The following articles are compiled by:

Leo Wong

Leo@WatchmenWatching.com

 

 

 

 

Syrian rockets aimed at Tel Aviv: Long-range rockets already in place on Golan; is Syria preparing for war?

Source: www.ynetnews.com

 

August 9, 2007 -- Syria is currently completing the accelerated deployment of a large rocket arsenal on the Golan aimed at Israel. We’re not talking about 122-millimeter Katyusha rockets with a 20-kilometer (roughly 12 miles) range and warheads that contain only a few dozens of kilograms of explosives, but rather, heavy rockets of the type possessed by Hizbullah (most of them were destroyed in the Air Force attack at the start of the Second Lebanon War.) These are 222, 302, and even 600 millimetre rockets that can carry hundreds of kilograms of explosives – up to 500 – and can reach Tel Aviv. Dozens of launchers have already been deployed on the Golan and they can fire, in one barrage, hundreds of such rockets. This comes in addition to the various types of Scud missiles positioned deep within Syrian territory and capable of hitting southern Israel. However, the Arrow missile is supposed to intercept the Scuds. Yet at this time, the IDF has no good technological response, either aerial or on the ground, to the heavy rockets.

 

 The Syrian army is quickly equipping itself with hundreds of advanced anti-aircraft and anti-tank rockets made by Russia and funded by Iran with the aim of thwarting an IDF ground or air assault – an assault aimed at paralyzing the missile arsenal.

 

 Since the end of last year, the Syrian army has accelerated the training sessions of all its formations, both regular and reserve, and already views them as fit for confrontation.

 

The military implication of the above-mentioned facts, according to some of those tasked with assessing Syrian intentions, is that Syria is preparing and able to embark on a Hizbullah-style war of attrition even without changing its military deployment from a defensive to an offensive one.

 

Therefore, if Bashar Assad decides to launch such war, there will be no clear advance warning that will attest to his country’s intention to embark on a military campaign – and it would be able to launch it based on the current deployment.

 

In addition, intelligence officials point to a growing Syrian-Iranian interest in such war, for the following reasons:

 

 Syria’s president is currently confident of his military power and truly believes that if he only adopts the Hizbullah model, he has the ability to force Israel to accept his demands regarding the Golan Heights, and ease some of the international pressure over the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri.

 

 Syria sustained harsh blows when it was forced to withdraw from Lebanon and isolated in the international arena. In addition, Sunni opposition elements in Syria are getting stronger. All these factors threaten Assad’s regime and the Alawite sect he bases his power on. A military achievement, and even a partial one, in a confrontation with Israel may boost the regime.

 

 Teheran is investing efforts to convince Syria that Israel is about to attack it “in order to erase the shame of the defeat in Lebanon” or as part of the clash that will develop as a result of an American assault on Iran’s nuclear sites. The Iranians tell the Syrians that President Bush intends to strike in the summer or fall, and they expect Damascus to join Iran’s counter-attack on western interests in the region. Therefore, Teheran says, there is a need to prepare and possibly even launch a pre-emptive strike, before Israel possesses effective systems for intercepting rockets. Iranian figures who visited Syria convinced Damascus that the Israeli home front is the Zionist enemy’s Achilles heel and that hitting it gravelly would force Israel to accept the Arab dictates on the Golan.

 

In this context, we should be paying attention to what a senior Syrian official told the New York Sun about a month ago. Should the Golan not be in Syrian hands by August-September, Syria would be allowed to embark on a “resistance” campaign, including raids and attacks on Jewish targets, the official said.

 

The interviewee, who is a member of the ruling Baath party, provided the American newspaper with incredibly detailed information regarding his country’s intentions and its military preparations. His words make it appear that Syria is planning a war of attrition that would start with border attacks and continue, after the IDF responds, with severe blows to the Israeli home front. He also noted that Damascus has established for that end a new underground organization, called the Committees for the Liberation of the Golan, which will be tasked with carrying out attacks on IDF border outposts and even infiltrating Golan communities.

 

The senior official said that Syria possesses hundreds of missiles that would hit Tel Aviv and overcome Israel’s interception efforts. We can treat these words with contempt, or as an attempt to scare Israel and the United States in order to bring about negotiations on the Golan and ease the pressure over the Hariri affair. Yet the facts on the ground fully support the Syrian official’s thesis, and therefore it would be worthwhile to address his words seriously.

 

One way or another, the information and declarations coming from Damascus create a high level of uncertainty within Israel’s intelligence community regarding the other side’s intentions. And in cases of uncertainty, one must prepare for the worst-case scenario.

