Nigeria: The Young Victims of Religious Persecution

The constant and ruthless attacks against Christians in Nigeria have left over 300 children at a Christian orphanage and school in Ogun State without one or both parents. Many of these kids witnessed unspeakable horrors and now bear emotional or physical scars.
( See video, below.)

Nigeria: Militants Turning Country Into Christian Killing Field

Israel's New Neighbor: Syrian Al-Qaeda Rebel Group

Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra, closely identified with al-Qaeda, has "moved in" next to the border with Israel

Al Qaeda in Syria

 

In recent months, there has been a shakeout among the various Syrian rebel groups, and one of the dominant ones that has emerged is Jabhat al-Nusra, closely identified with al-Qaeda. The Sunni Islamist group is seeking to take over as much of Syria as possible and place it under Sharia Islamic law.

Now, the group has taken up positions close to Syria's border with Israel, adjacent to the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. In a video released on Youtube, the group's soldiers are seen conducting training exercises in the Dar'a area of southern Syria, right next to the Heights. In the exercise, the soldiers are seen attempting to take over a building, using weapons and bombs.

They are also seen singing Arabic songs in praise of terror, and swearing revenge on the “unbelievers” - the Alawite group that runs Syria, as well as Shi'ite Muslims who, according to Sunni views, hold an incorrect interpretation of Islam.

The video provides evidence of a well-trained, motivated fighting force, military experts said. The group is clearly better equipped and trained than the other rebel groups, they said, and apparently has incorporated a large number of Sunni Muslim defectors from the Syrian army.

While the group says that putting the “Syrian house in order” is its first order of business, it says that it eventually plans to deal with the “Zionist enemy” and end the “occupation,” first of the Golan, and then of the “rest of Palestine.”

Read, more

Iran Hauls Off Christian Pastor, Shuts Down Church in New Sweep

 

 

Government agents shut down Iran’s largest Persian-language Pentecostal church Monday, just one week after one of its pastors was arrested and hauled away midway through a worship service.

The closing of Central Assemblies of God church in Tehran is the latest case of the Islamic Republic’s leadership cracking down on Christians ahead of the June 14 presidential election to replace President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Leaders appear especially wary of groups deemed dangerous to their power base, including growing Christian churches, according to Iranian Christians and rights groups who spoke to BosNewsLife, a news agency that specializes in the plight of Christians in Middle Eastern nations.

"These incidents appear to be an attempt to stop worship services from being conducted in Farsi, the language of the majority of Iranians," George Wood, general superintendent of the AoG in the U.S., told the service. "Services are allowed in Armenian, a minority language that most Iranians do not speak or even understand."

"These incidents appear to be an attempt to stop worship services from being conducted in Farsi, the language of the majority of Iranians."

- George Wood, Assemblies of God, U.S.

On May 21, authorities grabbed Pastor Robert Asserian while services were under way. They have not told parishioners where he is being held.
"Before going to the church, authorities raided Pastor Asserian’s home, where they confiscated a computer and several books,” Wood said. “Then, they found Pastor Asserian at the church leading the prayer service, immediately arrested him and announced the church’s imminent closure."

Christian groups fear a further erosion of what little tolerance of religious diversity has existed in Iran. Some estimates place the number of Iranian Christians, many of them converts from Islam, at about 100,000, in a nation of 75 million.

Concerned Americans have been following the plight of Pastor Saeed Abedini for several months. An evangelical Christian from Idaho, he traveled to his homeland last summer to help build a secular orphanage, but was arrested for allegedly evangelizing. Earlier this year, he was sentenced to eight years in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison.

In January, amid an international outcry, an Iranian court freed another Christian pastor, Youcef Nadarkhani. Nadarkhani had served three years in prison and had been sentenced to death for apostasy – conversion away from Islam – and evangelizing. But a court downgraded the sentence and he was released.

Other pastors known to be detained in Iranian prisons include Behnam Irani, who is held in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj City, one of the toughest jails in the country, some 12 miles west of the nation's capital, Tehran.

"He has been sentenced to five years in prison for his Christian activity," Jason DeMars, of advocacy group Present Truth Ministries, told BosNewsLife.

Iranian Christians fear a court verdict directing prosecutors to pursue the death penalty against Irani for apostasy, said Firouz Khandjani, a council member of the Church of Iran movement to which the pastor belongs.

He urged Christians around the world to sign a petition asking the White House "to take immediate steps to put pressure on the Iranian government to secure the release of Irani ".

"Most of the focus of the American church, regarding persecution, has been [Abedini],” he said. "I’m very thankful that so much attention has been given to him [but there are also] others in prison serving a sentence for their Christian faith."

Read more: Here

Christians Persecuted in Turkey

Pastor attacked over Easter weekend

Necati Aydin, Ugur Yuksel and Tillman Geske were three men Semir had worked with before they were martyred. Photo: Compass Direct News

Semir Serkek, a 58-year-old pastor in Instanbul, Turkey, says although he has experienced hostility from Muslims nearly all his life, an attack over the Easter weekend was the first time he had been physically assaulted.

Semir was alone at Grace Church preparing for the next day's Easter celebration when he heard frantic pounding at the door. Four young men in their late teens claimed they had questions and demanded to enter. They then threatened to kill him if he didn't recite the Islamic testimony of faith, and after a period of verbally harassing the pastor, one of the men kicked Semir in the chest, knocking the pastor down a set of stairs. The men then ran away laughing.

However, the attack did not deter Semir from attending a memorial service for three Christians murdered in Turkey five years ago. Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel and Tilmann Geske were brutally murdered by five young men in the southeastern city of Malatya in April 2007 (for more information, click here). Semir said he personally knew the three men because he worked with them at the same publishing company for many years.

The United States Commission on International and Religious Freedom has recommended that Turkey be designated as a "Country of Particular Concern" this year due to Turkey's long-term and systematic limitations on non-Muslim communities. There are about 4,500 Christian converts in Turkey.

Please pray that the men who attacked Semir will repent and be saved. Please pray that Semir's continued faith will bring God glory. Pray that the commitment of Semir and the three martyred Christians will serve to encourage other believers in Turkey that, although they are hard pressed on every side, they will not be crushed (2 Corinthians 4:8).

Go to the Turkey Country Report for more on the persecuted Church in Turkey.

Lee Strobel Discusses Teaching Darwinism vs Teaching Creationism

Evolutionists and atheist activists who recently complained about a Ball State University assistant professor teaching creationism may be missing a broader view of education, according to popular Christian apologist Lee Strobel, who says that colleges should be a place where students can explore both Darwinism and creationism fully and freely.

