blog.Tribulationperiod.com

The Words of an Egyptian Cleric attest to Hatred in Islamic Teaching.

There Can BE NO Peace With The Spirit Of Antichrist Islamic Religion,

Made up of almost One Sixth of the Inhabitants on the Planet Earth,

Until The True Son Of The Living God Returns to End All False Beliefs,

Puts the Islamic Antichrist and False Prophet in a Fire and Brimstone

Lake, Then assigns an Angel to Chain the Devil in the Bottomless Pit

For 1000 Years, During which Jesus will Reign by an Enforced Peace

By rod and iron over the Descendants of those who attacked Israel

Then Confined Her for 3 & 1/2 Years Of Tribulation Period in Negev!

August 31, 2011

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

“Egyptian Cleric Dr. Sallah Sultan, Founder of the American Center for Islamic Research, Calls to Kill Israeli Ambassador and Tourists in Egypt.”

Unfortunately, the deep impregnated hatred for Jews and Americans is typical even among the best educated men and women of the Islamic belief. It is so ingrained in their mindset that it can only be controlled by Christ after his 2nd Advent. And even after 1000 years of teaching from Jerusalem, the descendents of the great army of humanity at Armageddon from the Old World of Europe, Eurasia, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa will once again gather to destroy the Jews when the Devil is loosed from the Bottomless Pit.

Yes, there will be peace between the nations during the Millennial Reign of Christ, but it will be an enforced peace due to the carnal natures possessed by those still in bodies of flesh. The spiritual beings, the saints returning with him,

will be the rods of iron Christ uses to control tribulation survivors still on earth at his 2nd Advent, and their offspring for a thousand years. Some of the saints returning with him will be his glorified rods of Iron.

Rev. 2:26-29 – And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: [27] And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. [28] And I will give him the morning star. [29] He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. See the Prophecy Archive Update 12 Part Series on Whole Numbered Updates 171 to 182 on our Web Site at:

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Revelation 20:7-10 –And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, [8] And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. [9] And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. [10] And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

MIDDLE EAST EVENT SEQUENCE FROM ISLAM ATTACK TO 2ND ADVENT

Zechariah 13:8 – And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.

FLIGHT OF ONE THIRD OF ISRAEL INTO THE NEGEV WILDERNESS

Revelation 12:6 – And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

ISRAEL SURROUNDED BY ISLAM IN NEGEV FOR 3 & ½ YEARS

Daniel 7:24,25 – And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. [25] And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

ANTICHRIST IN JERUSALEM FROM TRUMP 7 RAPTURE TO 2ND ADVENT

Daniel 11:45 to 12:1 – And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. [12] And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

DEFEAT OF ANTICHRIST AT THE FINAL BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON

Ezekiel 39:2-6 – And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, 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, 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, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

“THIS MAN” IS THE LORD WHO WILL FEED HIS SAINTS AFTER HE HAS DELIVERED ISRAEL FROM AN ASSYRIAN ANTICHRIST AND A PHYSICAL REMNANT OF ISRAELIS HAS DRIVEN ALL ITS FOES TO THE EUPHRATES RIVER TO CLAIM ABRAHAM’S LAND GRANT TO ISRAEL.

Micah 5:4-6 –And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. [5] And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.

[6] And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.

CHRIST RETURNS TO DESTROY ANTICHRIST & FALSE PROPHET ARMY

Revelation 19:11-18 – And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

[12] His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. [13] And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. [14] And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. [15] And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. [16] And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. [17] And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; [18] That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

FROM THE 7TH TRUMP RAPTURE TO THE LAST VIAL OF WRATH

Matthew 24:21,22 – For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. [22] And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

ANTICHRIST & FALSE PROPHET CAST INTO FIRE & BRIMSTONE LAKE

Revelation 19:19-21 – And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. [20] And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. [21] And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

SURVIVORS OF HUGE ANTICHRIST ARMY AT ARMAGEDDON FLEE TO THEIR HOME COUNTRIES AND TELL OF THE SIGN OF THE 2ND ADVENT THEY SAW IN ISRAEL. IN GREAT FEAR, THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD WILL RUSH ALL JEWS IN THEIR COUNTRIES BACK TO ISRAEL ON ANY KIND OF CARRIER THEY HAVE LEFT AFTER THE LAST GREAT BATTLE.

Isaiah 66:19-21 – And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. [20] And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses,

and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. [21] And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord.

THE JEWS WHO SURVIVE AS THE REMNANT WILL SAY THE LORD IS MY GOD, AND GOD WILL SAY IT IS MY PEOPLE.

Zechariah 13:9 – And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.

CHRIST WILL RULE FROM JERUSALEM AND ISRAEL WILL REIGN OVER ALL NATIONS WHILE SATAN IS CHAINED IN THE BOTTOMLESS PIT.

Micah 5:7-9 – And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. [8] And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. [9] Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.

Revelation 20:1,2 – And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. [2] And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

Zechariah 14:8,9 – And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

[9] And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.

Micah 4:1-3 – But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. [2] And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go

forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. [3] And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Christ will use the overcoming saints returning with him to rule with him as his rods of iron to enforce peace among the carnal nations for a thousand years.

Revelation 2:26-29 – And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: [27] And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. [28] And I will give him the morning star. [29] He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Begin Excerpt from MEMRI

Middle East Media Research Institute

Clip No. 3090

August 26, 2011

Egyptian Cleric Dr. Sallah Sultan, Founder of the American Center for Islamic Research, Calls to Kill Israeli Ambassador and Tourists in Egypt

Following are excerpts from a statement by Egyptian cleric Dr. Sallah Sultan, founder of the American Center for Islamic Research, Columbus Ohio, which aired on Al-Jazeera Network on August 26, 2011:

Sallah Sultan: As someone who has studied Islamic law, specializing in Islamic jurisprudence, I am calling to kill the [Israeli] ambassador, not just expel him.

Our sons were killed in our country, on our land, and our sons are being killed in Gaza by an occupying enemy.

Brothers and sisters, the genuine rulings of Islamic law can no longer be silenced. I am prepared to confront any Islamic scholar who says otherwise.

[…]

When General Issam Al-Tarsawi headed the anti-narcotics unit, he said that heroin and other drugs were first brought to Egypt in the suitcases of Zionist diplomats, which are not subjected to search. That’s right. Before the [Camp David] Accords, Egypt did not have these drugs, these crimes, or these images.

Show me one good thing that came out of the normalization of relations with the Zionist entity.

You may say: We got the Sinai. Did we really?! To this day, we do not have authority over the Sinai.

