The Crushing Of Middle Eastern Christianity, ‘The Full Magnitude Of The Horrific Christian Plight Is Largely Ignored’
By Richard L. Russell, Lebanon Wire – “Americans of all political stripes have embraced the promotion of democracy as a centerpiece of U.S. foreign policy. But this American democracy crusade has caused huge, and largely overlooked, collateral damage since the 9/11 Al Qaeda attacks against the United States in 2001. The fall of authoritarian regimes throughout the greater Middle East has fueled growing persecution of minority Christian communities. The Pew Research Center has charted extensive government restrictions on non-Muslim religions in numerous countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iran, Tunisia, Syria, Yemen and Algeria. Pew also has gauged very high social hostilities in Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, the Palestinian territories, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
These government restrictions and social hostilities directed against Christians are causing many to flee the region. In the early twentieth century, Christians accounted for about 20 percent of the Middle East population, but now that figure is down to only 5 percent. In the aftermath of 9/11 and the ‘Arab Spring,’ Christian communities throughout the greater Middle East find themselves increasingly besieged. While the United States seems to notice bits and pieces of this picture, the full magnitude of the horrific Christian plight is largely ignored.
Sieges against Christians in Lands ‘Liberated’ by the American Military
A democracy enthusiast would anticipate that the Christian community would be thriving now that a ‘democratic’ Afghan government was installed by American military power after the ouster in 2001 of the Taliban regime. After all, Afghanistan’s constitution, adopted in 2004, guarantees freedom of religion. But Afghan Christians today are compelled to worship in secret lest they be accused of apostasy for converting to Christianity from Islam, a charge punishable by death. Such persecution no doubt will grow after 2014, when American soldiers are largely gone and Washington is less able to influence the government in Kabul.
Across a troublesome border, Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are wielded more and more aggressively against Christians by a weak civilian government propped up by Pakistan’s Islamized military and society. Christians, who make up only about 2 percent of Pakistan’s 180 million people, are living under growing fear of persecution and economic discrimination. The assassination in March 2011 of the only Christian minister in Pakistan, who bravely criticized harsh blasphemy laws that impose the death penalty for insulting Islam, has chilled the willingness of secular and liberal Pakistanis to speak out.
Iraq’s open warfare against its Christian community has led to a mass Read more…
North Carolina: Muslim Man Sentenced In Plot To Behead Witnesses, Tells Judge That Islam ‘Invalidates All Other Religions’
Qur’an Sura 9:123, “O ye who believe! Fight those of the disbelievers who are near to you, and let them find harshness in you …”
Qur’an Sura 8:12b, “… terrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Qur’an.”
Even if it means hiring a disbelieving infidel hitman to behead the disbelieving infidel witnesses for you …
By MICHAEL BIESECKER, The Seattle Times – “RALEIGH, N.C. —A North Carolina man was sentenced Friday to four life terms for plotting to behead federal witnesses whose testimony helped convict him for his role in an earlier plot to slaughter U.S. servicemen and their families.
Hysen Sherifi, 29, was one of six Raleigh-area Muslims convicted in 2011 of planning to attack the Marine base in Quantico, Va., and overseas targets.
Shortly after starting his 45-year prison sentence in the terror case, Sherifi approached another inmate to help him hire a hit man to behead government informants and FBI agents. He recruited his younger brother Shkumbin Sherifi, 23, and former special education teacher Nevine Aly Elshiekh, 48, to help pay the hit man and organize the murders.
But the inmate whose help Sherifi sought turned out to be yet another government informant. FBI agents then staged an elaborate sting that involved secretly videotaped meetings with a woman posing as the go-between for a fictional hit man named Treetop and doctored photos that appeared to show the corpse of a beheaded witness in a shallow grave.
Federal prosecutors recommended leniency for the two coconspirators, who pleaded guilty last year and agreed to testify at the elder Sherifi’s trial on nine felony counts.
Citing their extensive cooperation, U.S. District Senior Judge Earl Britt sentenced the younger Sherifi to 3 years in prison, while Elshiekh got 3 1/2 years. They had faced as much as 10 years each.