"I believe we should give teachers, scientists, and students the right to pursue the evidence wherever it takes them - even if it takes them to the politically incorrect conclusion that there's an Intelligent Designer," Strobel told The Christian Post via email.

"In other words, let's test the evidence in the marketplace of ideas.
"As two-time Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling said, 'Science is the search for the truth.' At least, it should be. Personally, I even believe we should teach more on Darwinism," he added.

"That's right - more. That's because today students are given only a cursory and one-sided explanation of evolution. On this surface level, the theory's grandest claims seem to hold together pretty well.
"Yet if students are encouraged to dig deeper - in fact, to examine all of the evidence, pro and con - they begin to recognize its fatal flaws."

It was reported this week that the atheist activist group Freedom From Religion Foundation, that often claims expressions of faith have no place in the public square while interpreting the principle of separation of church and state, filed an objection to professor Eric Hedin's teaching.  BSU is currently conducting an investigation.

"It is our information and understanding that this class has been used to proselytize students and advance Christianity by using gaps in scientific knowledge - the 'boundaries of science' - in an attempt to prove religious belief correct," FFRF stated in its letter sent to the school's president.
"BSU appears to offer a class that preaches religion, yet gives students honors science credit," the foundation's attorney Andrew Seidel wrote, according to The Star Press.

"BSU appears to have a class with a non-biologist undermining genuine science and scholarship of the Ball State biology department by teaching creationism, a religious belief ... masquerading as science."
The reading list for the "Boundaries of Science" Honors College class (an elective) taught by Hedin, who teaches in the department of physics and astronomy,  includes books by intelligent design proponents like Stephen Meyer, Michael Behe, and Strobel.

World Magazine's Campus edition reports that in Hedin's course description, he says, "We will also investigate physical reality and the boundaries of science for any hidden wisdom within this reality which may illuminate the central questions of the purpose of our existence and the meaning of life."

Jerry A. Coyne, Ph.D, a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago, and author of Why Evolution is True, said he believes that BSU is not "genuinely concerned about religion masquerading as science," and "is simply going through the motions of having an 'investigation."

Strobel, whose book, The Case for a Creator, is on the course reading list, says that he doesn't have any specific knowledge about Hedin's class, but said, "In my view, a fair teaching of cosmology, physics, biochemistry, biological information and human consciousness tends to point quite naturally toward an Intelligent Designer.

"Students should be allowed to draw their own conclusions based on the evidence. I certainly don't see any First Amendment prohibition against free academic inquiry, especially in an elective course like this.
"I hope students will be able to consider all aspects of scientific evidence and not be unfairly prohibited from considering certain evidence just because some critics don't like its implications."

He added, "For me, it was a surface-level understanding of science that paved my path into atheism, but it was a more thorough and open-minded investigation of the broad spectrum of evidence that ultimately led me to conclude there's a a Creator, as I describe in my book The Case for a Creator."

++++++++++++

This article courtesy of The Christian Post

Islam Vs. Islamism: A Case for Wishful Thinkers

Islam Vs. Islamism: A Case for Wishful Thinkers

Posted By Walid Shoebat On May 18, 2013 @ 1:01 pm In Middle East,Religion | 23 Comments

“Our killer question is ‘How do you propose to defeat Islamism?’ Those who make all Islam their enemy not only succumb to a simplistic and essentialist illusion but they lack any mechanism to defeat it.”

This is what historian and Middle East analyst Daniel Pipes asks ^[1] in his recent Washington Times article. ( See this article, below.)
To support his argument, Pipes makes an unsubstantiated claim ^[2] that a majority of Muslims are moderate and that Islamism is only,

supported by 10-15 percent ^[2] of Muslims…

So how and why did he come up with such numbers? Pipes uses different studies and surveys about which he himself confesses ^[2]: “These ambiguous and contradictory percentages lead to no clear, specific count of Islamists.” Why then use such statistics? It is only to serve the major argument he made in my first paragraph.
And there are more “confessions.” Pipes writes: “Out of a quantitative mish-mash, I suggested just three days after 9/11 ^[3] that some 10-15 percent of Muslims are determined Islamists.” This is in itself contradictory and is even absolutely nonsense mathematically as he clearly admits. To further support this conservative number, Pipes adds:

 Indonesian survey and election results led R. William Liddle and Saiful Mujani ^[4] in 2003 to conclude that the number of Islamists “is no more than 15 percent of the total Indonesian Muslim population.”

He did this while he ignored his other statement:

In contrast, a 2008 survey of 8,000 Indonesian Muslims by Roy Morgan Research ^[5] found 40 percent of Indonesians favoring hadd criminal punishments (such as cutting off the hands of thieves) and 52 percent favoring some form of Islamic legal code.

So here we have 52% of Indonesians are extremists, not 15%.

^[6]

Yet even that doesn’t determine the correct percentages to separate Muslims from Islamists. To say that “views on 9/11″ or “supporting Hadd” (Islamic punishment) is the yardstick to measure the percentages is also absurd and mathematically false. What if a Muslim doesn’t support 9/11 or Hadd but supports the idea that it takes two women in a court of law to equal the testimony of a man? Will Pipes count him as a moderate Muslim or an extremist Islamist? If he chooses “moderate,” then Pakistan got it right. No matter what Pipes chooses, it debunks all his unsubstantiated claims about moderate Islam.
What if a Muslim couldn’t care less about Sharia, jihad, and 9/11, yet he kills his sister for marrying a Jew? Is he a “Muslim” or is he an “Islamist”?
And what if we even use terrorism as a yardstick as Pipes prefers; in Saudi Arabia and across the Muslim world, you have many who do not support al-Qaeda. Are these then counted as moderates? In Pipes’ view the answer is “yes.” But this is false. Last week I had an exchange with Sheikh Faisal Al-Harbi, who chastised me on such issues,stating that his clan (Al-Harbi) would not support terrorism. Indeed, on his clan’s official website ^[7] they denounce al-Qaeda, adding:

Jihad for the sake of Allah is to go to war with the infidels and the polytheists to remove these and enforce Unitarianism. That is after inviting them to Islam and they reject the invitation (Da’wa). This Jihad is then organized and supervised by the Imam.

That cannot be placed in the moderate Islam camp. In light of this and my other arguments, Pipes’ percentages are escalating dramatically.
The true number for Islamists is 100%. Here, let me add more beef to my claim. What if a Muslim denounces today’s jihad, sharia, Islamic state and all? Is he then moderate?