[…]

Once I said: Any Zionist – tourist or other – who enters Egypt must be killed. We will not kill tourists from any [other] country. We stress that this fatwa is directed only toward those Zionists, who destroyed our country, killed our people, and shed our blood on our land.

[…]

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Time Is Drawing Near For The Assyrian Antichrist To Come On Scene!

Syrian President Bashar Assad is being boxed in by former Friends,

As I’ve Repeatedly Stated, He Is More Likely to be Assassinated,

By former buddies, his own army, or people than by The West!

Once his regime is replaced, Look Out for a rise of the Mahdi.

Eventually Within the area once Labeled as ‘Greater Syria.’

August 30, 2011

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

GREATER SYRIA AND ASSYRIA

Regardless of etymology, the two names have often been taken as exchangeable or synonym from the time of Herodotus.

The teaching that the Antichrist would arise out of the Middle East area historically referred to as “greater Syria” or Assyria, has been around longer than the teaching he would come out of Europe. See Archive Prophecy Update Numbers 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, and 69 on our Web Site at:

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

I have taught this for 37 years

at Dardanelle MBC.

Begin Excerpt from Wikipedia

Greater Syria, also known simply as Syria, is a term that denotes a region in the Near East bordering the Eastern Mediterranean Sea or the Levant.

The classical Arabic name for Syria is Sham, which in later ages came to refer only to Damascus in Levantine Arabic, while the pre-Islamic name of the territory, Syria, was used again until the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918.

Historic Syria

The extent of the area known as Syria has changed over time. In the most common historical sense, it refers to the entire northern Levant, including Alexandretta and the ancient city of Antioch, the pre-Islamic capital of Syria), or in an extended sense the entire Levant as far south as Egypt, but not including Mesopotamia.

The uncertainty in the definition of the extent of “Syria” is aggravated with the etymological confusion of the similar-sounding names Syria and Assyria. The question of the ultimate etymological identity of the two names remains open today, but regardless of etymology, the two names have often been taken as exchangeable or synonym from the time of Herodotus (even though in the Roman Empire they referred to two separate entities, Roman Syria vs. Roman Assyria). A “Greater Syria” in this wider sense would correspond to “Greater Assyria” and include all of the Levant and Mesopotamia.

Ancient

Syria (name), Roman Syria, and Roman Assyria

Herodotus uses Συρία loosely to refer to Cappadocia (Pipes 1992). In Greek usage, Syria and Assyria were used almost interchangeably, but in the Roman Empire, Syria and Assyria came to be used as distinct geographical terms. “Syria” in the Roman Empire period referred to “those parts of the Empire situated between Asia Minor and Egypt”, i.e. the western Levant, while “Assyria” was part of the Persian Empire, and only very briefly came under Roman control (116-118 AD, marking the historical peak of Roman expansion).

In the Roman era, the term Syria is used to comprise the entire northern Levant and has an uncertain border to the northeast that Pliny the Elder describes as including, from west to east, Commagene, Sophene, and Adiabene, “formerly known as Assyria”.

In 64 BC, Syria became a province of the Roman Empire. Roman Syria borders on Judaea to the south (later renamed Palaestina in AD 135 (the region corresponding to modern day Palestine and Israel, and Jordan) and Phoenicia corresponding to Lebanon.

In AD 193, the province was divided into Syria proper and Syria Coele along the western bank of the Euphrates. Sometime between 330 and 350 (likely ca. 341), the province of Euphratensis was created out of the territory of Syria Coele and the former realm of Commagene, with Hierapolis as its capital.[3] After ca. 415 Syria Coele was further subdivided into Syria I, with the capital remaining at Antioch, and Syria II or Salutaris, with capital at Apamea on the Orontes. In 528, Justinian I carved out the small coastal province Theodorias out of territory from both provinces.

Medieval

The region was annexed to the Islamic Caliphate after the Muslim Rashidun victory over the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Yarmouk, and became known afterwards by its Arabic name, ash-Shām. During Umayyad times, Shām was divided into five junds or military districts. They were Jund Dimashq, Jund Hims, Jund Filastin and Jund al-Urdunn. Later Jund Qinnasrin was created out of part of Jund Hims.

The city of Damascus was the capital of the Islamic Caliphate until the rise of Abassid Dynasty.

The States of the French Mandate

In the later ages of the Ottoman times, it was divided into wilayahs or sub-provinces the borders of which and the choice of cities as seats of government within them varied over time. The vilayets or sub-provinces of Aleppo, Damascus, and Beirut, in addition to the two special districts of Mount Lebanon and Jerusalem. Aleppo consisted of northern modern-day Syria plus parts of southern Turkey, Damascus covered southern Syria and modern-day Jordan, Beirut covered Lebanon and the Syrian coast from the port-city of Latakia southward to the Galilee, while Jerusalem consisted of the land south of the Galilee and west of the Jordan River and the Wadi Arabah.

Although the region’s population was dominated by Sunni Muslims, it also contained sizable populations of Shi’a, Alawite and Ismaili Muslims, Syriac Orthodox, Maronite, Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholics and Melkite Christians, MizrahiJews, and Druzes.

Following the San Remo conference and the defeat of King Faisal’s short-lived monarchy in Syria at the Battle of Maysalun, the French general Henri Gouraud, in breach of the conditions of the mandate, subdivided the French Mandate of Syria into six states. They were the states of Damascus (1920), Aleppo (1920), Alawite State (1920), Jabal Druze (1921), the autonomous Sanjak of Alexandretta (1921) (modern-day Hatay,Turkey), and Greater Lebanon (1920) which later became the modern country of Lebanon.

End Wickipedia Excerpt

Continue Blog Heading

The Assyrian Mahdi Antichrist will attack Israel from Greater Syria to begin a time of three and one-half years of tribulation, which will culminate with the final great battle of Armageddon. I speculate the most likely time for this attack to begin will be at some point in time between 2013 and 2015.

Micah 5:4,5 – And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.

[5] And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.

Begin Excerpt from Speculative DEBKAfile Special Report

Assad may opt for war to escape Russian, Arab, European ultimatums

DEBKAfile Special Report

August 30, 2011, 9:32 AM (GMT+02:00)

Monday night and Tuesday, Aug-29-30, three international heavyweights – Russia, the European Union and key Muslim nations – gave Syrian President Bashar Assad tough ultimatums for ending his ferocious crackdown on protest. Nevertheless, on Monday, his troops shot dead 17 people in Syrian cities – even as he received Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov who arrived in Damascus with a last warning from President Dmitry Medvedev: Recall you soldiers to their bases immediately and implement changes or Moscow will endorse UN Security Council sanctions stiff enough to stifle the Syrian economy.