Before Hysen Sherifi was sentenced, he lectured the judge about Islamic teachings.
‘The Koran is the truth that invalidates all other religions,’ said Sherifi, who declined a court-appointed lawyer and represented himself at trial. ‘If you do not submit, he will severely judge you, and on the day of judgment you will enter hellfire.'” Read more.
Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Stages Anti-Israel Rally, Calls For Its Destruction
For peaceful purposes …
Al Arabiya – “The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood is staging an anti-Israel rally in Cairo to protest Israeli airstrikes in Syria and the detention of a Muslim cleric.
Chants of ‘the people want destruction of Israel’ rang out Friday inside Al-Azhar mosque, the centuries-old seat of Sunni Muslim learning.
The rally is the first such protest by the Brotherhood, from which Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi hails, since it gained prominence after 2011 uprising that ousted president Hosni Mubarak.
Group officials say they are protesting the Israeli detention of top Palestinian Muslim cleric in the Holy Land in a rare crackdown on a leading religious figure that drew fierce condemnation from Palestinians. The demonstrators also were denouncing Israeli airstrikes in Syria that targeted alleged shipments of advanced Iranian missiles thought to be bound for Hezbollah.” Source – Al Arabiya.
Flashback: Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Leader Calls For Jihad Against Israel To ‘Save Jerusalem’ And ‘Cleanse Palestine’ – “This would be the same ‘leader’ of Egypt’s new president, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Muhammad Morsi—and the man whom some have even portrayed as the true power behind Egypt’s presidency, with Morsi acting as his puppet. According to last Thursday’s edition of Al Wafd, during his weekly sermon, ‘Muhammad Badi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide, confirmed the necessity for every Muslim to strive to save al-Quds [Jerusalem] from the hands of the rapists [Israelis] and to cleanse Palestine from the clutches of the occupation, deeming this an individual duty for all Muslims.’” Read more.
Flashback: Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Holds Venomous Anti-Israel Rally, Vows to ‘One Day Kill All Jews’ – “Arab hate: A Muslim Brotherhood rally in Cairo’s most prominent mosque Friday turned into a venomous anti-Israel protest, with attendants vowing to ‘one day kill all Jews.’ Some 5,000 people joined the rally, called to promote the ‘battle against Jerusalem’s Judaization.’ The event coincided with the anniversary of the United Nations’ partition plan in 1947, which called for the establishment of a Jewish state… Speakers at the event delivered impassioned, hateful speeches against Israel, slamming the ‘Zionist occupiers’ and the ‘treacherous Jews.’” Read more.
UK: Yet Another Muslim Sex Slavery Gang Jailed
By Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch – “The Qur’an allows for the owning of sex slaves:
If you fear that you will not act justly towards the orphans, marry such women as seem good to you, two, three, four; but if you fear you will not be equitable, then only one, or what your right hands own; so it is likelier you will not be partial. (Qur’an 4:3)
This verse is the basis for Islamic polygamy, allowing a man to take as many as four wives, as long as he believes he is able to ‘deal justly’ with all of them. But justice in these circumstances is in the eye of the beholder. Ibn Kathir says this the requirement to deal justly with one’s wives is no big deal, since treating them justly isn’t the same as treating them equally: ‘it is not obligatory to treat them equally, rather it is recommended. So if one does so, that is good, and if not, there is no harm on him.’
The verse goes on to say that if a man cannot deal justly with multiple wives, then he should marry only one, or resort to ‘what your right hands own’ – that is, slave girls.
The Qur’an commentator Maulana Bulandshahri explains the wisdom of this practice, and longs for the good old days:
During Jihad (religion war), many men and women become war captives. The Amirul Mu’minin [leader of the believers, or caliph – an office now vacant] has the choice of distributing them amongst the Mujahidin [warriors of jihad], in which event they will become the property of these Mujahidin. This enslavement is the penalty for disbelief (kufr).