^[2]

Hardly. The Muslims who take this position take it by claiming that only the Khalifa or the Mahdi can establish these. Take Hisham Kabbani, for example, a Sufi Muslim scholar whose photo Pipes posted ^[2].

Islam is the fourteen-century-old faith of a billion-plus believers that includes everyone from quietist Sufis to violent jihadis.

Nonsense. Kabbani is Sufi and is in fact a Mahdist as all Sufi Muslims are. In his work Approach of Armageddon (page 231), he writes of an entire invasion of Israel and believes as Ahmadinejad does:

Hadith indicate that black flags coming from the area of Khorasan [Iran] will signify [that] the appearance of the Mahdi is nigh.

The “black flags” from “Iran” mean the end of Pipes. Just name the Sufi scholar and I can usually find their Arabic writings and prove they are moderate for the time being. Sheikh Maulana Nazeem Kibrisi, another major Sufi scholar, was found in Turkish speaking with the fervor of Adolf Hitler (watch here ^[8]). Kibrisi was no small-time Sufi either; in a speech given in Germany to Turkish students, with tens of thousands gathered – including then-prime minister-to-be Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Erbakan of the Refah Islamist party – Kibrisi is found saying:

Glory and blessing to the Lord of the two worlds who is the cause of these days. Definitely, the victory belongs to Islam. This flood of people here is a sign of the rise of the glorious Islam. Do they not think that this a great sign? When the great sign appears [Mahdi] the world will shake. Our forefathers made the earth tremble. This gathering is a memento from our forefathers… You are the grand sons of the Ottomans who will make the world tremble again. If the Ottomans do not come back the unbelievers will never be brought down to their knees…history is made of recurrences, certainly our glorious era has come, the day being born belongs to Islam…as long as we have Allah we do not need America, nor do we need the unbelievers in Europe, nor do we need the unbelievers nor will we go their path.

What about Al-Ghazali, the famous theologian, philosopher, and paragon of mystical Sufism whom the eminent W. M. Watt describes as “acclaimed in both the East and West as the greatest Muslim after Mohammed, and he is by no means unworthy of that dignity”? Scholars like Pipes know the truth, yet completely ignore it. Al-Ghazali said:

One must go on jihad (i.e., warlike razzias or raids) at least once a year… one may use a catapult against them when they are in a fortress, even if among them are women and children. One may set fire to them and/or drown them…. If a person of the Ahl al-Kitab [People of The Book—Jews and Christians, typically] is enslaved, his marriage is [automatically] revoked.… One may cut down their trees/…One must destroy their useless books. Jihadists may take as booty whatever they decide…they may steal as much food as they need.

Pipes even went as low to claim that Muhammad was a “Muslim not an Islamist” and even distinguished him since, “Islamism represents the transformation of Islamic faith into a political ideology.” ^[9]

By switching Muhammad from “Islamist” to “Muslim, Pipes must then answer a crucial question: is Islam defined by Mr. Pipes? Islam is defined as “Al-Islamu deen wa dawla” (“Islam is a religion and a state”). Pipes then must remove the “and” to substantiate his false case.
Then Pipes makes even more blunders:

Islamism relies heavily on conspiracy theories ^[10] to interpret the world, on the state to advance its ambitions, and on brutal means to attain its goals.

All this from an historian who ignores that much of Islam, including the Quran, the Hadith and Islamic history, is littered with “conspiracy theories” in order “to advance its ambitions” by “brutal means.”
So here is my answer to Mr. Pipes’ question: We will fight Islam with the bible, history, our Constitution, and our laws and even militarily if we must, while working with any Muslim to bring them on our side of the fence, including terrorists. I was one myself. We will not do this by creating an end that justifies the means. Pipes insists we provide a solution, which according to him is only done by mischaracterizing the problem at hand, which is: it’s Islam, stupid, and it’s 100% all the Muslims that believe in it. To add more from history — Mr. Pipes’ favorite subject — Islam was defeated when the Ottoman Empire was dismantled. And in those times, they didn’t use Pipes’ strategy of differentiating between Islam and Islamism. Sir Winston Churchill said:

Mohammedanism [Islam] is a militant and proselytizing faith.

Is Pipes wiser then Churchill?
I rest my case.
*****
Want to weigh in on this debate? Do you support Pipes or Shoebat? PJ Lifestyle encourages both Inter-Faith dialogue and Intra-Faith theological debates on Sundays. Letters to the Editor ^[11] should range between 400 and 1200 words. Please also suggest the best comments for Comment of the Day ^[12] or the most entertaining commenting exchanges for PJ Lifestyle Versus ^[13].

^[14]

Click above to submit letters to the editor for Sunday’s religious dialogues at PJ Lifestyle.

---

Article printed from PJ Media: http://pjmedia.com
URL to article: http://pjmedia.com/blog/islam-vs-islamism-a-case-for-wishful-thinkers/
URLs in this post:

[1] asks: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/13/islam-and-its-infidels/

[2] claim: http://www.danielpipes.org/5967/counting-islamists

[3] three days after 9/11: http://www.danielpipes.org/66/protecting-muslims-while-rooting-out-islamists

[4] R. William Liddle and Saiful Mujani: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01E2DF153FF932A25753C1A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print

[5] Roy Morgan Research: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/indonesia/2187933/Indonesia-backs-sharia-law,-poll-shows.html

[6] Image: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001HU8NW4/pjmedia-20

[7] official website: http://al-harbitop.com/vb/archive/index.php/t-2650.html

[8] here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhfnHKgF-yw

[9] Image: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B002Q6XUPS/pjmedia-20

[10] conspiracy theories: http://www.danielpipes.org/books/hidden.php

[11] Letters to the Editor: http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/author/pjlifestylelettertotheditor/

[12] Comment of the Day: http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/author/pjlifestylecommentoftheday/

[13] PJ Lifestyle Versus: http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/author/pjlifestylevs/

[14] Image: mailto: daveswindlepjm@gmail.com

Copyright © 2013 PJ Media. All rights reserved.

Comparing Islam with Islamism

What motives lay behind last month's Boston Marathon bombing and the would-be attack on a VIA Rail Canada train?

Leftists and establishmentarians variously offer imprecise and tired replies - such as "violent extremism" or anger at Western imperialism - unworthy of serious discussion.

Conservatives, in contrast, engage in a lively and serious debate among themselves: some say Islam the religion provides motive, others say it's a modern extremist variant of the religion, known as radical Islam or Islamism.
As a participant in the latter debate, here's my argument for focusing on Islamism.

