ChristiansUnite Forums

Instead of posting daily all the Matthew 24:6 War and Rumor of War.  I'll be posting them in one single thread each week.
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'Palestinian militias preparing to destroy Israel'
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST    Aug. 15, 2007

Palestinian militias are preparing for a confrontation with Israel in order to "wipe it off the face of the earth," Hamas's representative in Lebanon, Usama Hamdan, said Wednesday.

During an interview with the official Iranian TV channel Al Kausar, Hamdan also said suicide bombings on Israeli buses were justified because they provided transportation and protection to soldiers.

'Palestinian militias preparing to destroy Israel' (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1186557455150&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter)

Nasrallah: 'Hizbullah has big surprises in store'
AP and jpost.com staff, THE JERUSALEM POST    Aug. 14, 2007

Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said his organization was not interested in another bout of fighting with Israel, but, that if such a conflict were to break out, the Israelis would be faced with "larger surprises" than in last year's war.

In a televised address to a mass rally in Beirut's southern suburbs on Tuesday, Nasrallah added that Hizbullah was in possession of rockets that could reach any point in Israel, but qualified the statement by saying it was not a threat of war but rather "the hope to forestall it."

The Hizbullah leader went on to say that the US and Israel tried to split the Lebanese along sectarian lines and to describe the Shi'ite Muslim Hizbullah as a terrorist group in order to weaken it during the 34-day war.

"They (America and Israel) wanted to tear us apart. They wanted to use war to isolate us one country after the other, one people after the other, one sect after the other and one party after the other," Nasrallah, a Hizbullah stronghold that was heavily bombed by the IAF during last year's war.

"When we are divided, they will win and we will be defeated," he said.

The rally was organized by the Shi'ite Muslim group to mark the first anniversary of the war with Israel, which Hizbullah says it won and calls "a divine victory."

Nasrallah did not personally attend the rally. His speech was relayed to the crowd on giant screens set up in a stadium and on top of buildings in the southern suburbs.

"They told (the Lebanese) that Hizbullah is an Iranian and Syrian tool," Nasrallah said.

"The most serious accusation was the sectarian issue. They told the Christians that the fighting was with a Muslim group and that it has nothing to do with you. They told Sunni Muslims that the fighting was with a Shi'ite group and was targeting the Shi'ite project (in the region)," Nasrallah said.

Nasrallah added the alleged US-Israeli scheme to drive a wedge among the Lebanese had failed because the Lebanese, both Muslims and Christians, rallied behind Hizbullah during the devastating war.

He thanked Arab and Muslim leaders and governments for standing behind Lebanon during "the American-Israeli aggression on Lebanon and the Lebanese people."

Celebratory gunshots and fireworks erupted in Beirut's pro-Hizbullah suburbs for several minutes as Nasrallah talked.

Nasrallah: 'Hizbullah has big surprises in store' (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1186557449819&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter)

One year later, the North prepares for worst-case scenario
Rebecca Anna Stoil, THE JERUSALEM POST    Aug. 14, 2007

Although Syrian President Bashir Assad was talking peace on Tuesday, emergency response organizations in the North were preparing for the worst, discussing contingency plans for "the next war."

Less than a month after a State Comptroller's Report that blasted the management of the home front during the Second Lebanon War, the IDF and Israel Police co-sponsored a one-day conference in Nazareth on the region's preparedness.

Police officials said the conference had been planned long in advance of the report, delivered by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss on July 18. In the document, Lindenstrauss cited serious problems in coordination among the various response units, and the fact that police and the IDF's Home Front Command had adopted a plan that had not been approved by national-level commanders.

Representatives of the Home Front Command, Magen David Adom, and fire and rescue services took part in the talks at the police's Northern District Headquarters, along with environmental specialists and heads of local councils.

The subjects discussed included the specific responsibilities of local and regional authorities during wartime or emergency situations. In his report, Lindenstrauss had cited the collapse of some local authorities during the war and their inability to provide vital social services during a time of emergency.

Although Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav and his counterpart from Upper Nazareth, Menahem Ariav, joined Arab local authority heads to discuss emergency services providers, the members of the Confrontation Line Forum - the heads of regional authorities and towns closest to the Lebanese border - were not officially represented at the conference.

It was the members of that forum - which includes hard-hit cities such as Ma'alot-Tarshiha and Kiryat Shmona - who leveled some of the heaviest criticism of the government's ability to respond to the needs of the home front during the Second Lebanon War.

Galilee Subdistrict chief Lt.-Cmdr. Nir Mariash, who was present throughout, downplayed the conference, saying it was an "annual refresher to remind all of the organizations involved of operational procedures and the bases for cooperation."