He goes on to explain that this is not ancient history:
None of the injunctions pertaining to slavery have been abrogated in the Shari’ah. The reason that the Muslims of today do not have slaves is because they do not engage in Jihad (religion war). Their wars are fought by the instruction of the disbelievers (kuffar) and are halted by the same felons. The Muslim [sic] have been shackled by such treaties of the disbelievers (kuffar) whereby they cannot enslave anyone in the event of a war. Muslims have been denied a great boon whereby every home could have had a slave. May Allah grant the Muslims the ability to escape the tentacles of the enemy, remain steadfast upon the Din (religion) and engage in Jihad (religion war) according to the injunctions of Shari’ah. Amen!
This is by no means an eccentric or unorthodox view in Islam. The Egyptian Sheikh Abu-Ishaq al-Huwayni declared in May 2011 that ‘we are in the era of jihad,’ and that as they waged jihad warfare against infidels, Muslims would take slaves. He clarified what he meant in a subsequent interview:
…Jihad is only between Muslims and infidels….Spoils, slaves, and prisoners are only to be taken in war between Muslims and infidels. Muslims in the past conquered, invaded, and took over countries. This is agreed to by all scholars–there is no disagreement on this from any of them, from the smallest to the largest, on the issue of taking spoils and prisoners. The prisoners and spoils are distributed among the fighters, which includes men, women, children, wealth, and so on.When a slave market is erected, which is a market in which are sold slaves and sex-slaves, which are called in the Qur’an by the name milk al-yamin, “that which your right hands possess” [Qur’an 4:24]. This is a verse from the Qur’an which is still in force, and has not been abrogated. The milk al-yamin are the sex-slaves. You go to the market, look at the sex-slave, and buy her. She becomes like your wife, (but) she doesn’t need a (marriage) contract or a divorce like a free woman, nor does she need a wali. All scholars agree on this point–there is no disagreement from any of them. […] When I want a sex slave, I just go to the market and choose the woman I like and purchase her.
Right around the same time, on May 25, 2011, a female Kuwaiti activist and politician, Salwa al-Mutairi, also spoke out in favor of the Islamic practice of sexual slavery of non-Muslim women, emphasizing that the practice accorded with Islamic law and the parameters of Islamic morality.” Read more.
Muslim Cleric Invited To Pray Over Fallen SEALs Damns Them During Service As Unequal To Muslims And Fodder For Hellfire
What else was the Pentagon expecting from someone who is commanded by their “religion” to hate non-Muslims, who would be offering prayers in the name of a god who calls Christians “infidels who blaspheme“ and the “firewood of hell“? This is insulting. It is insane. It is inexcusable …
Qur’an Sura 1:5-7, “Show us the straight path, The path of those whom Thou hast favoured; Not the (path) of those who earn Thine anger [Jews] nor of those who go astray [Christians]”
“Sulaiman said: ‘I asked Muhammad about a people who followed a certain religion I was with. I told them about their prayer and worship. Right away Muhammad made this statement… They are in hell!'” – Asbab al-Nuzul by al-Suyuti, True Guidance, pt. 5, pp. 17-18.

Petty Officer 1st Class Michael J. Strange, 25, was assigned to the Navy SEAL team whose Chinook helicopter was shot down (AP)
By Jessica Chasmar, The 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.’
During the news conference, attorney Larry Klayman who is representing the grieving parents showed a video with audio of the prayer and a translation that scrolled over the screen.” Source – The Washington Post.
Changing The Times: One Of The Most Important Sunni Clerics In The World Rejects Israel’s Existence, ‘This Land Has Never Once Been A Jewish Land’
Daniel 7:25a, “He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law …”
A let’s-implement-Sharia-law everywhere Jew-hating jihadist and defender of Hitler-and-nuclear-terror ignoring history and making every effort to rewrite it at every opportunity? I’m shocked …
By IBRAHIM BARZAK, ABC News – “A prominent Islamic scholar making a landmark visit to the Gaza Strip declared Thursday that Israel has no right to exist and voiced his support for rocket fire on Israel, giving a boost of legitimacy to the militant Islamist Hamas rulers of the Palestinian territory.