Those focusing on Islam itself as the problem (such as ex-Muslims like Wafa Sultan and Ayaan Hirsi Ali) point to the consistency from Muhammad's life and the contents of the Koran and Hadith to current Muslim practice.

Agreeing with Geert Wilders' film Fitna, they point to striking continuities between Koranic verses and jihad actions. They quote Islamic scriptures to establish the centrality of Muslim supremacism, jihad, and misogyny, concluding that a moderate form of Islam is impossible.

They point to Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's deriding the very idea of a moderate Islam. Their killer question is, "Was Muhammad a Muslim or an Islamist?" They contend that we who blame Islamism do so out of political correctness or cowardliness.

To which, we reply: Yes, certain continuities do exist; and Islamists definitely follow the Koran and Hadith literally. Moderate Muslims exist but lack Islamists' near-hegemonic power. Erdogan's denial of moderate Islam points to a curious overlap between Islamism and the anti-Islam viewpoint.

Muhammad was a plain Muslim, not an Islamist, for the latter concept dates back only to the 1920s. And no, we are not cowardly but offer our true analysis.
And that analysis goes like this:

Islam is the fourteen-century-old faith of a billion-plus believers that includes everyone from quietist Sufis to violent jihadis. Muslims achieved remarkable military, economic, and cultural success between roughly 600 and 1200 c.e.
Being a Muslim then meant belonging to a winning team, a fact that broadly inspired Muslims to associate their faith with mundane success. Those memories of medieval glory remain not just alive but central to believers' confidence in Islam and in themselves as Muslims.

Major dissonance began around 1800, when Muslims unexpectedly lost wars, markets, and cultural leadership to Western Europeans. It continues today, as Muslims bunch toward the bottom of nearly every index of achievement.


Muslims have responded to this crisis in three main ways. Secularists want Muslims to ditch the Shari'a (Islamic law) and emulate the West. Apologists also emulate the West but pretend that in doing so they are following the Shari'a. Islamists reject the West in favor of a retrograde and full application of the Shari'a.

Islamists loathe the West because of its being tantamount to Christendom, the historic archenemy, and its vast influence over Muslims. Islamism inspires a drive to reject, defeat, and subjugate Western civilization.

Despite this urge, Islamists absorb Western influences, including the concept of ideology. Indeed, Islamism represents the transformation of Islamic faith into a political ideology. Islamism accurately indicates an Islamic-flavored version of radical utopianism, an -ism like other -isms, comparable to fascism and communism.

Aping those two movements, for example, Islamism relies heavily on conspiracy theories to interpret the world, on the state to advance its ambitions, and on brutal means to attain its goals.
Read more...

Moscow Warns Jerusalem About Attacking Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria – Russian President Vladimir Putin says he’s supplying the long-range anti-aircraft missile S-300 to Syria despite pleas from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry not to do so, according to a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Putin argued that the S-300 is a “defensive” weapon and will help stabilize the region.

In June 2012, Syria was supposed to receive the S-300s but the contract was canceled due to Western political pressure. The announcement is intended to show Moscow’s support for al-Assad at all costs.

Putin’s rebuff of Netanyahu and Kerry comes following two separate Israeli airstrikes on Syria this month, with a promise of more if Jerusalem believes that Syrian weapons transfers to Hezbollah will continue.

The two initial airstrikes, however, were launched from Israeli aircraft in Lebanese airspace, with the first strike hitting a convoy of what are said to have been advanced weapons for Hezbollah.

Hezbollah already is assessed to have quite an arsenal of missiles from Syria, which has served as a conduit for Iran to pass them along to its proxy.
Two days following that attack, Israel launched a second airstrike – again from Lebanese air space – on a military research facility on a high hill overlooking Damascus.

The second airstrike brought a Syrian threat to retaliate, declaring that the airstrikes were an “act of war” and prompting Syrian charges that the Israelis were working with the Syrian opposition. Those rebels currently are embroiled in a civil war against the Syrian government.

Sources believe, however, that Syria won’t retaliate and, given the state of its military, such retaliation is considered remote.
Yet, Israeli officials already have served warning that they will continue airstrikes against any target they perceive as weapons destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon, with the prospect that continued shipments of weapons could mean Israeli effort to topple al-Assad’s government. That prospect also could set off the Russians.

The launching of Israeli airstrikes brought protests from Lebanon and the United Nations, saying that such incursions into Lebanese airspace were contrary to United Nations Resolution 1701.

Lebanon lacks any kind of air defenses, including ground-to-air anti-aircraft missiles, although Iran, whose presence is very much evident in Lebanon and is closely allied with the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, has offered such assistance.

Informed sources say that Russia intends to ship four batteries of the S-300s which have from 100 to 150 simultaneously deployable, guided anti-aircraft missiles.

Sources say that once deployed, they will be manned by Russian military “advisers,” since the Syrians are not technically prepared to operate such advanced and complicated systems. They say Israel therefore could hurt Russians should there be more strikes.

This shipment of S-300s is yet a further indication of Russia’s commitment to al-Assad, despite rumors that the Russians are seeking an alternative to his leadership of Syria in an effort to bring stability to the country for Moscow’s own geostrategic purposes.

It is a further indication that the Russians believe that al-Assad has the upper hand in the civil war against the armed opposition, which appears to be increasingly disorganized with internal disputes over leadership and direction.
In addition, Iran and Hezbollah fighters increasingly are assisting al-Assad’s government forces in training and leadership for the beleaguered Syrian armed forces.

Putin wants to give al-Assad more time and to stop any foreign intervention or outside supply of weapons to the Syrian opposition, and to prevent the establishment of a no-fly zone.

For the rest of this report and other Intelligence Briefs, please go to Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin:

Syria and Israel in Exchange of Fire

 

Israeli and Syrian forces have exchanged fire across the ceasefire line in the occupied Golan Heights.

Israel returned fire after one of its military vehicles was hit by shots from Syria, Israel's defence forces say. Media reports say no-one was hurt.
Syria says it destroyed an Israeli vehicle which it says crossed the ceasefire line into territory its forces control.

Syria and Israel have traded fire a number of times in recent weeks.
The Israeli military said its troops "returned precise fire" after the vehicle was hit.

 

A statement from the Syrian army said it had "destroyed an Israeli vehicle with everything that it had in it". The statement said the vehicle was shot after it crossed the ceasefire line and headed towards the rebel-held village of Bir Ajam.
It warned that any attempts to violate its sovereignty would be "met with immediate and firm retaliation".