Those sanctions are only a step away from a resolution authorizing NATO, together with Muslim and Arab nations, to intervene militarily in the Syrian crisis.

DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources disclose that Turkey, as a NATO member, and Saudi Arabia, on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council, have been in discussions this past week on the form this intervention would take:

1. The long-considered Turkish plan to send troops into northern Syria and carve out a military pocket from which Syria’s rebels would be supplied with military, logistic and medical aid.

2. Ankara and Riyadh will provide the anti-Assad movements with large quantities of weapons and funds to be smuggled in from outside Syria.

3. The Turkish military incursion would be matched by Saudi troops entering southern Syria at the head of GCC contingents. They would move in via Jordan and establish a second military enclave under GCC auspices.

The third option came up in Tehran last Thursday, Aug. 25, when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad heard some straight talk from the visiting Emir of Qatar Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.

DEBKAfile’s exclusive Iranian sources reveal that the Qatari ruler slapped down a blunt warning: Assad was finished, he said, and advised Iran to face up to this. For the sake of even minimal relations with the Arab world, Iran must ditch the Assad regime in Damascus or face the real danger of the Syrian crisis deteriorating into a regional conflict – whether against Syria or by

Syria, he did not explain.

Ahmadinejad turned the emir down flat, according to our sources. He said Iran would never renege on its pact with Assad.

Two days later, our military sources report, Syria deployed 25 anti-air missile batteries along its Turkish border.

In Brussels, Monday, the 27-member European Union bowed to Washington’s demand and finally decided to corner Assad by clamping down an embargo on imported Syrian crude. Europe is the biggest buyer of Syrian oil, importing $4.5 billion worth a ye

ar. This provides Syria with its main source of foreign currency revenue and the primary funding for Assad’s military operations against dissidents.
Once this source dries up, the Syrian ruler will be forced to cut down on those operations unless Iran is willing to make up the difference.

Assad is sure to appreciate that the coalition lining up against him of the US, Europe, Turkey, the Gulf Arab nations and Russia, are almost identical to the alignment (barring Moscow) which has just overthrown Muammar Qaddafi’s regime in Tripoli. He and his advisers have no doubt discussed the possibility of being at the receiving end

of the same treatment.

Their ruler’s growing isolation and the real prospect of international punitive measures have given the opposition new heart after nearly six months of standing up to a deadly crackdown: Saturday, Aug. 27 Assad saw his own capital rallying against him with big demonstrations in central Damascus. The pressure from the street continued to build up through Sunday and Monday, some of the protesters venturing to hoist the old Syrian Republican flag instead of the Baathist version introduced by the Assads.

Aleppo is now the only Syrian city which has not so far come out against the regime. Tuesday morning, while Assad attended an Eid al-Fitr worship at a Damascus mosque, his soldiers sprayed demonstrators in the eastern town of Deir al-Zour with bullets.

Well-informed military sources warn that Assad will not be cowed by the international, military and economic noose tightening around his neck. He is far more likely to try and loosen it by lashing out against his enemies, starting with Israel. Iran will certainly be a willing supporter of such belligerence, starting a war which could spread like wildfire across the region.

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contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to:

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WATCH OUT for a Future Grab For Power in Libya by LIFG!

The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) Also Known AS

Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya which Is

The MOST Powerful RADICAL Faction Waging JiIHAD

In Libya against Col.

Muammar al-Gaddafi Regime.

After 9-11 attacks, LIFG was Banned Worldwide

(As al-Qaeda affiliate) by UN 1267 Committee!

Libya’s on Bad Ride with Unfavorable Finish,

That will eventually produce Daniel 7 Horn!

August 29, 2011

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Libya will be one of the ten horns on the beast of Daniel, but after Antichrist conquers Egypt he will not trust the Libyan ruler on Egypt’s western border, nor will he trust the Sudanese ruler on Egypt’s southern border, so he will then pluck up both the kings and replace them with his own stooges as he makes up his Caliphate. The Sudan of today was northern Ethiopia when Daniel wrote his prophecies.

Daniel 11:42,43 – He shall str etch

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.

Begin Excerpts from THE MEDIA LINE via THE JERUSALEM POST

Libyans head home to a cloudy future

By STEVE JOHANSEN

THE MEDIA LINE

08/29/2011 17:24

Tribal allegiances and a history of intolerance among many groups could cause Libya to descend into lawlessness, say analysts, diplomats.

DUHEIBA, Tunisian-Libya border – Abdullah sits here with his family in a beat up white van at the border crossing with Tunisia, anxiously waiting to return to his hometown in Zenten in the east of Libya.

His haggard face tells a story of the months he spent in a refugee camp set up by the government of Qatar in the desolate town of Duheiba just over the border from his homeland.

RELATED:

Gaddafi still a threat, say opponents

Rebels push to Gaddafi hometown

The return home won’t be easy. They face a country with dilapidated infrastructure, with no proper medical care and a backward education system imposed by Gaddafi during his reign over the most oil-rich countries in North Africa. In large parts of the country, basic services like water and electricity have shut down in the chaos brought on by fighting between rebels and the remnants of Gaddafi’s forces.

Experts say it could take months to begin pumping the oil Libya desperately needs to get its economy moving again.

As the Libyans headed home, they were acknowledging the tough times that lie ahead. Many had loaded their vehicles with food, fuel and other badly needed items. Vegetables and fruit are rare commodities, let alone fuel and medicine, said Libyans entering from Tunisia.

Officials from the Tunisian government say thousands of refugees from Libya were hosted by Tunisian families in the early days of the revolution. Tunisia is the birthplace of the Arab Spring, which has not only dethroned Gaddafi but Tunisian President Zein Al-Abedeen Bin Ali and Egypt’s Husni Mubarak.

In Libya the revolution came at a price. While the international community expressed readiness to help reconstruct the North African country, tribal allegiances and a history of intolerance among many groups could cause Libya to descend into lawlessness, say analysts and Western diplomats.

