapped inside.One man in his fifties suffered mild injuries including wounds to his limbs, apparently from the blast of the rocket and ensuing explosions in the factory. The injured man was able to get to a Magen David Adom (MDA) station in the city on his own, and then was evacuated to the Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon by paramedics.Two others reportedly suffered light burns, and were evacuated to the Barzilai Hospital as well.Several strong explosions were heard from the factory, after a gas balloon and explosive chemicals in the factory apparently exploded from the flames.The second rocket, which also was fired towards Sderot, landed outside of the city limits. The city has been often beleaguered by Gaza rocket fire; in March, a three-day barrage of roughly 100 rockets hit the city.Saturday and Sunday's rocket fire comes as part of a recent escalation since Hamas terrorists kidnapped three Israeli teens on June 12.
MUSLIM NATIONS (SLAUGHTERED BY NUKES FOR COMING AGAINST ISRAEL)
EZEKIEL 36:4-5
5 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire (NUCLEAR BOMBS) of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea,(ARAB-MUSLIMS) which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.
6 Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury,(OF MY ANGER) because ye have borne the shame of the heathen:
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that are (Round) about you,(ARAB-MUSLIMS) they shall bear their shame.(AND BE NUKED)
EZEKIEL 35:9-11
9 I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy (ARABS) cities shall not return: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
10 Because thou (ARABS) hast said, These two nations (ISRAEL & JUDAH) and these two countries (ISRAEL & JUDAH) shall be mine, and we (ARABS) will possess it; whereas the LORD was there:
11 Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy (GELIOUSY) which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them;(ISRAELIS) and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee.(ARABS)
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:TOBOLSK)
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages;(ISRAEL) I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil,(OIL IS IN SPOIL) and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8,11-21
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the sixth part of thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS I BELIEVE) and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog (RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS) a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers (EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN JORDAN VALLEY) on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog (RUSSIAN) and all his multitude:(ARAB/MUSLIM HORDE) and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.(BURIEL SITE OF THE 300 MILLION,RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS)
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.(OF ISRAEL)
13 Yea, all the people of the land (OF ISRAEL) shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I (GOD-JESUS) shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB EXPERTS) passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it,(WON'T TOUCH IT) till the buriers have buried it (PROPERLY) in the valley of Hamongog.(RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS NEW BURIEL SITE)(EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN THE JORDAN VALLEY)
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.(OF THE ISRAEL-GOD HATERS)
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl,(500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS THREW ISRAEL EVERY SPRING,FALL) and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.(OF THE RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM ARMIES)
18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And ye (MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL) shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.(RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS)
20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21 And I (GOD-JESUS) will set my glory among the heathen,(WORLD NATIONS) and all the heathen (WORLD NATIONS) shall see my judgment that I have executed,(AGAINST ISRAELS ENEMIES) and my (GODS) hand that I have laid upon them.(ISRAELS HATER ENEMIES)
JEREMEIAH 49:35-37 (IN IRAN AT THE BUSHEHR OR ARAK NUKE SITE SOME BELIEVE)
35 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,(IRAN/BUSHEHR NUCLEAR SITE) the chief of their might.(MOST DANGEROUS NUKE SITE IN IRAN)
36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven,(IRANIANS SCATTERED OR MASS IMIGARATION) and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.(WORLD IMMIGRATION)
37 For I will cause Elam (IRAN-BUSHEHR NUKE SITE) to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger,(ISRAELS NUKES POSSIBLY) saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:(IRAN AND ITS NUKE SITES DESTROYED)
ISAIAH 17:1,11-14
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
12 Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations,(USELESS U.N) that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14 And behold at evening tide trouble; and before the morning he is not.(ASSAD KILLED IN OVERNIGHT RAID) This is the portion of them that spoil us,(ISRAEL) and the lot of them that rob us.
AMOS 1:5
5 I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden:(IRAQ) and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir,(JORDAN) saith the LORD.
JEREMEIAH 49:23-27
23 Concerning Damascus.(SYRIA) Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea;(WAR SHIPS WITH NUKES COMING ON SYRIA) it cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.