 

Comments:   Despite what Israel’s PM Olmert said to the media, the winds of war are blowing from the direction of the north bleachers in the Middle East region. Israel may not be able to hit a grand slam if she doesn’t take Syria seriously, but she’ll try nevertheless.  Past prime ministers would have ordered a pre-emptive strike to humble Syria.

 

The Syrians are just itching for a grand scale conflict to reclaim the Golan Heights.  Brimming with “misguided” confidence, they really believe they can deal a big enough blow to Israel’s military that Israel would let go of her iron clad grip on the heights.  Fat chance!  If Israel is embroiled in a major scuffle, her street fight motto will be “anything goes”.  There will be no holding back should Syria lob any type of missiles on Israeli cities and towns.  Tel Aviv (the international community’s recognized capital of Israel), especially, if hit, will exact a counterattack that will decimate Syria’s capital city Damascus.  The Syrians are playing Russian Roulette.  They wrongly assume that Israel cannot possibly strike back with a disproportional retribution, but like Clint “Dirty Harry” Eastwood used to say “Make my day.”  Jeremiah 49:[27] And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-hadad.  Isaiah 17:[1] The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

 

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Street preaching gets fined: Police tell European pastor biblical message 'is not good'

Source: WorldNetDaily.com

 

August 10, 2007 -- Norwegian street preacher Petar Keseljevic explains, in a video on the International Human Rights Group website about being fined for preaching a biblical message.

 

The conviction and $1,500 fine for a street preacher who feels his calling is to share the Gospel on the streets of Oslo, Norway, has been upheld by an intermediate court, and an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights is likely, according to the International Human Rights Group.

 

IHRG President Joel Thornton told WND in an e-mail from Norway that he'd been advised the court ruling, to be released soon, will affirm the discipline against Petar Keseljevic, who describes himself as the first street preacher in Norway.

 

He was in the city's downtown area on June 29 and 30, and on the second day was arrested for delivering a Gospel message, even though he'd been told by city officials he could exercise his free speech rights on the public sidewalks without a permit, Thornton told WND.

 

He was released after a few hours, and fined 9,000 Kroners, about $1,500, then appealed, and the IHRG got involved.

 

"He is a strong Christian brother who has a very definite calling to preach the Gospel on the streets of Oslo – his hometown," Thornton said. "He preaches a very sound biblical message about the sin of man and the need to repent and turn to God through His Son, Jesus Christ. I found Petar's enthusiasm to be infectious."

 

In a video on the IHRG website, Keseljevic describes his reason for preaching: "In these last days it is important that someone takes a stand and do what the message is meant for, share it," he said.

 

Thornton reported he was able to walk the streets of Oslo where Keseljevic had been preaching in June.

 

"One of his early stops was at a street corner where he began preaching to the passers-by and a crowd that was gathered. While he was preaching someone threw a full bottle of beer that whizzed by his head, missing by inches, and burst open on the sidewalk beside Petar," Thornton said.

 

The next day he was preaching during a local parade to people who had gathered to watch.

 

"Soon the police arrived and told him that his amplification device was too loud. Petar immediately turned down the volume and continued to preach. The policemen moved across the street for a few minutes and called the precinct. Then they returned and told Petar that his message was not good for the parade and that he would have to move," Thornton said.

 

The officers directed him to a remote corner along a busy street, away from any pedestrians, and he refused to go, stating he believed he had the right to preach on the public sidewalks.

 

"That is a right that is guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights, which Norway has agreed to uphold," Thornton said.

 

He was then arrested.

 

Thornton said he'd been informed the court to which Keseljevic appealed had affirmed the police action "rather than protecting the religious rights of our client," but that details of the ruling were not immediately available.

 

"We will ultimately take this … to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary," he said.

 

Thornton said the case is about so much more than a dispute between a street preacher and a police officer.

 

"It is about the right of a Christian to share his faith in public without the fear of arrest. It is about stopping the implementation of a police state where citizens only have the rights granted to them by the local police department," he said.

 

Thornton's organization also was involved, as WND reported, when homosexual activists in Atlanta worked with city officials to deprive street preachers there of free speech rights.

 

The city created a Constitution-free zone on its public property for the benefit of the 2007 Atlanta Pride festival, he reported.

 

The group also worked extensively on the case in Germany involving home schooled student Melissa Busekros. As WND reported, an appellate level court eventually returned custody of the 16-year-old girl to her family, after she spent months in a psychiatric ward and with foster families because she was home schooled, which still is illegal in Germany.