Begin Excerpt from Wikipedia

Libyan Islamic Fighting Group

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) also known as Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya is the most powerful radical faction waging Jihad in Libya against Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi’s regime. Shortly after the 9-11 attacks, LIFG was banned worldwide (as an affiliate of al-Qaeda) by the UN 1267 Committee.[2] The group has denied ever being affiliated with al-Qaeda, stating that it refused to join the global Islamic front Osama bin Laden declared against the west in 1998.[3]

History

LIFG was founded in 1995 by Libyans who had fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. It aims to establish an Islamic state in Libya and views the Gaddafi regime as oppressive, corrupt and anti-Muslim, according to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. LIFG claimed responsibility for a failed assassination attempt against Gaddafi in February 1996, which was in part funded by MI6 according to David Shayler, and engaged Libyan security forces in armed clashes during the mid-to-late 1990s.[4] They continue to target Libyan interests and may engage in sporadic clashes with Libyan security forces.[5]

On October 10, 2005, the United Kingdom’s Home Office banned LIFG and fourteen other militant groups from operating in the UK. Under the United Kingdom’s Terrorism Act 2000, being a member of a LIFG is punishable with a 10-year prison term. The Financial Sanctions Unit of the Bank of England acting on behalf of HM Treasury issued the orders to freeze all their assets..[6]

Mohammed Benhammedi lived and worked in Liverpool at the time of the UN sanction against him. Sergey Zakurko, the father to his Lithuanian mistress was suspended from his job at the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) for fear that the link could pose a security threat.[7]

One of al-Qaeda’s most senior members, Atiyah Abdul-Rahman, is purportedly a member of LIFG as well.[8]

The “Summary of Evidence” from Mohammed Fenaitel Mohamed Al Daihani’s Combatant Status Review Tribunal. states: “The Sanabal Charitable Committee is considered a fund raising front for the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.”[9]

Mass release of captives

On April 9, 2008, Al Jazeera reported that Libya released at least over 90 members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.[12][13] The Italian press agency Adnkronos International reported the release was due to the efforts of Sayf al-Islam Gaddafi, a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and leader of the charity Gaddafi International Foundation for Charity Associations. It reported that a third of the LIFG members Libya was holding were released.

Adnkronos International reported that the group was founded in Afghanistan by Abu Laith Al Libi and other veterans of Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.[13]

Relationship with al Qaeda

In November 2007 Noman Benotman, described as the “ex-head of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group”, published on open letter to al-Qaeda.[14][15][16] According to The Times:[15]

“In November last year Noman Benotman, ex-head of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group which is trying to overthrow the regime of Muammar Gadaffi, published a letter which asked Al-Qaeda to give up all its operations in the Islamic world and in the West, adding that ordinary westerners were blameless and should not be attacked.”

Noman Benotman’s letter to Zawahiri was published in Akhbar Libya (News) as an op-ed clarification in November 2007.

The gist is that al-Qaeda’s efforts have been counterproductive and used as “subterfuge” by some Western countries to extend their regional ambitions. These comments were first aired at a meeting in Kundahar in the summer of 2000.[17]

In an audio message published in november 2007 Ayman al-Zawahiri and Abu Laith al-Libi claimed that the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group had joined al-Qaeda.[18][12][13] “Benotman fired back an open letter to Zawahiri questioning his credibility. “I questioned their idea of jihad … directly you know.

This is crazy, it is not Islamic and it’s against the Sunni understanding of Islam,” Benotman told CNN. Zawahiri chose not to respond. As late as this August Zawahiri’s video statements included praise of LIFG leaders, in what may have been a desperate attempt to head off the condemnation he could see coming.”[19]

On July 10, 2009, The Telegraph reported that some member organisations of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group had split with Al Qaeda.[20] The Telegraph reported that senior Al Qaeda members Abu Yahya al-Libi and Abu Laith al-Libi were LIFG members.

In September 2009 a new “code” for jihad, a 417-page religious document entitled “Corrective Studies”, was published after more than two years of intense and secret talks between incarcerated leaders of the LIFG and Libyan security officials.

2011 Libyan civil war

In March 2011, members of the LIFG in Ajdabiya declared to the press that the group supports the revolt against Gaddafi’s rule, and had placed themselves under

the leadership of the National Transitional Council.

They also stated that the group had changed its name to Libyan Islamic Movement (al-Harakat al-Islamiya al-Libiya), had around 500–600 militants released from jail in recent years, and denied any past or present affiliation with Al-Qaeda.[21]

One of the members of the LIFG, Abdelhakim Belhadj, became the commander of the Tripoli Military Council after the rebels took over Tripoli during the 2011 Battle of Tripoli.

Begin Speculative DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

Pro-Al Qaeda brigades control Qaddafi Tripoli strongholds seized by rebels

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

August 28, 2011, 11:47 AM (GMT+02:00)

Members of the Al Qaeda-linked Libyan Islamic Fighting Group – LIFG, are in control of the former strongholds of Muammar Qaddafi captured by Libyan rebels last Sunday, Aug. 21, DEBKAfile reports from sources in Libya. They are fighting under the command of Abd Al-Hakim Belhadj, an al Qaeda veteran from Afghanistan whom the CIA captured in Malaysia in 2003 and extradited six years later to Libya where Qaddafi held him in prison.

Belhadj is on record as rejecting any political form of coexistence with the Crusaders excepting jihad.

His brigades were the principal rebel force in the operation for the capture of Qaddafi’s Bab al-Aziziya ruling compound on Aug. 23. Saturday, Aug. 27, those brigades overran the Abu Salim district of southern Tripoli taking it from the last pro-Qaddafi holdouts in the city. Many of the prisoners released from the local jail belonged to al Qaeda.

The LIFG chief now styles himself “Commander of the Tripoli Military Council.” Asked by our sources whether they plan to hand control of the Libyan capital to the National Transitional Council, which has been recognized in the West, the jihadi fighters made a gesture of dismissal without answering.

According to US and British media, at least half of the members of the NTC have moved from Benghazi to Tripoli, the key condition for the receipt of Qaddafi’s frozen assets and international aid. But there is no confirmation from our sources that this has happened. Tripoli is rife with disorder, awash with weapons and prey to reciprocal allegations of atrocities.

Our sources doubt that the council will be able to assert control of – or even a presence in – Tripoli any time soon. US intelligence sources in Tripoli see no sign that the NTC will be able to persuade

the Islamist brigades to relinquish control of the city in the near future – or even lay down arms.

Those arms are advanced items which British and French special operations forces gave the rebels, said a senior American source.

Had those NATO contingents not led the Tripoli operation, the rebels unaided would not have captured Qaddafi’s centers of government.

A week after that dramatic episode, Tripoli’s institutions of government have wound up in the hands of fighting Islamist brigades belonging to al Qaeda, who are now armed to the teeth with the hardware seized from Qaddafi’s arsenals. No Western or Libyan military force can conceive of dislodging the Islamists from the Libyan capital in the foreseeable future.

Libya has thus created a new model which can only hearten the Islamist extremists eyeing further gains from the Arab Revolt. They may justly conclude that NATO will come to their aid for a rebellion to topple any autocratic Arab ruler. The coalition of British, French, Qatari and Jordanian special forces, with quiet US intelligence support, for capturing Tripoli and ousting Qaddafi, almost certainly met with US President Barack Obama’s approval.