Yusuf al-Qaradawi is the latest of a few high profile figures visit Gaza, boosting the Hamas effort to break its international isolation. The U.S., EU and Israel brand Hamas a terror group, while the rival Fatah, which rules in the West Bank, enjoys Western backing.
Al-Qaradawi issued the strongest anti-Israel declarations of any of the visitors to date.
‘This land has never once been a Jewish land. Palestine is for the Arab Islamic nation,’ said al-Qaradawi, a Qatar-based cleric made famous by his popular TV show and widely respected in the Muslim world.
‘The rockets made in Gaza are more powerful than the (Israeli) occupation’s rockets,’ he added…
The emir of Gulf state of Qatar also visited last year, and Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he’ll visit by the end of the month, despite a U.S. plea that he delay the trip in order not to harm efforts to broker a reconciliation between Turkey and Israel.
Al-Qaradawi arrived in Gaza late Wednesday to an enthusiastic welcome by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and his Cabinet ministers. They hosted the cleric Thursday in a tent set up on the site of the prime minister’s office, which Israeli warplanes demolished in 2009.” Read more.
Flashback: Dead Sea Scrolls Document History of Israel, Refute Palestine, Occupation – “The ancient, 2,000 year-old Hebrew scrolls were accidentally discovered in 1947 by a Bedouin boy high above the Israel Dead Sea in a number of caves. The Dead Sea Scrolls reveal the history of the Jewish Second Temple period (520 B.C.E.-70 C.E.), particularly from the second century B.C.E. until the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. – a time of crucial developments in the crystallization of the monotheistic religions. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a vivid testament to the life, times, community and legal heritage of the Jewish people to the land of Israel. In a world filled with blatant propaganda and lies by the Palestinian Authority (PA), Iran, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, it is refreshing to view upon these well preserved documents that speak of community and values by Jews who lived in biblical Israel.” Read more.
Flashback: PLO Executive Committee Member Zahir Muhsein (1977): ‘The Palestinian People Does Not Exist’ – “Way back on March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview with Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here’s what he said: ‘The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct ‘Palestinian people’ to oppose Zionism. For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.’” Read more.
Tunisian Salafist Declares The Future Conquest of Andalusia, Rome, And Jerusalem, ‘This Is The Age Of The Muslims’
Sheik Kamel Zarouq, Tunisia 4/30/2013: “I would like to declare loud and clear that the Al-Nusra Front, Ansar Al-Sharia, Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq, and the mujahideen in Somalia, in Mali, and in Algeria – we all stand united against the enemies. Our goal is to support the Islamic nation, to support the religion, to elevate the shari’a, and to spread the law of Muhammad. Out goal is to pull the nations out of darkness and into light. Our goal is to instate the shari’a, and regain Andalusia [Spain] and Jerusalem. The Prophet Muhammad said: ‘Rome shall be conquered.’ [Referring to Christianity] Rome will be conquered in our days. This is the age of the Muslims. Gone are the days of secularists and democracy. We are looking down upon them. We are looking down upon them from above. They are beneath us.” Watch video below.
Flashback: Al-Qaeda Eyes Tunisia Front Setting Off Alarm Bells Around The World – “Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’s recent appeal for recruits is setting off alarm bells around the world. The new message from al-Qaeda urged supporters to fight at home against secularists and liberals. The plea for aid from like-minded Islamists was met with a warm response by Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia, further heightening concerns that the country could become a new battleground for the terror network.” Read more.
International Union Of Muslim Scholars Member Spews Antisemitic Diatribe, ‘If Only Hitler Had Finished Them Off’
Tareq Hawwas, International Union of Muslim Scholars, Lebanon TV 4/18/2013: “The Jews are among the true enemies of the Islamic nation. Their enmity began with the beginning of the call to Islam. It is well established among Islamic scholars that the Prophet Muhammad died as the result of eating poisoned meat, given to him by that Jewish woman in Khaybar… Thus, the scholars consider the Prophet Muhammad to be a martyr because he died from the poison given to him by the Jews… The Jews are the enemies of this nation, and they spare non effort in preventing this nation from gaining power… anybody who knows what the Jews are like knows that this type of conduct is not out of character. First of all, they are among the people most rejecting of Allah… they are the slayers of prophets… they are cowards… the most miserly of all peoples… think nothing of violating treaties… have never respected, for a single day, any international agreement or treaty that they signed.. If only Hitler had finished them off, thus relieving humanity of them…” Listen to the insanity here.
