Tag: Hamas

Middle East update….

by atharris, posted in Israel, Prophecy

The confusion, complexity, tension, and anger in the Middle East continues its rapid climb to implosion and destruction.

Israel is preparing for possible war with Hezbollah

Senior sources in Israel have revealed that the army’s northern command is preparing for a potentially fierce war with Hezbollah.

Israel: Iran steps up arms shipments to Hezbollah, Hamas

Jerusalem sources say Tehran upping support for terror groups, express fear Iran will have billions more to spend under nuke deal

Report: Iran financing Hamas’ military force reconstruction efforts

Tens of millions of dollars have been transferred to Hamas for the rebuilding of tunnels destroyed by Israel last summer, the Sunday Telegraph reports.

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Saudi Arabia, Turkey Discussing Unlikely Alliance To Oust Syria’s Assad

Turkey and Saudi Arabia, two nations with a long history of rivalry, are in high-level talks with the goal of forming a military alliance to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

Russia lifts ban on S-300 missile deliveries to Iran

Moscow starts oil-for-goods swap with Tehran, demonstrating Kremlin’s determination to boost economic ties with Islamic Republic.

Sources told Reuters more than a year ago that a deal worth up to $20 billion was being discussed with Tehran and would involve Russia buying up to 500,000 barrels of Iranian oil a day in exchange for Russian equipment and goods.

And finally…….

The official noted that cooperation between Russia’s state nuclear company, Rosatom, and AEOI is proceeding well. In November, Tehran and Moscow struck a deal under which Russia is to build eight new nuclear reactors in Iran.

According to the agreement, four of the planned reactors are to be constructed at the Bushehr nuclear station, already the site of one Russian-built reactor. The remaining four are to be built elsewhere in the Islamic republic, though the exact location has not yet been determined.

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The Face of the Middle East is about to change again

by atharris, posted in Israel/Hamas conflict, Middle East

The World is changing fast and is about to change again in the Middle East.

22 member Arab League nations called Monday for combating Islamic State extremists, acting to join forces against the terror threat as President Obama continues to forge his own coalition for battling the extremist group.

It’s not clear to what extent the Arab League and western allies are coordinating……The Arab League resolution calls for immediate measures to combat the group on the political, defense, security and legal levels.

Arab states join forces against ISIS, as Obama preps strategy

One of Islam’s most revered holy sites – the tomb of the Prophet Mohamed – could be destroyed and his body removed to an anonymous grave under plans which threaten to spark discord across the Muslim world.

Saudis risk new Muslim division with proposal to move Mohamed’s tomb

Concerning Israel:

A senior government official in Jerusalem on Sunday told the Israeli press that Hamas is already digging new terror tunnels and smuggling a new stockpile of missiles into the Gaza Strip in preparation for its next war against the Jewish state.

Hamas Already Digging New Terror Tunnels

The recent conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip has changed the opinions of certain global players who now wish to hold dialog with the group, senior Hamas member Mahmoud al-Zahar said Saturday, according to Ynet. Al-Zahar said nations – he did not give specifics – which had previously regarded his organization as a terrorist group had now undergone a change of heart.

 

General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, proposed to Mahmoud Abbas a far-reaching plan.  According to this plan, Egypt will provide a 1,600 square kilometer area near the Gaza Strip, an area that will make the Strip five times its size today, there shall be established a Palestinian state under the total control of the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian refugees would return to this country and it would be demilitarized.

Al-Sisi proposes: Extend Gaza Strip into Sinai and establish Palestinian state there

Will Iran emerge with a new leader?

Iran’s supreme leader underwent prostate surgery on Monday at a government hospital in Tehran, state media said in a rare report on the state of health of the country’s top cleric.
The 75-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters in Iran and has been the country’s top leader since 1989, was reported to be recovering.

Iran’s Khamenei undergoes surgery for prostate cancer

 

 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. Revelation 22:12

Gaza Ceasefire – will it hold?

by atharris, posted in Israel/Hamas conflict, Middle East

As of yesterday, a new ceasefire agreement has been accepted by Israel and Hamas. Is the war over and did Israel get the victory?? The re-opening of the Gaza border crossing is the Rafah crossing that Egypt has been guarding against terrorist entering into Gaza and Israel via the Sinai Peninsula.

The battered residents of southern Israel were clear: “Israel surrendered to terror” by failing to destroy Hamas and accepting a truce that left the terrorists fully armed. The next Gaza war is only a matter of time, they insisted.

Israeli government officials tried to put a positive spin on the situation, noting that Hamas, and Gaza as a whole, had suffered a major blow.

………………..

………. members of Israel’s security cabinet, who were furious that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire without first seeking their input.

The terms of the deal Netanyahu accepted were these:

  1. Both sides will immediately implement an open-ended ceasefire (which they did on Tuesday afternoon);
  2. Gaza border crossings will be opened for the import of humanitarian aid and supplies for reconstruction;
  3. Gaza’s fishing zone will be extended further into the Mediterranean.