 

Comments:  Luke 14:[23] And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. The good old days of Charles Spurgeon, D.L. Moody and Billy Sunday booming their Gospel messages to passer-bys might be but a fading memory soon.  Already, many cities and towns in Canada and the U.S. have banned open air street preaching.  In the EU, where God has been shunted to the side, the Gospel message is being silenced as well.  The Devil as a roaring lion is making sure that his captives won’t be liberated by the Good News: Jesus saves sinners.  Godless Europe, with its citizens avoiding churches like the Black Plague, has left God out of the proposed EU constitution (treaty) and is taking measures to stamp out Christianity.  Why pick on Christians?  If Muslims were fined similarly for what Petar Keseljevic did, i.e. reading verses from the Koran, there would be a big uproar and this policeman would have been skewered like beef kabob and ultimately severely reprimanded or fired.  But, because it was a Christian he ticketed, it’s “no big deal”.

 

The night is far spent, the Rapture event is even at the door.  People need the Gospel so they can saved and not have to endure the trials and persecution of the 7-year Tribulation Period.  The anti-God Revived Roman Empire won’t release its lost citizens without a rumble, but praise God that He will save many before it’s too late!

 

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New Al Qaeda threat of radioactive truck attacks naming New York, Los Angeles, Miami

Source: www.debka.com/

 

August 9, 2007 -- New Al Qaeda threat of radioactive truck attacks naming New York, Los Angeles, Miami.

 

The threat was picked up by DEBKAfile’s monitors from a rush of electronic chatter on al Qaeda sites Thursday, Aug. 8.

 

The al Qaeda communications accuse the Americans of the grave error of failing to take seriously the videotape released by the American al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gaddahn last week. “They will soon realize their mistake when American cities are hit by quality operations,” said one message.

 

Comments:  Ezekiel 39:[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. Complacent America is what the USA is.  Lulled into a false sense of security by Homeland Security, the typical American citizen living in a big city doesn’t think a repeat of the 9/11 attacks will occur.  Airports and border crossings have been beefed up with electronic scanners, air marshals, and border crossing officers.  How can any terrorist possibly get through the tight web of security.  But, there are literally thousands of miles of unpatrolled borders and shorelines where al Qaeda can slip in its operatives.  Then, there are home-grown terrorists and Caucasian looking males and females who can be recruited to carry out future attacks.  The frightening part is that nuclear particles may be unleashed on the American public.  No more fertilizer based bombs and flying aircraft into skyscrapers.

 

It has been almost 6 years since September 11, 2001, too long a time not to have another round of attacks.  Perhaps, the terrorists are waiting for the anniversary of 9/11, or Thanksgiving, or the Christmas 2007 holiday period when lots of Americans will be travelling.  Keeping the American public guessing and sweating buckets is sadistic I know, but it would be a relief albeit unwelcome when the attacks do occur.  The tension can sometimes be worse than the actual event.

 

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Israel one step closer to curing cancer

Source: israeltoday.co

 

August 9, 2007 -- Israeli scientists have managed to identify the mechanisms that control the growth and spread of breast cancer, moving the Jewish state one step closer to discovering a cure to the killer disease.

 

A spokesman for the institute said the findings will enable scientists to better understand how cancer spreads throughout the body, and possibly lead to the development of medication to successfully combat the disease.

 

Comments:  Jews sure are very intelligent people.  God’s chosen people have been marvellously blessed even though currently, they don’t deserve it due to their national rejection of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.  Then, there’s the matter of Israel’s leaders dividing the land which irks God to no end.  Yet, despite their wilful disobedience, successful Jews can be found in business, law, the arts, governments, medicine.  If a cure for cancer does come about, do you know what this will do for an already overpopulated Earth?  Death numbers would decrease dramatically, not to mention the significant reduction in health care and insurance costs.  Nursing homes would burst at the seams.  Seniors would outlive their parents.  The travel industry would blossom like a summer rose.  Carpet upon carpet of people would swarm this planet like a killer bee attack.  Another downside would be: What would a person with a lifespan of 100 years or more do with his/her remaining 30 years of life if 70 is the normal lifespan?  Sheer boredom would soon engulf those fortunate enough to be free of cancer and its related diseases.  Mankind was intended to dwell on Earth in happy fellowship with God, but sin ruined it all.  God plans to renew this earth, but He will first have to burn it up.  There goes man’s plan up in smoke.

 

Man’s dream of living forever will be closer to fruition with a cure for cancer.  Heaven on Earth, Utopia, Nirvana, Shangri-la, whatever you name it, it will be yours one day, but death will still stalk each and every one of us.  Death may be delayed, but it will claim its victims one by one.  James 4:[14] Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

 

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Keep watching (Matt 24:42)!

 

Until next time,

Shalom!

 

 

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