Aspiring Islamic Terrorists In Via Rail Bombing Plot Discussed Alternative Plans To Poison Air/Water To Kill Up To 100,000 People
This Canadian Muslim wanted to kill 100,000 people. For peaceful purposes …
By JESSICA MURPHY, QMI Agency – “WASHINGTON, D.C. – An FBI sting operation scooped up a third man in the foiled plot to derail a Via passenger train between Toronto and New York, U.S. authorities said Thursday.
Ahmed Abassi, a Tunisian citizen who previously lived in Canada, is charged with two counts of knowingly making false statements in an application to immigration authorities for a green card and work visa in order to facilitate an act of international terrorism.
Each count carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in jail.
‘As alleged, Mr. Abassi came to the United States to pursue terrorist activity and support others in the same shameful pursuit. What Mr. Abassi didn’t know was that one of his associates, privy to the details of his plan, was an undercover FBI agent,’ FBI assistant director-in-charge George Venizelos said in a statement.
Authorities arrested Abassi on April 22, the same day Canadian law enforcement nabbed Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, of Montreal and Raed Jaser, 35, of Toronto.
The U.S. Department of Justice only only unsealed Abassi’s indictment Thursday in Manhattan federal court.
Esseghaier and Jaser appeared in Canadian court April 23 charged with a series of terrorism-related offences, including conspiring to murder people and to interfere with transportation facilities for a terrorist group.
In its release, the Department of Justice alleges it was Abassi who was responsible for radicalizing Esseghaier and met with him in New York City after travelling from Canada to the Unites States in mid-March. It is unclear where Abassi lived in Canada and how long he was there.
In his recorded conversations with Esseghaier and the undercover FBI agent, Abassi reportedly talked about his desire to commit terrorist acts in the U.S. and other countries and his intention to provide support and funding to terror organizations including an al-Qaida in Iraq affiliate called the al-Nusrah Front.
It’s also alleged he had plans to recruit others to his cause.
In a statement, the RCMP said they worked closely with their American counterparts in the parallel investigation…
Abassi’s next court date in New York City is set for June 11.
Two of the suspects in the Via Rail bombing plot discussed alternative plans to poison the air or water to kill up to 100,000 people, according to U.S. Department of Justice documents.” Read more.
Lebanon: Nasrallah Says Syria Will Supply ‘Game-Changing Weapons’ To Hezbollah ‘That The Resistance Has Never Obtained Before’
Be forewarned, Assad. Any “game-changing weapons” used against Israel by Hezbollah will not only invoke a punishing response against Lebanon, but against Damascus as well …

By AP and Times of Israel – “BEIRUT — 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 spoke less than a week after unnamed Israeli officials said Israeli aircraft twice struck shipments of advanced weapons in Syria believed to be bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel did not officially confirm responsibility for the early Friday and Sunday strikes around Damascus.
‘Syria’s response to Israel’s air strikes is to tell Israel that if your goal was to prevent boosting the resistance’s capabilities then take note … [Syria] will give the resistance arms,’ Nasrallah said, according to a translation posted on the website of the Lebanese Daily Star newspaper.
‘And it will provide the resistance with sophisticated weapons that the resistance has never obtained before,’ he said during the televised address.
Israeli officials said the Lebanese militia has tens of thousands of rockets, but that most of them are unguided. Israeli officials said the shipments targeted twice last week included precision-guided Fateh-110 missiles.
Syria has been the main conduit for Iranian weapons to Hezbollah.
Nasrallah also said Syria had opened up the Golan Heights for ‘resistance groups’ to fight against Israel.
‘Whoever wanted a war on Syria, the response was to open the Golan front for any popular resistance groups,’ he said.
He added that Hezbollah would aid any group attacking Israel from the Syrian side of the Golan.” Read more.
