MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

And any and all Muslims “who want democracy are kuffar” …

Daniel 7:25a, “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 …”

The Economist – “The interviewee is a young fighter from Jabhat al-Nusra, an extremist Sunni group in Syria affiliated with al-Qaeda in Iraq. A former teacher and then tiler, he is dressed in well-ironed black trousers, a white shirt and a black turban. A gun rests on his lap. He is accompanied by an older man, who appears to be judging him on his answers. Both are Syrian and ask not to be named because they do not have permission to speak to the press.

How has Jabhat al-Nusra become so powerful?

The reason is the weakening of the other groups. Jabhat al-Nusra gets the advantage because of our ideology. We are not just rebels; we are doing something we believe in. We are not just fighting against tyranny; Bashar Assad is only part of our fight. The other groups are only a reaction to the regime, whereas we are fighting for a vision.

What is that vision?

We are fighting to apply what Allah said to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. We are fighting so people don’t look to other people but only to Allah. We don’t believe in complete freedom: it is restricted by Allah’s laws. Allah created us and he knows what is best for us.

What future do you see for Syria—or do you even see a Syria in the future?

We want the future that Islam commands. Not a country with borders but an umma [worldwide Islamic community of believers] of all the Muslim people. All Muslims should be united. […]

Did you lose or gain fighters following the announcement that you are linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq?

We’re with anything that represents real Islam, whether al-Qaeda or otherwise. If there is a better group, we’ll go with them instead. The effect of the announcement is that now we know our friends and our enemies. The good people will come to our side and the bad people will leave.

Many, maybe most, Syrians do not share your views. Do you care?

It would be great if the Syrians were with us but the kuffar are not important. Abraham and Sarah were facing all the infidels, for example, but they were doing the right thing. The number with us doesn’t matter.

Which other rebel groups do you see as acceptable? Ahrar al-Sham, another Salafist group, criticised your links to al-Qaeda.

I think only 5% of the battalions are against the Islamic vision. Ahrar al-Sham are a mixture of Islamists and people who like Allah so we are not sure about their vision. We are very clear as the Prophet, peace be upon him, made it very clear to us. Other groups have good beliefs but we are the only committed ones. […]

Do you plan to carry out operations against the West in the future?

There is no permanent friendship and no permanent enemy. We’ll do whatever is in the interest of Muslims. The first duty on us is to fight the kuffar among us here in the occupied Muslim lands. The next duty will be decided later.” Read more.

And the number one enemy of Iran is Israel. Although the death of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has been rumored before, this time, however, the report is coming directly from Iran’s state-owned Press TV which broadcasts news reports and analyses that are close to the official position of the Islamic republic’s theocratic government. As previously noted, of significance to such a report is the fact that according to a recent Iranian-produced Islamic end-times documentary, the Ayatollahs believe that the death of King Abdullah will be a major sign indicating that the destruction of Israel and arrival of the Islamic “messiah” — the Mahdi — are imminent. Incidentally, reports are coming in that Iran has now also begun a “massive” deployment of long-range missile launchers to “crush the enemy” …

Update 1/22/2015: King Abdullah is dead …

Press TV – “Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz is reported to be clinically dead as the monarch is not recently seen in the public.

A Saudi journalist working for London-Based Asharq Alawsat says the Saudi monarch has been clinically dead since Wednesday.

He also quoted medical sources in Saudi Arabia as saying that the king’s vital organs, including his heart, kidneys and lungs, have stopped functioning.

Doctors are said to have used a defibrillator on him several times. He is also reported to be alive with the help of a ventilator.

The Royal Court has yet to comment on the report of King’s death.

The aging Saudi monarch has not recently appeared in the public and the country’s crown prince is attending official meetings on his behalf.

It is the second time in the past months that Asharq Alawsat reports the death of King Abdullah.” Read more.