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has previously accused Israel of aiding the rebels, but has not provided substantive evidence.
Speaking after Tuesday's incident, Israeli chief of staff Lt Gen Benny Gantz said Israel would not allow the Golan to become "a comfortable sphere for Assad to operate from", warning the Syrian leader would "bear the consequences" if the situation deteriorated.

Heightened tension
 
Syrian gunfire has hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in two previous incidents this week, without causing injury. There have been sporadic exchanges of fire between the two sides in recent months.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

Jim Muir, BBC News, Beirut

 

Until very recently, the Golan Heights were the one front that Israel didn't have to worry about. It had been entirely peaceful since 1967, with Syria scrupulously respecting its commitments under the disengagement agreement.

Now it is the focus of mounting tension and speculation, as the Syrian crisis deepens and regional involvements move increasingly to the fore.
After the massive Israeli air strikes near Damascus on 5 May, the Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah - whose fighters are battling rebels alongside Syrian government troops - vowed that he would help Syria "liberate" the Golan.

Now Syria has seized on the latest Golan incident to play up the co-ordination it alleges between Israel and the rebels - a day after Syrian state media said an Israel armoured jeep was captured from rebel fighters in Quseir.

Playing the Israeli card certainly suits Damascus well. It is hard for any Arab quarter to criticise a country that is standing up to Israel.

The difference this time is that the Syrian regime, which did not comment on the previous reported incidents, have made a big issue of this one, and cast it in quite a different light, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut.

It has used the event to highlight what it calls the close co-operation between Israel and the Syrian rebels - whose wounded in that area are in fact reported to be being treated in Israeli medical facilities, he says.

By warning of an "immediate and firm" response to any future "breaches" it also hinted at the kind of regional flare-up that is increasingly worrying the international community as it sees the Syrian crisis deepening, our correspondent adds.

Tensions between Israel and Syria have soared this year, with Israel carrying out three air strikes on Syria to stop the transfer of advanced weapons to the militant Islamist movement Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Syrian shells have hit Israeli positions on the Golan Heights, though it is unclear whether they were aimed at rebels in border areas, and Israel has returned fire.
Syria and Israel have been in a state of war since 1948 but the border had been relatively calm in recent years.

Israel has occupied the Golan Heights since the 1967 war. It annexed the territory in 1981, in a move that has not been recognised by the international community.

Source

Arabs Riot, Call for 'Third Intifada'

Arabs hurled rocks at Israeli police and set ablaze garbage bins in the Old City.

Arab rioter arrested in Jerusalem

Israel news photo: Flash 90

 

Dozens of Arab Muslims rioted in the Old City of Jerusalem on Saturday, hurling rocks at Israeli police and setting ablaze garbage bins, a police spokeswoman said.
"Dozens of Palestinians threw rocks at police forces near Nablus Gate. Two of them were arrested," said Luba Samri.

An AFP correspondent said some of the demonstrators were carrying banners which called for a "third intifada," or anti-Israeli uprising.
The "First Intifada" began in 1987 and lasted into the early 90s. The so-called "Second Intifada" was in fact a massive pre-planned terror war launched by Yasser Arafat, Hamas and other enemies of Israel in 2000 and lasting into the mid-2000s.

The protest Saturday was an extension of the demonstrations held in the Old City earlier this week to mark what the Arabs regard as the "Nakba" (catastrophe) of the Jewish state's creation on May 15, 1948, she said.

Source

Terrorist Super-Axis to Strike Within U.S.

Update: On Tuesday, the source provided additional new information on the terrorists’ plan for a major attack – that it is to take place within weeks and is planned to be “spectacular,” using a new method. The information was immediately passed on to the appropriate U.S. agency.

Iran has given the go-ahead to operatives of three terrorist groups that have infiltrated the United States to carry out missions, including what is expected to be a Mumbai-style attack on a hotel where innocent bystanders would be killed, WND has learned.

A full report with many details of the missions has been passed on to U.S. officials.

Three targets have been chosen within America for imminent attack, and the terror teams have now cut communications with the operational center in Iran, a sign that they are moving ahead with the attacks, according to a high-level intelligence officer within the Islamic regime.

If only one of the attacks occurs, the regime will consider the operation a success, the source said. Tehran believes, he said, an attack would not be traced back to Iran due to the nationalities of the operators.

One of the planned attacks resemble the Mumbai attack in 2008, the source added, in which a hotel was targeted, hostages were taken and 164 people were killed over several days. India alleges Pakistan used proxies to carry out the Mumbai attack so it wouldn’t be traced back to Pakistan, just as Iran now is using proxies to hide its current terrorism. The information provided by the source provides details of a new jihadist coalition with a focus on creating instability in the U.S.

The source said the regime views the Boston bombing as a successful terrorist attack in which fear was created, U.S. intelligence questioned and a sense of security diminished. There has yet to be any link to a specific group or country.
As WND reported exclusively April 22, the regime’s Quds Forces have done extensive planning on gatherings, events and high-value targets in the U.S., but for two years have focused on events such as the Boston Marathon. The Quds Forces run an extensive network of terrorists out of South Asia.

A Feb. 14, 2010, meeting in Iran either set up the new jihadist coalition or continued the coalition among the Quds Forces, Hezbollah and al-Qaida. The latter coalition was formed years ago by Imad Mugniyeh, the dead mastermind terrorist from Hezbollah, under the direction of Ahmad Vahidi, then the head of the Quds Forces and the current Iranian defense minister, to collaborate on their fight against the U.S.

At the 2010 meeting, Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Quds Forces; Seif Adel, the operational head of al-Qaida; and Mustafa Badr al-Din, the operational head of Hezbollah; devised a plan for operations against the U.S. under a new coalition, dubbed the “Coalition of Muslim Soldiers.” The coalition includes al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida offshoot based in Somalia, and has its central command in the Iranian city of Kerman. Command and control centers are located in the Iranian provinces of Kerman, Khorasan, Khuzestan, Kurdistan, and Sistan and Baluchistan, the source said.