One year later, the North prepares for worst-case scenario (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1186557450122&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter)

OK, here is what the Lord says in Amos 1:6-8, about what He's going to do to Gaza.

Amos 1:6-8 Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Gaza [a city in Philistia] and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it or revoke My word concerning it, because [as slave traders] they carried away captive the whole [Jewish] population [of defenseless Judean border villages, of which none was spared, none left behind] and delivered them up to Edom [for the slave trade]. 7 So I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza which shall devour its strongholds. 8 And I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon, and I will turn My hand against Ekron; and the rest of the Philistines [in Gath and the towns dependent on these four Philistine cities] shall perish, says the Lord God.

Let 'em go ahead with their threats, God will punish them.

Syria is still arming Hizbullah
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST    Aug. 14, 2007

Neither Israel nor Syria are interested in a war so there is no reason for one to erupt, but Syria is still reinforcing its army and arming Hizbullah in Lebanon, Israel Radio quoted Jerusalem officials as saying on Wednesday.

The officials added that Syria's declarations that it did not want a war were important but that its actions alone would determine the future.

Likewise, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that Israel did not want war with Syria but "we will continue to prepare in the Golan and Negev in order to be ready for anything."

Barak was speaking during an IDF tank exercise on the Golan Heights.

On Tuesday, both Israeli and Syrian leaders reassured each other publicly that they were not looking for war, but also warned that they were ready if one erupted.

Syrian Vice President Farouk Shara said in a speech in Damascus that "Israel knows we don't want war. We should always be ready to respond to Israeli aggression, but Syria will not start a war."

According to a Reuters report, Shara said any military preparations Syria was making were defensive in nature and that Israel "wants any excuse to launch a war."

Israeli officials have said that the Syrians are in the midst of a massive reorganization of the army, focusing on improving missile capabilities and working furiously to procure anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles to secure their missile sites.

"People on Syria's streets do not want war, although they will not accept anything less than Israeli withdrawal from the whole of the occupied Golan Heights. The Arab initiative is clear in this regard and we support it," Shara said.

The Arab Peace Initiative, which calls for a full Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines in the West Bank and Jerusalem, also called explicitly for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, meanwhile, toured the Northern Command on Tuesday with Defense Barak and Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi.

Apparently interested in debunking any speculation that the visit had to do with tension with Syria, the Prime Minister's Office said the visit was routine, and that Olmert "received briefings from senior IDF officers regarding preparations and readiness, and regarding conclusions drawn in the wake of the Second Lebanon War."

During the visit, Olmert was quoted as reiterating that "Israel was not interested in war and was not looking for a war with Syria. With that, the IDF and Israel are prepared for any possibility. We want to emphasize that we don't want this preparedness to cause any misunderstandings on the other side."

Government and military officials have expressed concern repeatedly over the last few weeks that a "miscalculation" by the Syrians of Israeli intentions could conceivably lead to an unintended war.

Syria is still arming Hizbullah (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1186557447486&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/Printer)

Gog, Magog Extend Claws by Air, Sea and Land

Sebastian Smith, Agence France Presse
 

MOSCOW, 13 August 2007 — By air, sea and land, the Russian bear’s claws are stretching back into corners of a world that had all but forgotten Moscow as a military superpower.

The latest reminder came this week when Russian strategic Tu-95 bombers flew over the Pacific to within a few hundred kilometers (miles) of the US military base on the island of Guam — and, according to a Russian general, exchanged grins with US fighter pilots sent to intercept.

The dramatic incident on Wednesday capped a summer in which President Vladimir Putin has sought to project power far and wide, building on a rearmament program fuelled by oil and gas revenues.

“At every opportunity Russia is showing its return to power, including military. It’s a demonstration for two audiences — domestic and for the rest of the world,” Moscow-based military analyst Alexander Goltz told AFP.

The long-distance flight by the strategic bombers, impossible for years because of severe underfunding, also recalled an incident in July when bombers deployed near Scotland and Norway during a diplomatic row with Britain.

And it’s not just in the skies that Russia wants the world to take notice.

On Aug. 2 Russian explorers descended 4,261 meters (13,980 feet) under the Arctic to plant a flag on the seabed and demonstrate in a theatrical fashion Moscow’s contested claim to the mineral-rich territory under the North Pole.

The following day, the navy’s chief of staff suggested re-establishing a full-time Russian naval presence in the Mediterranean for the first time since the Soviet era.

Meanwhile the ground army, which was badly mauled in more than a decade of fighting Chechen rebels, is getting new equipment and improved training.

On Thursday and Friday troops were sent to China’s remote province of Xinjiang for international exercises with Chinese and Central Asian forces, 6,000 of whom will next week be hosted on Russian soil for large-scale drills involving artillery, aircraft and paratroopers. The surge in activity is welcomed in a country shocked by the way US military and diplomatic might has spread worldwide over the last 16 years, while Russia has retreated.