Flashback: Iran: Death Of King Abdullah Means Islamic Messiah Is Near, A Final Grand War Against Islam’s Enemies Will Culminate With Israel’s Destruction – “The Iranian government has produced a bone-chilling documentary that claims that Ayatollah Khamenei, President Ahmadinejad, and Hassan Nasrallah are talked about in Islamic prophecy as leaders who will wage war to bring about the arrival of the Hidden Imam, which the film says is ‘very close’ to happening… The purpose of the film is to make the case that Iran is prophetically destined to lead the war against Islam’s enemies, which is as a prelude to the appearance of the Hidden Imam, also called the Mahdi, who brings the final victory for Islam and reigns over the whole world… the death of Saudi King Abdullah will be a major sign that the destruction of Israel and arrival of the Mahdi are imminent.” Read more.

Iran Begins ‘Massive’ Deployment Of Long-Range Missile Launchers To ‘Crush The Enemy’ – “As the Islamic Republic of Iran prepares for presidential elections next month it is fielding a “massive” number of new long-range missile launchers, Iranian media reported on Sunday. Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi was quoted as saying the new weapon systems give Iranian forces the ability to “crush the enemy” with the simultaneous launching of long-range surface-to-surface missiles, according to Fars, the semi-official Iranian news agency… Iran’s military does possess surface-to-surface missiles that are capable of traveling over 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles), able to reach of targets inside Israel and US bases in the region.” Read more.

Joel 3:11-12, “Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, And gather yourselves there. Bring down, O LORD, Your mighty ones. Let the nations be aroused And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to judge All the surrounding nations.”

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The Jerusalem Post – “The threat of a conflict suddenly erupting between Israel and its enemies is very real, Israel Air Force chief Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel warned on Wednesday.

The advanced S-300 Russian air defense system is ‘on the way to Syria,’ he added.

The IDF chief of staff, Lt.- Gen. Benny Gantz, echoed Eshel’s message. The chance of a multi-arena conflict breaking out are ‘substantial,’ he said.

Eshel, addressing a national security conference held by the Fisher Brothers Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies in Herzliya, said that ‘the Assad regime has invested much to achieve the best air defenses that it could buy,’ including the SA-17, SA-22, SA-24 and the S-300 platforms.

‘These systems are not only an operational threat.

They also lead to an increased sense of security that can lead states to do things they would not otherwise do. This is a totally different generation of weapons, which does not resemble anything in the past. But there’s no system that has no solution. The question is only the price,’ the air force commander said.

Syria is ‘changing before our eyes. If it collapses tomorrow, we could find its vast arsenal dispersed and pointed at us,’ he said.

The threat of a war erupting is ‘many times more relevant today. A surprise war could be born today in many forms. Lone incidents can escalate very quickly and obligate us to be prepared within hours to act to the edge of the spectrum… meaning using the full abilities of the Israel Air Force,’ Eshel said.

‘If during the Second Lebanon War [in 2006] we used only a small amount of these capabilities, in the next war we will have to give 100 percent so that our activities will be swift and very powerful,’ he warned.” Read more.

Flashback: Syrian Rebels: After Assad ‘We Have A Big Fight Against The Jews Ahead Of Us’ – “The results of Saudi Arabia’s tireless efforts were on display in Al-Midan, a suburb in southern Damascus where I recently interviewed rebel fighters. Mateen, a fighter who claimed to have traveled from Afghanistan, shared his ideas for Syria’s future after ridding it of the Assad dynasty. ‘We have to build a society of respect and brotherhood in accordance with the Prophet’s commandments … we have a big fight against the Jews ahead of us. We will take that up, God willing.’” Read more.

Flashback: Lebanon: Nasrallah Says Syria Will Supply ‘Game-Changing Weapons’ To Hezbollah ‘That The Resistance Has Never Obtained Before’ – “Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said on Thursday that Syria will supply his Lebanese militia with ‘game-changing weapons,’ describing the move as Syria’s response to airstrikes earlier in the week… Nasrallah also said Syria had opened up the Golan Heights for ‘resistance groups’ to fight against Israel.” Read more.

Flashback: Why Egyptians Want War With Israel: It’s in the Koran – “Fifty-four per cent of Egyptians want to scrap the Camp David accords that have kept an uneasy peace with Israel since 1979—in yet another blow to the credibility of the many analysts and commentators who assured the American people that the Egyptian uprising heralded the dawn of a new, secular democracy there. A new poll conducted by the Pew Research Center reveals that a significant number of Egyptians manifest a deeply ingrained Islamic antisemitism that leads them to hate Israel—and the Camp David accords—for religious, not political, reasons.” Read more.