27 And I will kindle a fire (NUKES OR BOMBS) in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.(ASSADS PALACES POSSIBLY IN DAMASCUS)
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
JEREMIAH 47:1-7
1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines,(PALESTINIAN/ARABS) before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.
2 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north,(NORTHERN TSUNAMI POSSIBLY) and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.
3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses,(ISRAELS ARMY) at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;(ISRAEL POSSIBLY NUKES GAZA)
4 Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines,(PALESTINIAN FAKE ARABS) and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.
5 Baldness is come upon Gaza;(NUKED POSSIBLY) Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself?
6 O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.
7 How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? (MEDITTERANEAN SEA) there hath he appointed it.
EGYPT
ISAIAH 19:1-5
1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
5 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south ( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS-MUSLIMS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them,(BEFORE THE NUKE GOES OFF) and behind them a desolate wilderness;(AFTER THE ATOMIC BOMB GOES OFF) yea, and nothing shall escape them.(EVERYTHING NUKED)
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,ARAB,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate,(SIBERIAN DESERT) with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(FOR COMING AGAINST ISRAEL)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
JEREMIAH 8:7
7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times;(MIGRATION TIME) and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming;(IN MIGRATION SEASON) but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.(WW3 MIGRATING BIRDS EAT ISRAELS ENEMIES FLESH AND BLOOD)
ISIS HAS CHANGED THEIR NAME TO THE ISLAMIC STATE.NOW THE CALIPHATE FOR ISLAMIC SHARIA WORLD DOMINATION IS ON.STARTING WITH THE MIDEAST.WELL NO ONE CAN SAY I HAVE NOT BEEN WARNING ON MY SITE ABOUT THIS HAPPENING FOR YEARS.ITS HERE.
Sectarian genie is out of the bottle from Syria to Iraq
By Samia Nakhoul -JUNE 29,14-YahooNews
BEIRUT (Reuters) - As jihadists storm through the Sunni heartlands of Iraq towards Baghdad, where a Shi’ite government they regard as heretic clings on, they have lifted the veil on deep sectarianism which has also stoked the fires of Syria’s civil war and is spilling over into vulnerable mosaic societies such as Lebanon.The sectarian genie is now well out of the bottle, eclipsing traditional inter-state rivalries that plague the Middle East - even if these still play a part in the drama.The 1979 Islamic Revolution brought a Shi’ite theocracy to power in non-Arab Iran, giving a sectarian edge to the long-standing, state-to-state contest for influence in the Gulf between Iran and Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy underpinned by the fundamentalist tenets of Sunni Wahhabi doctrine.And the 2003 US invasion shattered Iraq into ethno-sectarian fragments, giving the majority Shi’ites the whip-hand over the Sunni minority and overturning a century-old balance of power.Now the Syrian conflict pitting a government whose core is President Bashar al-Assad's Alawites, a minority sect descended from Shi'ism, in an all-out war against rebels made up mainly from the Sunni majority, has lured jihadi volunteers to create an almost seamless sectarian battlefield from Baghdad to Beirut."There is no sense of common identity and therefore wherever there is a division of power like in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Bahrain they end up fighting over who wins. It has become a winner take all situation," said Middle East academic and former State Department official Vali Nasr, also a Senior Fellow at Brookings Institution."This is being driven from both top down and bottom up."
SECTARIAN ATROCITIES
Glimpses of the savagery of this sectarianism have multiplied as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an al Qaeda splinter group which aims to carve out a Caliphate in the heart of the Middle East, captured a string of north and central Iraqi cities in June.One video posted by ISIL shows its fighters storming the house of an old man and accusing him and his two young sons of fighting in the Iraqi army under Nuri al-Maliki, the Shi’ite Islamist prime minister.As the captives dig their own graves, a fighter taunts them, “You’re tired, Yes? Dig, dig more, where is Maliki to come and save you? Why did you join Maliki’s army?”The old man implores comrades to repent and break ranks with the army, saying: “Look at me, I am digging my own grave, they came to my home and took me”. The video ends abruptly with what looks like the swish of a blade falling upon the victim and a one-word caption: “slaughtered”.An ISIL leader reached by Reuters via Skype makes clear this brutality is a considered policy as his movement builds its cross-border Islamic State.“We will deal with Maliki’s followers and his filthy state according to righteous Islamic law”, he says. “Whoever comes to us repentant before we have the upper hand upon him, will be one of us; but the one who insists in fighting us and on his infidelity and apostasy, he'll have to face the consequences”.