The coalition, led by Soleimani, with Iran the main source of funding, is based on a strategic collaboration and devoid of ideological differences and opinions of Shiite and Sunni Marjas. The main operational commanders, mostly well-known terrorists, are:

1. Gen. Soleimani, the head of the Quds Forces with full power given to him by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
2. Brig. Gen. Abdolreza Shahlabi of the Quds Forces.
3. Brig. Gen. Hamed Abdollahi of the Quds Forces.
4. Brig. Gen. Hossein Movahedian of the Quds Forces.
5. Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr of the Quds Forces.
6. Seif Adel, the operational head of al-Qaida.
7. Abdul Rahman Yasin of al-Qaida operations.
8. Abu Saeed al-Mesri of al-Qaida in Latin America.
9. Adnan ShokriJuma of al-Qaida in America.
10. Hakimalah Masoud of al-Qaida operations.
11. Mustafa Badr al-Din, the operations head of Hezbollah and the brother-in-law and cousin of the dead terrorist Imad Mugniyah, who now serves as Mugnyiah’s replacement as the military leader of Hezbollah and the deputy to the Quds’ Soliemani.
12. Talal Hamieh, the head of the External Security Organization, strategic planning and funding for Hezbollah in Venezuela. He commutes directly from Venezuela to Damascus, Syria, then to Lebanon and back.
13. Fozi Mohammad Mostafa of Hezbollah operations.
14. Mohammad Ali Hamdi of Hezbollah operations in Toronto, Canada. He targets nuclear power plants and other sites in Canada.
15. Ebrahim Saleh Mohammad al-Yaghoub of Hezbollah operations.
16. Mohammad Ahmad al-Monavar, the operations commander for Abu Nidal.
17. Jahad Servan Mostafa, the operations commander for al-Shabaab in Somalia.

Based on intelligence and infiltration by Western intelligence agencies into institutions, operations and cultural centers of radical Arab Islamists after 9/11, the new coalition recruits non-Arab Islamists from many other nationalities and Arabs from countries not on the hot list for American agencies.

Iran believes that the perception of security in America that has helped empower its actions in the Middle East must be turned 180 degrees, not only to defeat and derail all U.S. calculations based on gathered intelligence but to destabilize the political, economic and social conditions in America, the source said.

Based on that understanding, he said, the U.S. through its military might has kept the fight in the Islamic region and away from its homeland and its allies’ turf. Now continuous operations must be conducted in the U.S. homeland to change that equation, they believe.

More than 2,600 targets, including public places, government buildings and military installations, have been chosen for attack, and reconnaissance has been done. Information about some of the targets, based on direct knowledge of the source, has been given to U.S. officials to neutralize the threat and confront the terrorists. They include specific government buildings, news networks, malls and sports events.

This new coalition has also prepared for a major attack to avenge al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden’s killing to satisfy Seif Adel, the operational head of al-Qaida, for his collaboration with the Iranian regime.

The radical regime ruling Iran has set up several channels for financial support of the new coalition with its terrorist activities. Multiple commerce, cultural and financial institutions in the U.S. are part of that network. The connection includes individuals running businesses in Damascus and its connections to al-Qaida operatives in America.

Since 2001, more than $270 million has been invested in the expansion of mosques and Islamic centers in America by institutions in the Iranian city of Qom. As part of the coalition’s plan, some 27 mosques and Islamic centers in America are their target for collaboration, infiltration and recruitment of sympathizers for various missions, including reconnaissance and terrorist acts.
The source said the new coalition, due to its composition of different people in Central Asia, is a very complex organization.

The publication of a limited version of the full report is an intention to put the Islamic regime on notice that should it go ahead with its planned attacks in the U.S. homeland, it will be held responsible, the source said.

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‘The Fearless Passage of Steven Kim’

The true story of an American businessman imprisoned in China for rescuing North Korean Refugees

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries 

 
 HUNTINGTON, NY (ANS) -- In the first five decades of his life, Seung-Wan (Steven) Kim was a businessman who pursued financial prosperity, while largely ignoring his family and his commitment to God.

Steven Kim

 
In 1975, drawn by visions of success, Steven flew from South Korea to New York with just a few dollars in his pocket. There, he started working as a produce clerk, eventually opening his own store, and he ultimately earned millions of dollars from later enterprises in real estate and furniture.

His life had all the trappings of the American Dream.
But then, the financial crash of 1987, and control of Hong Kong being handed over to the Chinese, led Steven into a new business market—mainland China—to establish a manufacturing network. There, he found not only business opportunities but also a strong Christian faith, which he had neglected for years in favor of pursuing wealth and success.

In China, he joined an underground Korean church, where he met North Korean refugees who had escaped famine, mass execution, and political and religious persecution, only to be preyed upon by human traffickers and hunted by secret police along their long and harrowing flight to freedom.

Moved by their stories, especially those of the many women and children who had been sexually abused and sold into forced marriages or prostitution, and compelled by compassion and faith, Steven set up a safe house and established an “underground railroad” through China into Vietnam, with the ultimate destination of South Korea.

Book cover

 
In 2003, at the age of fifty-four, Steven was arrested, held without trial for nine months, and then sentenced to five years of hard labor in a laogai—a Chinese labor camp. As prisoners were being executed to “harvest” their pancreases and corneas for use by Chinese businessmen and government officials in need of transplants, Steven risked solitary confinement, beatings, and torture by not only practicing his faith but also by leading a secret prison ministry.

He had Bibles smuggled in, conducted secret church services and baptisms, and saw the conversions of prisoners and guards alike, to the Christian faith.
Despite the efforts of human-rights activists, embassy officials, and American politicians, including former Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas and U.S. Representative Ed Royce of California, Steven remained in captivity until his release in 2007.

Since then, Steven Kim, who lives in Huntington, NY, has remained a relentless human-rights activist and preacher of the gospel. He formed 318 Partners Mission Foundation (www.318Partners.org) to rescue North Korean refugees—specifically, women and orphans—from sex traffickers in China. More recently, Steven has joined efforts with YWAM (Youth With A Mission) in taking the gospel into North Korea and planting underground churches there.

Kim’s story is now dramatically told in a recently-released book, "The Fearless Passage of Steven Kim," by Carl Herzig, and is both thrilling, heartbreaking, and victorious. His life reminds us that God can use anyone in any circumstances to achieve great things for His kingdom!

Note: Carl Herzig, PhD, has authored and/or edited numerous works of fiction and non-fiction, is a fellow of the National Writing Project and a reviewer for several literary and creative journals, and has directed two university curriculum and assessment programs. He leads student service-learning trips to India and has served as an Iowa Humanities Scholar and evaluator for the Hearst Foundation U.S. Senate Youth Program, the Iowa Humanities Board, and the Illinois Council for the Humanities. He is currently professor of English at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, where he teaches courses in sacred poetry, contemporary fiction, and creative and expository writing.

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Iran: Abedini Released from Solitary Confinement

American Pastor Saeed Abedini Released from Solitary Confinement, Returned to General Prison Population
 
WASHINGTON D.C. (ANS) -- After more than a week, including his 33rd birthday, spent in the “small dark hole” of solitary confinement, Pastor Saeed Abedini has once again been returned to the main prison population in Ward 350 of Evin Prison.