The Hamas demands that did not make the final cut were:

  1. The development of sea and air ports in Gaza;
  2. The release of Hamas terrorists arrested in Judea and Samaria over the past two months;
  3. The transfer of salaries to Hamas officials in Gaza.

The Israeli conditions removed from the final draft included:

  1. The demilitarization of Gaza;
  2. A mechanism to prevent Hamas from rearming;
  3. The return of the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers taken by Hamas during the Gaza war.

Rafah Border Crossing

Operation Protective Edge – day 48.

by atharris, posted in Israel/Hamas conflict, Middle East

OPE now in its 48th day, continues to drag on. Hamas has admitted to kidnapping of the three teens that started this war and has broken 6 consecutive cease-fires. Israel has lost at least 64 soldiers and 4 citizens while the number of dead in Gaza has reached over 2000 with at least 900 of those deaths as militants.

It has also been known for some time now that ISIS has a presence and strong influence in the Gaza Strip.The tone in Israel has been one of frustration against the Prime Minister and Defense Minister’s lackadaisical approach to completing the job and ending the war. But, that may have changed – a little…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Sunday issued new directives to Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon: Strike every source of terrorist attack from the Gaza Strip. “No more immunity” for sectors or respect for borders or even civilians. Opening the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu and Yaalon said: ”We will continue to hammer Hamas – by air, for now. The world is beginning to grasp that Hamas is ISIS and ISIS is Hamas. Israel continues to stand by the civilized world.” Ya’alon aimed for national consensus when he said: “We stand by our policy of avoiding direct confrontation with Hamas or a decisive end to the war; preferring diplomatic closure.”

Recently Israel has targeted Hamas military leaders, killing at least 4 high ranking members. In return for supposed betrayal of Palestinian spying for Israel, Hamas has executed 27 Palestinians.

Hamas has now executed 27 Palestinians accused of spying for Israel, after killing another four Saturday. Seven were shot dead in a public square outside a Mosque after Friday prayers. The victims’ heads were shrouded in hoods and their hands tied behind their backs.  The executions were taped and released for publication.

Meanwhile in the backdrop of ISIS, and the Israel/Hamas conflict, Libya spirals into a larger civil war.

Five weeks of bombardment by grad rockets have devastated parts of the capital, which is suffering cuts to power, water and petrol. Hospitals are running short of vital drugs and thousands are fleeing the city as fighting rages on.
The battle leaves Libya in a state of civil war, with fighting also raging between Islamist brigades and nationalist forces of a former general, Khalifa Hiftar, raging 400 miles away in the eastern city of Benghazi. There were reports that jets from Hiftar had struck and sunk a ship from Misrata trying to bring ammunition to Islamist brigades in the city. – See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/politicians-and-militia-groups-vye-control-battle-torn-libya-99372368#sthash.y8wwvGR2.dpuf

 

The violence in the Middle East will continue to ebb and flow while ever gravitating to the flow culminating just before the beginning of the Tribulation – and then the world will change to that which has never been nor ever shall be again…..

 

 

 

 

Hamas ultimatum

by atharris, posted in Israel, Middle East

Failing a Gaza seaport, the war goes on and thousands of Israelis will die

 

Hours before the 72-hour ceasefire was due to expire Friday morning, Aug. 8, the Palestinian Hamas’ military wing slapped down an ultimatum before Israel: Either allow the Gaza Strip to have an open seaport – which would be tantamount to lifting the Gaza blockade – or prepare for a long and brutal war of attrition with thousands of fatalities.

Hamas’ decision about extending the ceasefire was tensely awaited Thursday night after Israel’s acceptance. Instead, the Palestinian Islamists declared that the war would go on unless Israel bowed to their dictates.
Israel’s envoys had previously rejected their demand for a deep sea Gaza port in the talks taking place in Cairo under Egyptian auspices.

Abu Obeida, spokesman of Hamas’ military wing, Ezz e-Din Al-Qassam,  also announced that his movement had acquired new rockets with larger warheads than the more than 3,000 fired against the Israeli population in the month-long conflict, and they would be aimed at Israel’s Ben Gurion international airport. Israel would be severed from its air transport ties with the outside world, he said.
“We demand our fundamental rights,” said the Hamas spokesman, in a statement that was broadcast live Thursday night. “We call on our envoys to the Cairo talks not to continue negotiations until Israel surrenders to our demand for a seaport. The war is not over until the siege of Gaza ends.”

 

http://www.debka.com/article/24176/Hamas-ultimatum-Failing-a-Gaza-seaport-the-war-goes-on-and-thousands-of-Israelis-will-die

Cease-fire complexity update

by atharris, posted in Israel/Hamas conflict, Middle East

I had posted the news below in the previous post.

Mashaal made one more interesting point that relates to the US. He claimed that Secretary of State John Kerry called his friends in Qatar and Turkey at the start of the conflict and asked them to broker a ceasefire. If this is true, it’s nothing less than a scandal because it would mean Kerry had cut out the ground from beneath the Egyptian ceasefire proposal.

It turns out this was a true statement by Mashaal concerning the latest, absurd cease-fire proposal from Secretary of State John Kerry.