Disowned even by al-Qaeda, ISIL has taken hate speech to a new level in Iraq, denouncing Shi’ites as “dogs of Maliki”, or as “reviled and impure rejectionists (rafadah)”.They proclaim that “death is the only language the Shi’ite Marjaiyah (clerical leaders) and their rotten gangs understand”.
BOTH SIDES
The Shi’ite side has responded in kind, posting videos of Sunnis being executed. In one, groups of men shot randomly, some in the head, lie next to each other in what appears to be a room with blood splashed on the wall and bullet holes everywhere.Religion, many analysts say, is being deployed as a weapon to galvanize rival interests, but is taking on a virulent sectarian life of its own, sometimes escaping the control of those wielding the weapon."National identities in these countries are eroding and sectarian identities are becoming more prominent," Nasr said.In Iraq, says Professor Charles Tripp at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies, the process began in the 1990s when Saddam Hussein, the dictator toppled in 2003, started a “piety campaign” to solidify support for his otherwise secular regime in the face of crippling international sanctions.This indiscriminate encouragement of Sunni Salafism and Shi’ism encouraged “sectarian entrepreneurs who found it very profitable to mobilize people around religion or sect”.In a process which continued under Maliki, the poison of sectarian prejudice hardened into bigotry, exploited by leaders who fell into "an awful bidding war" to claim religious legitimacy, Tripp says. Regional players also cloaked their pursuit of geopolitical advantage in religion, he adds.“If you emphasize your Shi’ism as an Iranian it allows them to intervene in Lebanon (which has a big Shi'ite community). Equally, if you are a Saudi you can claim it is not about regional rivalry but some bigger cause”, he says.“On a regional level people get sucked into a power game which is not actually about religion but resources and prestige."Yezid Sayigh, a senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, argues that "there is actually no theological debate in this religious war." “It’s fundamentally, as always, a fight for political power”.
QUASI STATELETS
While enmity between Islam’s two competing sects has often been fierce and bloody, it now spreads over huge swathes of territory from the eastern Mediterranean to Iraq, the Gulf and Yemen. “It is neither solely religious nor purely political; the two mix and feed upon each other, with personal interests and geopolitical confrontations pouring petrol on the flames,” said Tarek Osman, author of the "Perilous Scenario in the Eastern Mediterranean."Sectarian wars, Osman says, are also occurring at a time when Arab societies are undergoing a transformation from the old political order following the ousting of autocratic leaders, who have ruled for decades to a new, as yet undefined, order.And for the first time in the last 150 years, the region is witnessing the emergence of highly assertive, well-armed, jihadist groups that are dominating the plains from eastern Syria to western Iraq, and gradually carving for themselves quasi-statelets that they aim to have as permanent entities.“If that happens, it will not only be a peril to all sovereign states in this part of the world, not only to religious minorities, but to all of the societies," Osman said.The future, experts argue, will be determined as much by local factors as regional forces.“Local politics will shape this in one form or another. Sometimes local politics will mean it is horrible and really violent, you will see the kind of things you saw in Syria where one village is massacred by another. And of course localism can take the fuse out, take the bitterness out because it could actually lead to a local settlement,” Tripp said.While it is true that Iraqi Sunnis of the north, united in their hatred of Maliki's government which they say disempowered and marginalized them, helped ISIL in its dramatic takeover, the same differences may cause a break with ISIL's intolerant and brutal methods, as happened in Syria and Iraq seven years ago.The Jihadist coalition under ISIL, experts say, will eventually fragment because of internal disputes over sharing money, territory and power.They believe ISIL insurgents will overreach themselves by alienating tribes, more pragmatic Sunni groups, former officers from Saddam's era and ordinary Iraqis as they did in 2005-2008 under al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, when Iraqis revolted against its ultra-hardline Islamist agenda.Some argue that these splits will open quickly because the Jihadists have to provide government in the huge swathes of territory they have seized.