Saeed Abedini

 
According to a story by Jordan Sekulow for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), its sources in Iran have confirmed that Iranian authorities returned Abedini to his cell in Ward 350 yesterday.


The ACLJ said this was a critical development, and raises hope after a very discouraging week.
The ACLJ said it was believed that Abedini may have faced 20 days or more in solitary confinement.

Abedini's wife Naghmeh said, “His release from solitary is a direct result of the multitudes praying. I am relieved my husband is out of solitary, but still am deeply concerned about Saeed’s health. While this is a small victory, I am still demanding justice be done and that Saeed be released.”
The ACLJ said, “We are hopeful that Pastor Saeed's early return to the general population of Ward 350 is a sign that international pressure on Iran is beginning to have an effect.”
Abedini described the first time he spent in solitary confinement, some 200 days ago when he was first imprisoned for his Christian faith, as some of the worst days he has ever faced. Days felt like years he said.

The ACLJ said the severity of Abedini’s medical condition remains a concern. He began complaining of symptoms of kidney issues before he was placed in solitary confinement.
The ACLJ said Abedini, a U.S. citizen, had been confined to solitary since April 29 along with nine other prisoners. The confinement was apparently a retaliatory response to fellow prisoners’ protest of Iran’s lack of medical care for Abedini and others.

It is unknown how many of the 10 prisoners who were placed in solitary confinement have been returned to the political prisoner ward of Evin.
The ACLJ said more than 575,000 people worldwide have signed a petition for his release. International media, world leaders, and governments including the European Union and United Nations have raised his case. Now, over 50,000 people have written him letters..
The ACLJ said this has led to unparalleled pressure on the Iranian regime. 

The ACLJ commented, “The more pressure is placed on Iran – the more Iran is put on notice that the world is watching its unconscionable human rights abuses – the regime is forced to take action.”

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Syria: Thousands of Rebel Fighters Defect to Al-Qaeda

Well-resourced Jabhat al-Nusra, Islamist group linked to al-Qaeda, lures thousands of rebel fighters away. Brigade commanders: 'Fighters feel pride, want to be martyrs'

 Bad news for Syrian rebels: The Free Syrian Army (FSA), the main opposition group, is losing fighters and capabilities to Jabhat al-Nusra, an Islamist organization with links to al-Qaeda that is emerging as the best-equipped, financed and motivated force fighting Bashar Assad's regime, The Guardian reported Thursday. 

Evidence of the growing strength of the Islamist organization underlines the dilemma for the US, Britain and other governments as they ponder the question of arming anti-Assad rebels.

According to interviews the British paper conducted with commanders in the FSA, in some parts entire units have defected to Jabhat al-Nusra, and in other cases commanders sometimes lost a quarter of their fighters. According to the report, Jabhat al-Nusra agents operate within other rebel organization and identify potential defectors and pull them in.

Defect due to ammunition shortage (Photo: Reuters)

"Fighters feel proud to join al-Nusra because that means power and influence," said Abu Ahmed, a former teacher who now commands an FSA brigade in the countryside near Aleppo.

"Al-Nusra fighters rarely withdraw for shortage of ammunition or fighters and they leave their target only after liberating it," he added. "They compete to carry out martyrdom operations."

Ala'a al-Basha, commander of another brigade in the FSA, claims he warned the FSA chief of staff, General Salim Idriss, about the issue last month.

Basha said 3,000 FSA men have joined al-Nusra in the last few months, mainly because of a lack of weapons and ammunition. He explained that FSA fighters in the Banias area were threatening to leave because they did not have the firepower to stop the massacre in Bayda.

"Fighters are heading to al-Nusra because of its Islamic doctrine, sincerity, good funding and advanced weapons," said Abu Islam of the FSA's al-Tawhid brigade in Aleppo.

"My colleague who was fighting with the FSA asked me: 'I want to know if I get killed in a battle, am I going to be considered as a martyr or not'? IT did not take him long to quit FSA and join al-Nusra. He asked for a sniper rifle and got one immediately."

Source
 

Radical Muslim Cleric in Gaza: 'Palestine' Was Never Jewish

Israel has no right to exist, says Yusuf al-Qaradawi during a visit to Gaza.

Celebration in Gaza

Israel news photo: Flash 90

 

Israel has no right to exist, a radical Muslim cleric visiting Gaza declared on Thursday, encouraging rocket attacks on the Jewish State.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi warned that nobody was allowed to cede "any part of Palestine" during his visit to the Hamas-controlled region, according to AFP.
"No one is allowed to give up any part of Palestine," the Egyptian-born Qardawi said during a meeting with Gaza’s prime minister Ismail Haniyeh and members of the government.

Qaradawi, who is a citizen of Qatar and close to the Muslim Brotherhood, was heading of a delegation of 50 clerics from 14 countries.
"Palestine was never Jewish," he said. "Palestine is Arab and Muslim and will remain Arab and Muslim, and Islam will prevail."
“The rockets made in Gaza are more powerful than the occupation’s rockets,” added Qardawi.

Haniyeh, who handed Qaradawi a “Palestinian” passport, reaffirmed that his would "never give up or recognize Israel."
"We will not give up our rights, we will never give up an inch of Palestine and won't allow anyone to cede a grain of Palestinian land," he said, according to AFP.

Qaradawi, who arrived in Gaza on Wednesday, in the past provided the religious sanction for the suicide bombing campaign against Israel. In January 2009 he claimed that Hitler had put the Jews in their place and that the Holocaust was "divine punishment."

His visit to Gaza was condemned by the Palestinian Authority, which said such visits were "harmful to the Palestinian people.”
"The Palestinian Authority's position has been clear; each visit of political significance which gives legitimacy to Hamas' rule in Gaza is harmful to the Palestinian people and their interests," PA minister of endowment Mahmoud al-Habbash said, according to PA-based Ma’an news agency.

"Al-Qaradawi should have taken back the Fatwa he issued considering visits to Jerusalem by Muslims illegal according to the Islamic law because the holy city is under occupation," al-Habbash told Ma'an.

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Muslim Cleric Asked to Pray over Fallen SEALs Damns Them

Pentagon prohibited mention of Judeo-Christian God – fallen heroes called 'infidels to Allah'

(Washington Times) The families of Navy SEALs killed in an August 2011 shoot-down of a helicopter in Afghanistan spoke at a press conference Thursday morning, citing a number of grievances, including an allegation that the Pentagon invited a Muslim cleric who “disparaged in Arabic the memory of these servicemen.”