For the first time, therefore, the armies of Western members of NATO took part directly in a bid by extremist Islamic forces to capture an Arab capital and overthrow its ruler.

An attempt to vindicate the way this NATO operation has turned out is underway. Western media are being fed portrayals of the rebel leadership as a coherent and responsible political and military force holding sway from Benghazi in the east up to the Tunisian border in the west.

This depiction is false. Our military sources report that the bulk of rebel military strength in central and western Libya is not under NTC command, nor does it obey orders from rebel headquarters in Benghazi.

This chaotic situation in rebel ranks underscores the importance of the effort the NTC has mounted to capture Sirte, Qaddafi’s home town, where most of his support is concentrated. Control of Sirte, which lies between Benghazi and Tripoli, will provide the NTC and its leader Abdul Jalil, with a counterweight for the pro-Al Qaeda brigades in control of the capital.

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AN EXPOSITION OF THE SEVEN SEALS OF REVELATION – NUM BE

R 3

August 29, 2011

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

BEGIN NOVEMBER 10, 2003 SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE

SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 145C

November 10, 2003

The Seals, the Trumpets, and the Vials of Revelation

Part 3 – The Third Seal

The first four seals of Revelation open before the period known as the tribulation period. They occur during the period of time Jesus called “the beginning of sorrows.”

Matthew 24:7,8 – For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

[8] All these are the beginning of sorrows.

The first seal has already opened and then closed. The second, third, and fourth seals are already open, and will all remain open until the end of the tribulation period, and all three will rapidly intensify when it begins.

Their primary area of fulfillment is the maximum extent of land occupied by the Southern Roman Empire from what

is now Morocco to Iranian the first and second century, and by the Umayyad Caliphate which followed it. The “whole earth,” “all the world,” and similar expressions in the prophetic writings of both the Old and New Testament periods, in many instances, are hyperbolic, and do not refer to the world as we know it today, but to the world as the people, to whom they wrote, knew it from 600 B.C. to 135 A.D. The most severe judgments of the second, third, and fourth horse riders, along with

the mark of the beast, will occur in this area.

I have known for a long time that if I lived to my allotted threescore and ten years, I would see the third seal open in the area known to those that lived in the era of Roman domination. The African continent was known to exist at the time of John’s writings, and that is where I knew it had to start. Good ole Mr.

Wills, my ninth grade teacher in Junior High School, is the one who introduced me to this in 1947. It was such a simple thing, but such a certain thing, that I had no fear of being wrong about it when I wrote my first book in the seventies.

It was based on food supply and population increase.

Revelation 6:5,6 – And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see.

And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he th

at sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. [6] And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

The population explosion, particularly in Africa, which has suddenly burst on the scene, should be no surprise to the human race. The world’s population has roughly, in a somewhat similar pattern, followed a formula of daily penny doubling. Suppose someone proposed to give you five billion dollars if you would double a penny he gave you for forty days, and then give him all the proceeds of the doubling process on the fortieth day – Would you take the deal? A single penny on the first day would produce two cents on the second day, four cents on the third day, eight cents on the fourth day, sixteen cents on the fifth day, thirty-two cents on the sixth day, sixty-four cents on the seventh day, and only a dollar and twenty-eight cents on the eighth day. So, based on what you’ve read so far, it seems like a pretty good deal. But on day forty you would have to fork over more than five billion dollars. This principle has been the backbone of when the famine prophecy prediction would occur ever since eight people stepped off the Ark of Noah. This principle opened the famine seal, and will cause it to intensify until Armageddon.

The world’s famine outbreaks in its developing countries have been occurring closer and closer together in time since World War II, and the trend will accelerate until the Second Advent.

Why? A few thousand years ago eight men and women descended in an ark “upon the mountains of Ararat,” and then began to multiply.

At first, like the penny, the increase was insignificant from a numerical standpoint. When Jesus was born the world population had only reached about 200 million.

When Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 it had barely reached 400 million. But, like the multiplying principle of the penny, it began to accelerate noticeably about the time of the Civil War, and exploded after the Great Depression of the thirties. In 1989 the world population reached five billion and, the same year, eleven million of the earth’s residents died of starvation.

The population of our planet passed six billion in October of 1999, and is predicted to reach ten billion in 2030. Some say it will only reach between eight and nine billion by 2030. But even if that is true, how can the additional three plus billion be fed, if eleven million died of starvation in 1989 with a population of only five million.

Some say, “don’t worry, agricultural technology is on the way to solving the famine problem.” No way! The latest U.N. study found ten percent of the world’s soil profile badly damaged. The three-year study accessed the soil conditions on a global scale, and involved more than 250 soil scientists. It marked the first time since World War II that soil profiles had been accessed on a global scale. As reported by Larry B. Stammer in the Los Angeles Times, the study found that “about two-thirds of all seriously eroded land is in Asia and Africa, home to most of the world’s poor. The article, using the report as its basis, proclaimed: “Despite the much acclaimed great green revolution of the past several decades, which have produced unprecedented gains in food production by the introduction of fertilizers and hybrid grains, per-capita food production has declined in some eighty developing countries in the past decade” The 1993 report, “Vital Signs, The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future,” as reported in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette of July 18, 1993, stated: “This new report shows the first clear sign that population is outpacing the available food supply for humans. The trend is mostly because of record world population growth, but also reflects a slowdown after decades of increasing food supplies. The main sources of food – farms, ranches, and oceans – all are approaching, or may have reached, their maximum per-capita output, according to the Vital Signs Report.”

The simple truth is this, in 1993, for the first time since records began to be kept, world food utilization exceeded world food production. Utilization continued to exceed food production until 1996, and a massive endeavor was made by technology to catch up with utilization.

The endeavor allowed food production to pass utilization in 1996, and it continued to exceed utilization until 1999, but the population passed six billion in October of 1999, and the production again fell below utilization, where it has remained to the present. In April of 2003, a report published by the International Committee of the Fourth International, stated that 200 million people in Africa are malnourished. The world food production has not been able to keep up with the stork in the twenty-first century, and the disparity can only increase with an increasing population growth.

The third horse rider will gallop faster and faster as he heads for Armageddon. I contend that the famine now occurring in Africa, which was a part of the prophetic world when the prophecies were written, is the beginning of the fulfillment of those prophecies, and that famine will spread out of this area into all sections of the world that were known at the time the book of Revelation was written by John. There will be a serious food shortage in the United States, but it will in no way be comparable to the famines that ravage what is referred to as the “Old World,” or the pre-Columbus w

orld. I believe the vast majority of “Old World” residents, both religious and non-religious, will take the mark of the beast to get food without hesitation, but I do not believe the mark of the beast will be put on the residents of the United States. I believe that Revelation 13:16,17 applies only to that part of today’s world that was known when John wrote Revelation.