“One of the great strengths of al Qaeda was that it has no social constituency”, says Charles Tripp. “It could rally people round an idea but didn’t have to provide electricity, water, social justice and so on. ISIL now does.”So far in Sunni cities captured by ISIL, the social power structures are those of existing tribal leaders and former Baathist officials, while the people with the guns and the ruthlessness and violence are the ISIL, Tripp says.“They know they cannot rule that area without the cooperation of the tribes and when you look at the pattern of what happened before that’s how the control of al Qaeda and Zarqawi fell apart because they alienated them," Tripp said.On the ground, it is hard to imagine Maliki regaining Sunni provinces he lost to ISIL with Iraq's army, a force which exists more on paper than on the ground. But regaining it with Iranian-trained Shi’ite militias such as Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq is also a recipe for sectarian slaughter, experts say.Many predict the fighting will go on until all sects - from Syria to Iraq - Shi'ites, Sunnis, Kurds and Alawites carve up their own fiefdoms even if they stay within the same international borders.The clearest emerging enclave is the northern Kurdish autonomous region, which has been more than 20 years in the making and which experts say could be permanent.(Editing by Dominic Evans and Philippa Fletcher)
Iraqi army presses Tikrit assault as lawmakers scramble to fill posts
By Ahmed Rasheed and Alexander Dziadosz -JUNE 29,14-YahooNews
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's army sent tanks and armored vehicles to try to dislodge insurgents from the northern city of Tikrit on Sunday, the second day of a pushback against a Sunni militant takeover of large stretches of Iraq.The hardline Sunni group leading the insurgency, until Sunday known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), declared itself a "caliphate" on Sunday and called on factions worldwide to pledge their allegiance - a move analysts saw as a direct challenge to al Qaeda, which disowned ISIL in February, and to Gulf Arab rulers.In Baghdad, which is threatened by the rebel advance, top Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish lawmakers scrambled to agree cabinet nominations before parliament meets on Tuesday to try to prevent the rebel advance jeopardizing Iraq's future as a unitary state.They are racing against time as ISIL, which loathes Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government, consolidates its grip on the north and west. Maliki's political future after eight years in power will be the most contentious issue.Troops backed by helicopter gunships began an assault on Tikrit, the birthplace of former President Saddam Hussein, on Saturday, to try to take it back from insurgents who have swept to within driving range of Baghdad.The army sent in tanks and helicopters to battle ISIL militants near the University of Tikrit in the city’s north on Sunday, security sources said. Two witnesses said they saw a helicopter gunned down over northern Tikrit, reports not possible to immediately verify independently.The offensive was the first major attempt by the army to retake territory after the United States sent up to 300 advisers, mostly special forces, and drones to help the government take on ISIL.Earlier on Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussain al-Shahristani, one of Iraq's most senior politicians, faulted the U.S. for not doing enough to bolster the country's military, just hours after Russia delivered five Sukhoi jets."Yes, there has been a delay from the Americans in handing over contracted arms. We told them, 'You once did an air bridge to send arms to your ally Israel, so why don’t you give us the contracted arms in time?'" he told al-Hurra television.U.S. officials have disputed similar statements from Iraqi officials in the past and say they have done everything possible to ensure the country is equipped with modern weaponry.The five Russian Sukhoi jets were delivered to Baghdad late on Saturday. State television said they "would be used in the coming days to strike ISIL terrorist groups". A Reuters photographer saw the jets unloaded from a transport plane at a military airport in Baghdad as Russian and Iraqi soldiers stood on the tarmac. Iraq has relied largely on helicopters to counter militants and has few aircraft that can fire advanced missiles.