“For the Kremlin it’s very important to retain at least one area where we equal the United States — and we are adamant about showing this,” Goltz said. But there are accusations that a newly confident and rearming Russia could be a menace.

The Guam exploit came three days after Russia’s southern neighbor Georgia claimed a Russian warplane fired a missile onto its territory — something Moscow hotly denies.

The scandal over the murder last year in London of fugitive Putin critic Alexander Litvinenko also prompted claims that Moscow was resurrecting the Cold War-era practice of killing dissidents abroad.

Russia’s generals deny they are up to anything sinister. The highlight of the Guam mission, says the commander of strategic bombers, Pavel Androsov, was a midair greeting between Russian and US pilots — a scene reminiscent of the macho 1986 Hollywood film “Top Gun.” “Imagine, you take off from Blagoveshchensk, fly for 13 hours, flying across neutral waters, then our planes meeting their NATO colleagues... with a mutual exchange of smiles,” he was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

The Pentagon confirmed the Russian mission, but denied that a close encounter took place. “It was a nonevent,” one official said on condition of anonymity.

Political commentator Yuliya Latynina said there was nothing to fear from Russia’s muscle-flexing.

“Thank God. We are showing our strength with bombers, the North Pole flag, et cetera, but we are not making war,” she said. “We should be happy that the strategic bombers flew across the Pacific without losses. That’s already a victory.”

Gog, Magog Extend Claws by Air, Sea and Land (http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&article=99752)

The cold war returns.

Those are my thoughts too.  This time though it is going to be bigger, I think.

Yes, I think it will escalate beyond just a cold war.

So your thinking is the same as mine then.  Though we both aren't willing to say just yet.

Turkey working to calm Israel-Syria tensions
By Zvi Bar'el

ANKARA - Israel should not view Syria as a branch of Iran because Tehran and Damascus differ on regional issues, Turkish officials trying to jump-start peace talks between Syria and Israel told Haaretz this week.

Amid rising tensions between Israel and Syria, the sources added that peace with Syria is easier to achieve than an agreement with the Palestinians.
   
The officials said they were encouraged by recent statements by Syrian and Israeli decision-makers, and described Syrian President Bashar Assad's recent statements on the chance of resuming negotiations as particularly positive.

The Turkish diplomats noted that Assad refrained from reiterating his former insistence on picking up where the last round of talks ended. Several Israeli prime ministers had agreed to meet the Syrian precondition of a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, which Israel conquered from Syria in 1967.

The Turkish officials drew further encouragement from Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara's statement Tuesday that his country will not go to war over the Golan. The officials described the "peace-oriented propaganda efforts" on both sides and the "positive rhetoric."

With regard to Syria's complicated relationship with Iran, the Turkish officials said that Assad's regime should not be viewed as subject to Iranian control. They noted that Syria and Iran disagree on many key issues such as the future Palestinian state, Lebanon, and whether to pursue peace talks with Israel.

The Turkish sources said proof of this was that Syria had actively encouraged the Mecca Agreement signed by the rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah in February. Damascus pressured then prime minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas to sign the deal despite Iranian resistance to the terms.

The Turkish mediators are operating under the assumption that the prospect of renewed peace talks between Israel and Syria is more achievable than a permanent agreement between Jerusalem and the Palestinians. The Turkish foreign office views the Palestinian problem as a three-layered predicament, with each level entailing its own difficulties.

Ankara perceives the border dispute between Israel and the Palestinians as a regional multinational problem. The question of the Palestinian refugees and the right of return is perceived by the Turks to be an Arab, national problem. The holy places and the dispute over jurisdiction there is viewed as a religious conflict.

So the Turkish foreign ministry regards the Israeli-Syrian dispute as much more solvable because it relates to a simple territorial issue - control of the Golan Heights.

Turkey is therefore opposed to the American-imposed containment policy against Syria, Hamas' Gaza regime and Iran. Ankara argues that bundling these three states together as one axis could create a unified and defiant front against moderate interests and drive Syria and Hamas to further cement their relations with Iran.

Turkish officials believe the internal Palestinian dispute between Hamas and Fatah is not yet solvable. The Turks nonetheless recognize that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas cannot offer Israel any viable solutions without securing Hamas' support first. For that reason, Turkey decided to maintain its contact with Hamas - in contrast with the Israeli and American stance.

"The United States may ultimately realize that Turkey's stance was the right one, just as it reached the conclusion of engaging in dialogue with Iran over the situation in Iraq," a Turkish official said.

Turkey working to calm Israel-Syria tensions (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/894027.html)