Flashback: Iranian Official Calls For ‘Islamic Awakening’ To Destroy Israel, PA Ambassador: Annihilate The ‘Zionist Regime’ – “An Iranian official called this week for an ‘Islamic Awakening’ movement to help Palestinian Authority Arabs ‘demolish the Zionist regime’, the IRNA news agency reported… Sheikholeslam said that ‘In near future the Islamic Awakening movement would also swallow the Zionist regime.’ The first speaker at the conference, according to IRNA, was the PA Ambassador in Tehran, Salah Zawawi, who said that the one and only way to soothe the Arabs’ pains and agony is the annihilation of the Zionist regime.” Read more.

The Times of Israel – “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that Moscow’s sale of a sophisticated missile defense system to President Bashar Assad could push the Middle East into war.

Netanyahu, who flew to meet Putin for emergency talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, told the Russian president that the S-300 had no relevance to Assad’s civil-war battles against rebel groups, and urged Moscow not to deliver the systems, Channel 2 reported on Wednesday night.

He said that if acquired by Assad, the S-300 — a state-of-the-art system that can intercept fighter jets and cruise missiles — ‘is likely to draw us into a response, and could send the region deteriorating into war,’ the Channel 2 report said.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, asked last week about possible sales of the S-300 to Assad, said cagily: ‘Russia is not planning to sell. Russia has been selling for a long time, has signed contracts and is completing deliveries of technology that consists of anti-aircraft systems.’

Lavrov said the weapons were to help Syria defend itself against air attacks. Israel suspects that Russia plans to sell Damascus six S-300 missile batteries, as well as 144 missiles, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Netanyahu, who flew to meet Putin despite have only just returned from a trip to China, took with him his National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror and the head of military intelligence in the IDF Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi. Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin went too, to help with translations.

Netanyahu also briefed Putin on Israel’s intel assessment of Assad’s alleged chemical weapons use. He also filled the president in on Israel’s information concerning Syria’s transfer of arms to Hezbollah.” Read more.

Flashback: Syria Declares Israeli Strikes ‘A Declaration Of War’ After Israel Destroys Iranian Weapons Bound For Hezbollah – “Israeli jets bombed Syria on Sunday, rocking Damascus for hours and sending pillars of flame into the night sky in what a Western source called a new strike on Iranian missiles bound for Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Local people reported massive explosions and internet video showed the capital’s skyline lit by flashes; Syrian opponents of President Bashar al-Assad rejoiced at Israel’s third raid this year, and second in 48 hours, while anger in Tehran highlighted how Syria’s civil war risks spinning further beyond its borders.” Read more.

By Reza Kahlili, WND – “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.” Read more.

Flashback: There Are Hundreds, Perhaps Thousands, Of ‘Iranian and Hezbollah Terrorists’ Inside the United States – “A recent report by the House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security states that there are hundreds, perhaps even thousands, people he described as ‘Iranian and Hezbollah terrorists’ in the United States. An alarming part of the officials’ assessments focuses on the apparent surveillance missions that Iranian diplomats and possible Hezbollah operatives have been seen conducting at sensitive targets such as New York City’s subways and bridges, and at nuclear power plants and tunnels elsewhere in the United States in the past 10 years.” Read more.

Flashback: Iran: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei Issues Directive To Begin Intensifying Terror Attacks Around The World – “According to Western intelligence officials, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave the order to the elite Quds Force unit following a recent emergency meeting of Iran’s National Security Council in Tehran held to discuss a specially-commissioned report into the implications for Iran of the Assad regime’s overthrow. Damascus is Iran’s most important regional ally, and the survival of the Assad regime is regarded as vital to sustaining the Iranian-backed Hizbollah militia which controls southern Lebanon… Mr Khamenei responded by issuing a directive to Qassem Suleimani, the Quds Force commander, to intensify attacks against the West and its allies around the world.” Read more.