The Palestinian Authority is fuming at US Secretary of State John Kerry, accusing him of trying to undermine the Egyptian ceasefire initiative endorsed by Israel and the PA last week and rejected by Hamas, an Arab daily reported on Sunday.

Palestinian sources told the London-based A-Sharq Al-Awsat that Kerry had initially agreed to an Egyptian proposal for an immediate ceasefire followed by five days of negotiations between Israel and the PA, with American assurances to address some of Hamas’s demands. But on Friday evening Kerry produced a new plan based on consultations with Qatar and Turkey and conducted between “the State of Israel” and “the Palestinian factions,” excluding the PA. The Israeli cabinet unanimously rejected Kerry’s plan.

Read more: Abbas fumes at Kerry over alternative ceasefire bid | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/abbas-fumes-at-kerry-over-alternative-ceasefire-bid/#ixzz38i1vKPdw

“confidential draft” of the American ceasefire proposal leaked to the press appears to confirm what The Times of Israel reported Friday — that Washington was willing to generously accede to many of Hamas’s demands, while all but ignoring Israel’s security requirements.
The published text of the proposal, obtained by Haaretz, also shows that Qatar and Turkey – Hamas’s main sponsors in the region — were given prominent roles in the mediation, while the Palestinian Authority and Egypt were entirely marginalized.

According to the text, “the Palestinian factions” and the State of Israel would make three commitments:

a)……

b)……..

c) Convene in Cairo, at the invitation of Egypt, within 48 hours to negotiate resolution of all issues necessary to achieve a sustainable cease-fire and enduring solution to the crisis in Gaza, including arrangements to secure the opening of crossings, allow the entry of goods and people and ensure the social and economic livelihood of the Palestinian people living in Gaza, transfer funds to Gaza for the payment of salaries for public employees, and address all security issues.

…..as it basically accepts all of Hamas’s demands but addresses Israeli worries only tangentially.

Read more: Leaked document confirms US ceasefire bid generous to Hamas | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/leaked-document-confirms-us-ceasefire-bid-generous-to-hamas/#ixzz38i5aSH6x

Betrayal?

As Ha’aretz correspondent Barak Ravid, one of Israel’s premier left-wingreporters, put it:

“The document recognized Hamas’ position in the Gaza Strip… [and it] placed Israel and Hamas on the same level, as if the first is not a primary US ally and as if the second isn’t a terror group which overtook part of the Palestinian Authority in a military coup and fired thousands of rockets at Israel.”

 

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/24786/Default.aspx?utm_source=news&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=No-sidebar-news-1&utm_content=1308

Interesting words, a hint of something to come?

In the legitimacy stakes, Netanyahu has three solid allies for crushing Hamas: Saudi King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi and the UAE ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Sunday, Mahmoud Abbas attached a Palestinian voice to this group.

This regional coalition has enormous clout, derived, on the one hand, from the Israeli military and its fight against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Egyptian army’s containment of Hamas efforts to break out into Sinai for strategic depth; and, on the other, from the financial might of Saudi Arabia and the oil emirates and the world prestige they enjoy.

So why is the Obama administration shoving this powerful coalition out of his way and building a rival alliance to counter it?

 

http://www.debka.com/article/24135/Netanyahu%E2%80%99s-dilemma-Back-Obama%E2%80%99s-save-Hamas-policy-or-fight-for-its-downfall-with-Egypt-and-Saudis-

Meanwhile Egypt continues to guard Israel’s back.

An official in Cairo reports that 14 Al Qaeda militants were killed and 47 other terrorists were arrested in Egyptian army raids in northern Sinai. Friday, 12 jihadists were killed and 11 others detained, said a spokesperson of the Egyptian Armed Forces, Mohamed Samir Abdel Aziz Saturday night.

 

The majority of Evangelical Christians are still in favor of Israel, but as I stated before, this White House Administration is not. So now the complexity increases with a new twist. With all of the consulting and counseling going on, is it starting to look more like Psalms 83?? Just a thought for now…..

Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.

2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.

3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, 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 have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:Psalms 83

 

 

 

 

 

Al Quds Day

by atharris, posted in Israel/Hamas conflict, Middle East

Violent riots were staged in different parts of Jerusalem Thursday night in protest against the IDF counter-terror operation in the Gaza Strip. A man was killed in a rally of some 10,000 at the Kalandia crossing into the West Bank. Some 90 people were injured. Three Jerusalem police officers were injured in another outbreak on Temple Mount. Hamas has called on West Bank and Jerusalem Palestinians to launch an intifada against Israel.

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Al Quds Day begins tomorrow, Friday the 25th.

Muslims across the world will be taking to the streets on Friday to protest against the atrocities and crimes committed by the Zionist regime of Israel against the innocent people of Gaza. 

International Quds Day is an annual event held on the last Friday of Ramadan that was initiated by the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 to express solidarity with the Palestinian people and to oppose Zionism and Israel’s control of Jerusalem. 

http://www.tehrantimes.com/component/content/article/94-headline/117240-muslim-world-to-stand-up-to-israel-on-quds-day

 

 

         
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