FIGHTING TAKES ITS TOLL
Iraqi army spokesman Qassim Atta told reporters in Baghdad security forces had killed 142 "terrorists" over the last 24 hours across Iraq, including 70 in Tikrit, and said the armed forces were in control of Tikrit's university. Both claims were impossible to immediately verify."Our security forces have taken complete control of the University of Tikrit and they have raised the Iraqi flag on top of the building," Atta said.Iran has also supported Iraq's government against the onslaught. An Iranian general said on Sunday his country was ready to help Iraq fight the revolt using the same methods it deployed against rebels in Syria. [ID:nL6N0P90Z3]-With Syria, too, we announced we would not allow terrorists in the hire of foreign intelligence services to rule and dictate to Syrian people. We will certainly have the same approach with Iraq," Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri, deputy joint chief of staff of the armed forces and a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps officer, told Iran's al Alam television.On Sunday, intermittent clashes broke out from the early morning between militants and government forces in the northeastern outskirts of the town of Jurf al-Sakhar, 53 miles(83 km) south of Baghdad.The local government and security commanders have asked for backup from Baghdad to face what they estimate are several hundred ISIL fighters, police sources and the province's governor said.
ISIL DECLARES CALIPHATE
In a statement distributed on Islamist forums, ISIL, also known as ISIS, said it was renaming itself "Islamic State" and proclaiming its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghadi "caliph" of the territory it has seized in Iraq and Syria."He is the imam and khalifah (caliph) for the Muslims everywhere," the group's spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani said in the statement, which was translated into several languages and an Arabic audio speech. [ID:nL6N0PA0YT]-ISIL and allied militias have seized funds, equipment and control of border posts, oilfields and swathes of territory including northern Iraq's largest city Mosul throughout its nearly three-week-old offensive.ISIL has long vowed to re-create a medieval-style caliphate erasing borders from the Mediterranean to the Gulf and they deem all Shi'ites to be heretics deserving death.In Syria, ISIL fighters crucified eight men in the northern Aleppo province, a monitoring group said. ISIL accused them of being "Sahwa" fighters, a term it uses for rival fighters it says are controlled by Western powers.The men were crucified in the town square of Deir Hafer in eastern Aleppo and would be left there for three days, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.[ID:nL6N0PA0H9]
IRAQ'S PARLIAMENT UNDER PRESSURE
Politicians are under pressure to speed up the normally sluggish process of selecting a new government to face the crisis. A parliament elected in April is due to assemble on Tuesday to begin the process.In a statement on Sunday, the United Nations mission in Iraq urged all representatives to attend the session on Tuesday and move forward with selecting a new government."Faced with a national crisis, the political leaders of Iraq should put the interests of the country and its people before everything else," Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General for Iraq Nickolay Mladenov said in the statement.But the 21-seat bloc of former prime minister Iyad Allawi, a secular Shi'ite, said it would skip the session, arguing more time was needed to avoid the previous government's mistakes.Politicians from the National Alliance, parliament's biggest bloc, said they would join the session and seek to follow the timetable for the formation, but were tight-lipped about who they would back for prime minister. A senior member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Adnan Mufti, said it would attend.(Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed, Ned Parker and Alexander Dziadosz in Baghdad, Isabel Coles in Arbil, Mehrdad Balali in Dubai and a reporter in Tikrit, Sylvia Westall in Beirut and; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Nigerian Islamists attack villages, churches near Chibok, dozens killed
By Lanre Ola -JUNE 29,14-YahooNews
MAIDUGURI Nigeria (Reuters) - Suspected Islamist militants killed dozens of people on Sunday in an attack on three Nigerian villages, including one targeting worshippers at a church, a few kilometres (three miles) from Chibok, the scene of an abduction of more than 200 school girls.Violence in Nigeria's northeast has been relentless in the past year and has gained in intensity since April, when more than 200 schoolgirls were snatched by Boko Haram rebels from Chibok. Efforts to free them, which have attracted Western support, have so far not succeeded.In a separate assault on Friday evening insurgents killed seven soldiers in the village of Goniri, in Yobe state, a security source and witnesses said.The attackers on Sunday made simultaneous strikes on three villages in the Chibok community, in Borno state.Boko Haram, which is fighting for an Islamic state in largely Muslim northern Nigeria, has killed thousands since launching an uprising on 2009, and many hundreds in the past three months.It is by far the biggest security threat to Africa's largest economy and top oil producer, and has overshadowed government efforts to project an image of Nigeria to foreign investors as a prospective economic giant.Samuel Chibok, a survivor of the attack on Kautikiri village, about five km from where the girls were snatched, said that around 20 men in a Toyota pick-up truck and motorcycles rolled into town. They sprayed it with bullets, focusing much of their fire power on panicked worshippers in a local church."Initially I thought they were military but when I came out, they were firing at people. I saw people fleeing and they burned our houses," he said, adding that some people had died in the attack, including two of his relatives."Smoke was billowing from our town as I left."A local pro-government vigilante, who declined to be named, said residents had now recovered 15 bodies from the village. He added that many of the deaths occurred when worshippers were locked in a church, which was then sprayed with bullets.