Revelation 13:16,17 – And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: [17] And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Followers of Islam pay no attention whatsoever about even the existence of this NT prophecy.

The Catholic priests have not taught their masses in Europe about this, and only a handful of Catholics understand anything about it. The same is true among all the different sects of religion that are spread across the “Old World.” They will take the mark without hesitation to obtain food.

I believe the Antichrist’s Caliphate will, at first, take in the vast Arab area of Islam from Morocco to Pakistan, but it will spread out quickly like water, and when the time for the final battle of Armageddon arrives, it will either engulf or dominate all of the “Old World.”

Assad is more likely to be assassinated by Iran or Hizbullah than his People!

August 28, 2011

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

As America’s Atlantic coast is pounded, the Arab Spring continues to pound Arab Rulers in the Middle East. Irene will end her pounding this week, but the Arab Spring effects will continue to pound the Middle East for some time.

I believe the eventual replacement of the Assad regime will eventually lead to the rise of the Islamic Mahdi Antichrist within the area known as “Greater Syria.”

Begin Excerpt from The UK Guardian

Bashar al-Assad’s fall is inevitable

Syrians will not stop protesting until the regime is gone. They don’t need military intervention

Salwa Ismail

The Guardian,

Friday 26 August 2011

The dramatic developments in Libya are raising comparisons with the uprising in Syria.

In particular, some are asking what the role of the international community should be.

Inside Syria itself, though, there has been no call for external military intervention – the people are opposed to any foreign meddling. This position is tenable because several interlinked factors – “objective” and “subjective” – make the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime inevitable.

First, the objective factors. The uprising has entered a new phase, with the opposition and protest movement widening to include professional groups such as lawyers and doctors. This adds a new dynamic to con fronta

tions with the regime. Doctors have organised themselves into co-ordinating committees to provide medical aid and treatment to protesters. Their logistical and humanitarian support for the injured brought to hospitals or makeshift clinics has made them targets for systematic attack and arrest by the security services, precipitating a collective stand by members of the profession against the regime. Lawyers have organised sit-ins, some of which have been besieged by security forces. This participation in the protest movement is consolidating the opposition on the ground.

And as professionals – once beneficiaries of the ruling Ba’ath party’s educational and employment policies – have become opponents, other key elements appear to be deserting the regime. This is the case with the Sunni merchant and business classes, who represent the regime’s traditional constituency. In cities at the heart of the uprising, such as Homs, these classes joined early on. This week two leading manufacturers in that city were arrested. However, these classes have a greater social and political weight in Damascus and Aleppo – and there are signs that merchants in these two cities are withdrawing support, notably by transferring funds outside Syria and causing a severe liquidity problem.

Additionally, Aleppo traders who were widely believed to be paying their workers to stay away from the protests seem to have ceased this cooperation with the regime. The merchants have historical ties with the religious establishment and have undoubtedly been influenced by the moral support respected religious figures have extended to the protesters in recent weeks. Politically cautious and primarily motivated by their economic interests, merchants have now reasoned that the regime is incapable of maintaining stability.

Although these objective conditions are undermining the regime’s social base, subjective factors will determine its future. These have to do with Syrians’ feelings towards the regime. By publicly expressing their contempt, anger and disdain for the regime and Assad personally, Syrians are self-compelled to persist in their protest until they are rid of both.

It is important to give due consideration to the role that emotions and sentiments, publicly expressed, play in this conflict. Before the uprising, the vast majority of Syrians knew intimately what the regime was capable

of, having experienced decades of oppression that involved the persistent arrest and detention of dissidents. As commonly observed, there is not a single family in Syria that did not experience regime brutality.

The public performances of the uprising have broken the people’s forced silence. Their rallying cry of “Yalla Irhal Ya Bashar” (“Depart, oh Bashar”) and the epithets they have attached to the president’s name (“murderer”, “shedder of blood”) illustrate their disdain and disrespect for his person. The cumulative effect of thousands of daily public expressions of derision towards Assad binds Syrians irrevocably to the goal of removing him.

As the uprising enters its sixth month, the regime has been reduced to a killing machine operated by the security forces, army and thug militias. In effect, Assad’s rule is maintained by a gang. As Syrians persevere and the regime intensifies its violence, a number of possible scenarios emerge, all leading to Assad’s inevitable downfall: increased defections in the army leading to military infighting that could spill over into civil strife; external military intervention with similar consequences; or steadfastness from Syrians in their peaceful struggle, sustained by the expansion of their movement and driven by their unyielding will to see the end of a despised authoritarian regime.

Clearly the third is the scenario that will best achieve the uprising’s goals. It represents a process and an outcome in which Syrians themselves remove the regime and successfully safeguard the integrity of their national political community.

To make this scenario the most likely outcome, outside support for Syrian

s should be limited to targeted economic sanctions and disinvestment, drying up the regime’s resources and hastening its demise.

Begin Excerpt from MEMRI

Middle East Media Review Institute

As Syria Unrest Continues, Calls Emerge in Iran to Reexamine Attitude towards Assad

By: Y. Mansharof*

Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No. 729

August 24, 2011

Introduction

Since the outbreak of the Syrian protests in March 2011, Damascus’s strategic ally, Tehran, has been faithfully supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. As part of this policy, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared in June that Tehran would continue to stand by Damascus and that the Syrian regime could resolve the problems in the country by itself, without any foreign intervention.[1] Ahmadinejad’s deputy, Mohamed-Reza Rahimi, added that Tehran would support its ally under any circumstances, and that no wedge could be driven between them.[2]

Tehran has also stuck to its position that the protests in Syria are the result of an American-Israeli plot to undermine the Assad regime and harm the resistance camp. This stands in stark contrast to its position on the other uprisings in the Middle East (i.e., those in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, and Libya), which it describes as authentic popular anti-Western revolutions inspired by Iran’s Islamic Revolution. For example, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that the protests in Syria, unlike those in Egypt and Tunisia, stemmed from American-Israeli intervention.[3]

In mid-August, Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Ghadanfar Roknabadi, said that Tehran was not concerned for the stability of Assad’s regime and was confident of his ability to overcome the present crisis.[4] However, an Iranian diplomat told the website Kaleme that, anticipating Assad’s possible fall, the staff members of the Iranian embassy in Damascus have sent their families home or to the region near the Lebanese border, from which they can be evacuated in a hurry. The diplomat added that figures close to the Iranian administration are laying low in Syria, fearing attack by Syrians in revenge for Iran’s support of Assad’s regime, and that some of these figures have already left the country or are preparing to leave.[5]