Flashback: Iran-Sponsored Terrorists Plan US Attack ‘Worse Than The World Trade Center’ From Latin American Countries – “Middle Eastern terrorists have infiltrated Latin American countries—especially Mexico—to plan an attack against the United States, according to an alarming exposé broadcast this week by the world’s largest Spanish news network. The Univision documentary, ‘La Amenaza Irani,’ (Iranian Threat), uses undercover, never-before-seen video footage to illustrate how Iran’s growing political, economic and military ties to Latin America threaten U.S. security. The videos were part of a seven-month investigation in which college-aged Mexicans infiltrated diplomatic circles in Mexico to obtain recordings that prove diplomats from Iran, Venezuela and Cuba planned a cybernetic attack against the White House, FBI, Pentagon and U.S. nuclear plants.” Read more.

And these are the type of people expected to bring freedom and democracy to Syria after Assad falls? …

AFP – “A Syrian rebel who was filmed apparently cutting out and eating the organs of a soldier has defended his actions as revenge for regime atrocities, Time magazine reported on Tuesday.

The U.S. news weekly said it had talked by Skype with the fighter, identified as Khalid al-Hamad, who appeared in a video that sparked outrage and condemnation, including from the Syrian opposition.

Hamad claimed he was driven to the gruesome acts by footage on the dead soldier’s cellphone, showing him ‘humiliating’ a naked woman and her two daughters.

The magazine said Hamad described participating in another acts of mutilating regime forces, including militiamen known as shabiha.

‘I have another video clip… In the clip I am sawing another shabiha with a saw. The saw we use to cut trees. I sawed him in small pieces and large ones,’ Time quoted him as saying.

The magazine said Hamad, a Sunni like much of the opposition fighting against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, expressed hatred of member’s of the leader’s Alawite sect.

He also insisted that the rebel, identified as Hamad, had been ‘previously ejected’ from his unit ‘because of his history of brutality.’

‘Hopefully we will slaughter all of them,’ he told the magazine …” Read more.

Flashback: The Promotion Of Human Sacrifice And Cannibalism In Egypt – “The promotion of ritual human sacrifice and cannibalism has been a topic of discussion on two Egyptian TV programs recently. On Al-Tahrir, Egyptian TV advisor Ahmad Abdo Maher discusses the high-school curriculum issued by the highest religious authority in Egypt, Al-Azhar University, which encouraged students to cannibalize apostates and Muslims who abandon praying. The schoolbook stipulated that the act can be carried out so long as the human flesh is eaten uncooked …” Read more.

By Aaron Klein, WND – “TEL AVIV – The Iranian-backed Hezbollah is established training camps near the Syrian capital of Damascus to prepare for possible guerrilla warfare targeting Israel’s northern Golan Heights, according to informed Middle Eastern security officials.

The officials said the camps are training Palestinian groups as well as special units connected to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Baath party for operations against Israel if such actions are green-lighted by Assad in the near future.

The officials said that for the time being, Russia has urged Assad against taking any action targeting Israel.

Assad is also being held back from widening the conflict with the Jewish state for the time being since his army has made great advances toward quelling the jihadist-led rebel insurgency targeting his regime.

Large explosions rocked Damascus two weeks ago with Syria blaming Israel for the strikes, which reportedly targeted a military research center in Jamraya, near Damascus.

The reports followed confirmations by anonymous Israeli officials that the Israel Air Force carried out a strike against Syria earlier this month targeting a shipment of advanced missiles bound for Hezbollah.

The New York Times quoted U.S. officials saying the strike targeted Iranian Fateh-110 missiles headed for Hezbollah.

Syrian Information Minister Omran Zoabi was quoted by state-run media saying the Israeli air strikes ‘opens the door to all possibilities.’

Lebanese media quoted Seyed Hassan Firouzabadi, the chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, as saying: ‘Resistance forces will respond to the Israeli aggression.'” Source – WND.

JPost: ‘Assad Said Hezbollah May Fight Israel From Golan’ – “Iran persuaded Syrian President Bashar Assad to allow Hezbollah to open a new front from which to attack Israel in the Golan Heights, Israel Radio reported Wednesday citing a report by the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat. According the report, an Iranian source told the newspaper that Tehran is determined to prevent the fall of Assad’s regime in Damascus, because the Syrian president has been convinced to open the Golan to all Arabs and Muslim wanting to fight Israel.” Read more.

Flashback: Hizbullah MP: Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Hizbullah Will Wipe Out Israel