In addition to blasting the Obama administration for the mission and for an official investigation they deemed a cover-up, the families complained that “military brass, while prohibiting any mention of a Judeo-Christian God, invited a Muslim cleric to the funeral for the fallen Navy SEAL Team VI heroes who disparaged in Arabic the memory of these servicemen by damning them as infidels to Allah.”

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Iran Says Will Turn Golan Into ‘Fatahland’

After alleged Israel attack on Syria, Iran issues war-like declarations, orders Assad army to protect homeland, according to Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper. ‘Front open to Syrians, Palestinians, to all who wish to fight Israel’


Will the latest attack allegedly carried out by Israel on the Syrian front awaken a military response from the Assad regime and its supporters?
On Wednesday, the Hezbollah-identified Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar quoted Iranian officials who claimed that Iran received a message from the United States and Russia stating that the alleged Israeli airstrike was not an attempt to launch a war against Syria.

According to the sources, Tehran responded to both sides by stating that operational command officers of the Syrian army were ordered to automatically respond to any attack against their homeland.

As with other reactions in recent days, it appears that the involved parties are intent upon warning against future attacks, and not eager to enter into a full scale war.

Iranian officials have warned that their reaction to preceived aggressions would likely would be expressed in one of two ways. The first, one of the sources said, would be "a blow below the belt in more than one location," both within and outside of Syria, as they approached "the Day of Judgment."

The same source indicated that “a final decision has been taken to turn the Golan Heights into the new ‘Fatahland’ and the front will be open to "Syrians, Palestinians and to all who want to fight Israel."

The second manner of response, according to the same sources, would be expressed on the political level. Preparations are currently underway for a far-reaching Syria conference, to be held in Tehran, in which the Syrian regime will be represented by Syrian Minister for National Reconcilation Ali Haider and by the Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil.

In addition, preparations are underway for an international conference of states designated "Friends of the Syrian people," which is scheduled to take place two weeks from now in Tehran. Forty states have been invited to participate. Iran will take the opportunity to announce a new initiative to solve the crisis in Syria.

Continued, here.
 

New PA Laws: Cutting Off Thieves' Hands, Lashes for Drinking

Hamas is lobbying for a stricter enforcement of Islamic law in Gaza – including provisions to cut off the hands of thieves

Hamas is lobbying for a stricter enforcement of Islamic law in Gaza – including provisions to cut off the hands of thieves, and execution of individuals who cheat on their spouses. A report in the Al-Hayat daily newspaper said that Hamas expects the new regulations to take effect in the coming months, after introduction of the legislation in the PA parliament.

Existing laws mete out the death penalty to individuals convicted of murder, spying, homosexuality, or selling land to Jews. The new legislation will expand the crimes for which individuals can be executed to include disloyalty to a spouse – having sexual relations outside the context of marriage.

Other provisions of the law include chopping off the right hand of a thief (along with at least a seven year jail sentence), and lashes for a large number of “crimes,” including drinking alcoholic beverages and gambling. All the punishments are derived from sharia, Islamic law.

In addition, girls age 15 will be able to decide to marry on their own, without requiring permission from their parents. Individuals age ten and over are considered adults under the new legislation, and are subject to the full force of the law for offenses.

Hamas has a large majority in the PA parliament, with 74 of the 134 parliamentarians belonging to the Islamist party. Many of them belong to the fundamentalist Salafist movement, and they are behind the push for the new laws. While there is opposition in Hamas to the passage of the legislation at this point, it is expected to easily pass. Once it does, the laws will be extant in both Gaza and Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria, but it is not clear if they will be enforced there.

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Hizbullah 'Slaughtering Syrians'

Rebels say Hizbullah used knives to butcher 20 people Monday, most of them women and children.

Rebels clash with Syrian government forces

AFP file

Fierce fighting continues between Syrian army forces and rebels around the city of Al Qusair, in the rural area of Homs.

A spokesman for the rebels in Homs told the Al Sharq newspaper that Hizbullah forces carried out yet another massacre Monday near Al Qusair, in which they used knives to murder twenty people – most of them women and children who had been fleeing the battle zone.

The spokesman noted that Syrian army forces and their Hizbullah collaborators are no longer carrying out arrests, but simply killing every person who falls into their hands, as part of a strategy of ethnic cleansing intended to facilitate the establishment of an Alawite state in eastern Syria.

The rebels said that the Syrian army and Hizbullah control the western part of Al Qusair, up to the Lebanese border, and that the regime is forcing residents of Homs and nearby villages to sell their property to Alawites and Shiite residents through intimidation and arrests.

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Syria: We'll 'Choose the Moment' to Hit Back

Syrian official says Damascus will respond to Israeli attacks against targets on its territory.

IAF F-16

Israel news photo: Flash 90

Damascus will respond to Israeli attacks against targets on its territory, but will "choose the moment" and may not do so immediately, a Syrian political official said on Monday.

"Syria will respond to the Israeli aggression and will choose the moment to do so," the official close to the regime, who was speaking from Damascus, told AFP in Beirut.

Syria responded earlier to the air strikes on military targets with a  warning that the attack "opens the door to all possibilities."

"We will not accept to be humiliated," Syrian information minister Omran al-Zoubi said at an afternoon press conference, according to ABC News.

"We are all in a state of anger. We are abused by this attack," he added.

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Iran's Warning to Turkey

Iran Cautions Turkey about Provocative Moves along Syrian Borders TEHRAN (FNA)- The regional states should avoid escalating the critical conditions in Syria, a senior Iranian foreign ministry official said after Turkey started military wargames along the Syrian borders.

Addressing reporters in his weekly press conference in Tehran on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast referred to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's verbal attack against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Turkey's 10-day military maneuvers along the Syrian borders, and said, "The sensitive conditions of the region need the regional states' wisdom and any mistake which ignites military conflict in Syria will have heavily dire consequences for the region due to the complicated nature of the issue." "The regional states would be better off if they make their utmost efforts to end conflicts instead of military moves and providing the ground for the trans-regional states' military intervention," he added. Mehman-Parast reminded that stability in Syria will bring security to the neighboring states and their borders. Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country. Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes. The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad. In October 2011, calm was almost restored in the Arab state after President Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but Israel, the US, its Arab allies and Turkey sought hard to bring the country into chaos through any possible means. Tel Aviv, Washington and some Arab capitals have been staging various plots to topple President Bashar al-Assad, who is well known in the world for his anti-Israeli stances. Source