Concerned about the possible fall of the Syrian regime – which would be a deadly blow to the Tehran-Damascus axis and to Iran’s status in Syria and Lebanon – Tehran is operating in three channels in order to help this regime:

A. Diplomatic action: Iran has warned Turkey, repeatedly and openly, to stop pressuring and criticizing the Syrian regime and to renew its cooperation with Tehran and Damascus. At the same time, Iran is attempting to recruit Arab and Russian support for Assad’s regime. As part of this effort, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi presented Russia with a joint Iranian-Syrian initiative meant to free Assad from Western pressure,[6] and Majlis National Security Committee chairman Alaeddin Boroujerdi, during a visit to Cairo, called on the Arab states to support Assad’s regime.[7]

B. Military aid: Contrary to Iran’s sweeping denials that it is providing military aid to Syria,[8] reports have it that Iran has been actively involved in suppressing the protests there. The Iranian online daily Mihan reported that, after the outbreak of the Syria protests, Iran reinforced the Syrian Brigade of its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps,[9] which has been deployed in Syria for over two decades, with IRGC and Basij members who have experience in suppressing riots in Iran.[10] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat claimed that, in response to Turkish criticism, Iran is trying to conceal its active involvement in suppressing the Syrian riots. To this end, it plans to replace its Farsi-speaking soldiers in Syria with Arabic-speaking operatives, most of them from Ahvaz, whose Iranian identity is not so obvious.[11]

C. Economic assistance: According to the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Iran has pressured Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki into pledging Syria $10 billion.[12]

Calls in Iran for Assad to Institute Reforms

Despite the Iranian regime’s censorship of coverage of the unrest in Syria by the country’s media, in recent months several Iranian media outlets have published cautious articles on this topic.

The articles called in a very general way for President Assad to institute certain reforms in order to prevent his regime from collapsing, reflecting Tehran’s apprehensions regarding the damage such a collapse could inflict on Iran. For example, the conservative Iranian daily Quds called on Assad to hold free elections and to increase individual freedoms in order to assure the people’s maximal participation in the regime – which would preserve his regime as well as the resistance front. The paper added that Assad had largely managed to res

tore stability to the country, but warned that the unrest could erupt again during Ramadan. The paper also assessed that quiet would soon return to Syria because of the overall popularity of the Assad family, and because of the reforms that Assad would be carrying out – even if these were very much overdue.[13]

At the same time, in light of the Assad regime’s iron-fisted repression of its citizens and the continuation of the crisis, the media identified with the Iranian moderate-conservative camp have begun to back away from accusing the West of being behind the unrest in Syria, and are expressing doubts about justification for censorship of coverage of it.[14]

Calls to Renounce the Assad Regime

Moreover, calls have begun to emerge in Iran for the Iranian establishment to correctly assess the situation, and renounce Assad in order to salvage the Iran-Syria alliance and thus the Tehran-Damascus axis, as well as Iran’s interests in Lebanon, i.e. Hizbullah, and its other national interests. These calls are based on the assessment that Assad is likely to be deposed, and reflect concern for the fate of Iran’s strategic and political status, its national interests vis-à-vis Syria and Lebanon, and the ramifications of Assad’s ouster for Iran’s status in the region.[15]

Alongside these calls, which are coming mainly from circles who tend to be critical of the Iranian regime but consider themselves loyal to it, the Iranian regime is taking diplomatic action in an attempt to consolidate and lead a Muslim-Arab-Middle Eastern front that supports Assad but calls for him to institute reforms.

In this framework, Boroujerdi called at a Cairo press conference for the Arab countries to rally to Syria’s aid and act to end the crisis there, in order to preserve its stability as “the mainstay of the Palestinian resistance” and thus to advance the interest of the Islamic world and prevent Syria from falling into the hands of the Americans. Boroujerdi called on Turkey to drop its threatening language towards Syria and expressed objections to calling the events in Syria

a “massacre.”[16] In addition, senior Iranian Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi addressed the Muslims and told them to fulfill their human and religious obligations and stop the American-Zionist plot in Syria, since this country is the forefront of the struggle against Israel and the barrier to Western imperialism.[17] Both Boroujerdi and Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi called on Assad to institute reforms.

Calls in Iran for Rethinking Iranian Support for Syria

The moderate conservative daily Ebtekar called on the regime to reconsider its continued unconditional support for Assad, warning that Iran could pay a price for hesitation, as it was already lagging behind Russia and Turkey in shifting its position vis-à-vis the protests in Syria. The moderate conservative website Asr-e Iran warned Assad that his violence against demonstrators was undermining his status and would lead to foreign intervention in the form of no-fly zones and security zones.

Ali Khoram, former Iranian ambassador to the UN and to China, stated that Iran must find a balance in its position towards the Syrian regime, and implied that Assad should step down in order to save his country and to prevent a military attack that would endanger Iran.

The Ayandenews website, which is identified with critics of Ahmadinejad, called on Hizbullah, and indirectly on Iran, to reconsider their absolute support for Assad and their opposition to the Syrian protesters.

The following are excerpts from the articles:

Former Iranian Ambassador to UN: The Syrian People Will Have Its Way; Assad Must Sacrifice Himself to Save His Country

In an August 10 editorial in the Arman daily, Ali Khoram, former Iranian ambassador to the UN and to China, wrote: “…According to reports in the international media, which Iran has not denied, [Iran] has said that it would do this and that [i.e. intervene in Syria’s favor] if Syria were to be attacked…

“Saudi Arabia and Bahrain criticized Bashar Al-Assad and said that he must stop the clashes and arrive at understandings with the people. With this position, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, which customarily act much like [Assad] towards protests by their peoples, are preparing the ground for a scenario of Security Council[-sanctioned] military intervention in Syria, and Iranian support for Syria. Under such circumstances, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and later the entire GCC, will act, in the framework of the conflict, against Syria and Iran.

“Thus, the Saudi and Bahraini statements reflect a political aspect more than a human rights aspect, and these countries seek to prepare public opinion for a possible scenario in which conflict breaks out in Syria, Iran supports it, and [Saudi Arabia and Bahrain] form a unified front against Iran.

“Iran must act prudently, so as to create a type of national reconciliation between Bashar Al-Assad and the Syrian people. It must act cautiously, because the actions of Syria’s leaders are creating conditions identical [to those that gave rise to] military intervention in Libya. This is not only because Saudi Arabia and the GCC desire to see Iran [entangled] in such a crisis, but also because Israel would like Iran to become entangled in it. In general, all the countries that are interested in settling accounts with Iran will rejoice if it joins the fray; they will be able to strike at it in the name of the international community.