HEAVY DEATH TOLL
Boko Haram often attacks institutions it sees as against its strict version of Sunni Islam, including churches, bars and non-religious schools that teach Western ideas like science.Another attack on Kwada, eight km (five miles) from Chibok village, left dozens of people dead, a security source operating in the area said, although the precise toll was not yet clear.A senior advisor to Borno state governor Kassim Shettima, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak, said there had also been a third attack on Nguragida, his home village which he visited on Sunday. Nine bodies had been recovered from that attack, he said.An explosion on Friday night in a brothel in the northeastern Nigerian city of Bauchi killed 11 people and wounded 28, police said on Saturday. This attack was also believed to be the work of Boko Haram.A military operation in the northeast has so far failed to quell the rebellion and has triggered reprisal attacks that are increasingly targeting civilians, after they formed vigilante groups to try to help the government flush out the militants.But their tactics - often striking then fleeing over the border into Cameroon - have repeatedly proved devastating. They are well armed and funded by a lucrative kidnapping operation.In Friday night's attack on a military outpost, suspected Boko Haram fighters arrived in four armoured personel carriers and 11 Hilux trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns, said a security source and a witness who gave his name only as Hamisu."They were all dressed in full military but they did not direct their onslaught on the civilian population," Hamisu said by telephone.The militants are extending their reach beyond their remote northeastern heartlands. A bomb in an upmarket shopping district of the capital Abuja killed 21 people on Wednesday, the third attack on the capital in three months.President Goodluck Jonathan said Nigeria had entered one of the darkest phases of its history during a visit to the scene of the Abuja blast on Friday.(Additional reporting by Joe Hemba in Damaturu; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Ralph Boulton, Stephen Powell, Greg Mahlic)
Pakistan girl burned alive for rejecting marriage proposal
AFP-JUNE 29,14-YahooNews
A teenage girl died in Pakistan after being doused in petrol and set alight by a man who wanted to marry her but whose proposal had been rejected, police said Sunday.It was the second brutal killing in Pakistan's Punjab province within days, after a 17-year-old girl and her husband were murdered by a group of relatives for marrying against their wishes.The latest incident took place Saturday in a village which is part of Toba Tek Singh town.Sidra Shaukat, 18, was at home without her parents when 22-year-old Fayyaz Aslam entered her house, doused her with petrol and set her alight, Mohammad Akram, a police official told AFP."She was taken to a local hospital which referred her to the main hospital but she died before reaching there," Akram said.Aslam has been arrested and a case registered against him."The boy loved her and had also sent a proposal to marry her, but that was rejected by her family," Akram said.Sidra's father, Shaukat Ali, confirmed the killing and accused Aslam of harassing his daughter."He used to harass my daughter -- yesterday he came in the afternoon and threatened dire consequences after we asked him to avoid coming again," Ali told AFP.Another teenager, Maafia Bibi, 17, and her 31-year-old husband Muhammad Sajjad were murdered by Bibi's father, her two uncles, grandfather and mother on Thursday night for marrying against their wishes in Daska town.