“Unfortunately, it appears that Assad is late in emerging from the crisis, because… over 2,000 have died in the protests [in Syria], and this is no small number. It should be said that once there was a path to a solution for Syria, but now it is too late, and therefore Assad must perform an act of self-sacrifice in order to restore quiet to the country and protect it, and in order to spare it the tragedy that Libya is experiencing.

Iran sees in Syria a partner and an ally… which is why it wants to preserve this stronghold. But everything has a limit. If the situation in Syria continues [as it is], Iran will have to consider its long-term needs. It will try to preserve its interests in Palestine and Lebanon by laying down new roads and creating a new [political] structure in Syria. The [reality] in the world is that the people usually win in the end, and that is what will happen in Syria.

If Iran adjusts and calibrates its positions, it will be able to protect its interests, whatever changes occur in Syria. But if it [continues] to support the Syrian government and no-one else, and this government falls or remains crippled, [Syria] will not be able to protect any interests – neither its own nor Iran’s…”[18]

Ebtekar: Iran Must Dissociate Itself from Assad’s Oppressive Policy

An August 7, 2011 editorial in the moderate conservative daily Ebtekar warned: “…From day to day, the crisis in Syria deepens. We can no longer shut our eyes to the reality. The sun cannot be covered up with mud… What is our position regarding the events in Syria

? If we continue to present the Syrian protestors as ‘Western and Israeli elements,’ as opposed to the Bahraini, Yemeni, and Egyptian protestors, and [if] our media [continue to] avoid covering the situation in Syria – then the policy of the government and the media will certainly be brought into question.

We must not deceive ourselves. Most of the Iranian public follows world events through various [non-Iranian] channels, such as satellite [TV], the internet, etc… Therefore, we are obligated to redefine our position regarding the events in Syria.

“Iran must take its absolute national interests into account, because several [other] countries in the region are reassessing their positions. Turkey supported Qadhafi until the moment this support became a disgrace. [Similarly,] as the star of [Syria’s] Ba’th Party faded, the Turks slowly increased their criticism [of Assad] in order to gain influence among the Syrian people and the Arabs.

“At the last moment, Russia, too, followed its usual custom and handed over its erstwhile friend [Syria] to its rival and superior [i.e., the U.S.]. After the Russians finish milking their friends, they quickly hand them over to the superior Western butcher, in order to share the meat.

It would seem that their red line is [their own] national interests, which they will do anything to protect. In this climate, it would be wise for Iran to find a way to disassociate itself from [Assad’s] policy of oppression…” [19]

Asr-e Iran: The Present Situation Is Likely to Lead to Foreign Intervention in Syria
On August 1, 2011, a writer on the moderate conservative website Asr-e Iran wrote: “…It is extremely important for the current regime in Damascus to remain [in power], and it is vital as far as Iran is concerned, because if Syria is separated from Iran, Tehran’s maneuverability and bartering abilities in the regional arena will be severely compromised…

“It must be said that Bashar Al-Assad is not dealing with the protests the right way. Brutal repression will never be the right response to what is happening in some of Syria’s cities. In cities like Hama and Dera, which are the main arenas of fighting, the Syrian army is using weapons such as tanks to suppress [the protestors], and it has so far massacred hundreds… Assad and his advisors must ask themselves how long the armed combat and violence can go on. Can they use more violence than Qadhafi has, and shell popular protests as he did? Did Qadhafi’s violence convince people to return to their homes?…

“The protestors in Hama, Dera, Deir Al-Zour, Aleppo, Bukamal, Latakia, Jisr Al-Shughour, and elsewhere… are part of the Syrian people, and the regime must meet their demands. If the current situation continues, it may encourage the supra-regional forces [i.e. the world powers] to deepen their intervention in Syria and realize their dreams, such as establishing a security zone and a no-fly zone over the main areas of protest. The path to restoring stability in Syria does not pass through the barrels of rifles or along the treads of tanks, but through the reforms that were promised. They must be implemented quickly so that the demands of the people are met with a cultured and democratic response from the regime in Damascus.

“Assad must remember that there is an important difference between him and people like Yemen’s President ‘Ali ‘Abdallah Saleh – namely, that the dictators of the Arab world are mainly backed by the West and the Arabs. Even if their peoples do not like them, they make do with this Western and Arab support. Thus, the West supports the Saudi king, and the Saudis unconditionally support Saleh in Yemen; and in Bahrain, [King Hamad bin ‘Issa] Aal-Khalifa oppresses his people thanks to the support of his Arab friends [in] Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait. In Syria, this equation does not apply. On the contrary, the West and many of the Arab rulers who sit alongside Assad and laugh with him at [political] conferences are counting the minutes until he is ousted, and have secret ties with his opponents.

“Therefore, if Assad loves the legacy of his father and does not wish for his government to fall with a crash, he has no choice but to rely on the support of his people. It is a strategic error for a person to harm his main source of support. Nowhere in the world is violence the proper way to respond to protests; it will only lead to more violence in return…”[20]

An August 8 editorial on Asr-e Iran read: “By putting off the reforms and continuing the violence, Assad’s regime is, in fact, preparing the ground for action against it. This is the most significant strategic error made by Bashar Al-Assad, who will face even tougher times and an uncertain end…” The website also noted that, as part of Russia’s hardening of its position toward Syria, and despite its attempts to prevent the UN Security Council from imposing sanctions on this country, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had warned Assad that if the present situation continued, decisions would be taken against Syria. The website cautioned that Assad’s regime would likely face intense international pressure, including military intervention, which might be detrimental to Iran’s standing in the region.
Ayandenews: We Must Think of the Day after Assad’s Downfall

The website Ayandenews, which is identified with critics of Ahmadinejad, posted an editorial titled “If Assad Falls, What Shall We Do with Syria?”. It asked: “What plan have the Islamic resistance [i.e., Hizbullah] and Iran formulated for their continued relations with Syria, if Assad falls?” The editorial warned that Assad’s fall would be a severe blow to Hizbullah, and could even spell the end of this organization. It advised Hizbullah, and indirectly Iran, to reconsider their unreserved support of Assad and their hostility to the Syrian opposition, saying: “Due to their national roots [as patriotic Syrians], the Syrian protesters are displeased with Israel’s occupation of the Golan, and as members of the Sunni school [of Islam], they feel solidarity with the Palestinians. These are [facts] that the resistance front should take into account. In this situation, the Islamic resistance should reassess its strategy of sweeping support for Assad and opposition to the Syrian protesters, in order to afford themselves a way out of the severe crisis [that will form] vis-à-vis Israel should Assad fall.”[xxi]

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