Assad: Syria Will ‘Give Hizbullah Everything’ – “Syria will ‘give Hizbullah everything’ in recognition of its support and will follow the terrorist group’s model of ‘resistance’ against Israel, a Lebanese newspaper on Thursday quoted President Bashar al-Assad as saying. His comments, published by Al-Akhbar, reportedly came during meetings with Lebanese visitors in Damascus and appeared intended to refute any suggestion that Israeli raids on Syrian targets would halt assistance to the Shiite group Hizbullah in Lebanon… ‘We have decided to give them everything,’ the newspaper quoted him as saying, without elaborating.” Read more.
Flashback: Hezbollah On Jerusalem: We Can Kill ‘Tens Of Thousands’ Of Israelis And Turn The Lives Of Millions Into Hell – “Hezbollah Secretary General, Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, says that [Hezbollah] can turn lives of millions of Zionists into real hell. Commemorating the International al-Quds [Jerusalem] day, Hezbollah held a ceremony in Beirut’s southern suburb … stressing that the resistance would defend the country against any Israeli attack, and would not wait for any permission to do so. His eminence noted that the price of this attack would be very expensive to the extent that ‘we can talk about tens of thousands of killed.’” Read more.
Senior PA And Fatah Official On Lebanese TV: ‘If We Had A Nuke, We’d Have Used It This Very Morning’
Thank goodness these guys are Israel’s partners in peace, otherwise they’d want to completely destroy the state of Isr… hey wait a minute …
Lebanese TV Moderator: “The American [John Kerry] came to the PA. They are talking about reviving negotiations, about getting back to the table with the Israelis… Will you go back to the negotiations game?”
PA/Fatah Official Jibril Rajoub: “There is no going back to negotiations unless the source of authority is the international resolutions, with a time frame and with the freezing of all unilateral Israeli steps: Jerusalem, the fence, settlements and prisoners.”
Lebanese TV Moderator: “You’ve heard Israel’s refusal.”
PA/Fatah Official Jibril Rajoub: “That doesn’t matter. Listen. We as yet don’t have a nuke, but I swear that if we had a nuke, we’d have used it this very morning.”
Flashback: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas: Palestinians Who Kill Jews Cannot Be Punished – “Because to punish Palestinians for killing Jews would, in their mind, be punishing someone simply for following the commands of their “prophet” Mohammed. He was, after all, a “perfect example for mankind” to follow whose teachings are “the fire with which” they “harvest the skulls of the Jews.” It is therefore an act of worship to kill Jews, and an act that draws them closer to “Allah” is an act that must be revered, not punished …” Read more.
Flashback: Palestinian Authority Religious Official Publicly Calls for Genocide of Jews as a Religious Islamic Goal – “The principal Palestinian Authority’s religious leader, the Mufti Muhammad Hussein, presented last week the killing of Jews by Muslims as a religious Islamic goal. Hussein made the comments at an event celebrating the 47th anniversary of the founding of the Fatah movement, which is headed by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. He cited the Hadith (Islamic tradition attributed to Muhammad) saying that ‘the Hour [of Resurrection] will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jew will hide behind stones or trees. Then the stones or trees will call: ‘Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.’” Read more.
Thousands Of ‘Free Syrian Army’ Fighters Joining Al-Qaeda Affiliated Rebels, ‘Entire Units Have Gone Over’
But, surely, they’re still “reflective and representative enough of the Syrian population” right? …
By Mona Mahmood and Ian Black, The Guardian – “Syria’s main armed opposition group, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), is losing fighters and capabilities to Jabhat al-Nusra, an Islamist organisation with links to al-Qaida that is emerging as the best-equipped, financed and motivated force fighting Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Evidence of the growing strength of al-Nusra, gathered from Guardian interviews with FSA commanders across Syria, underlines the dilemma for the US, Britain and other governments as they ponder the question of arming anti-Assad rebels.
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, said that if negotiations went ahead between the Syrian government and the opposition – as the US and Russia proposed on Tuesday – ‘then hopefully [arming the Syrian rebels] would not be necessary’.
The agreement between Washington and Moscow creates a problem for the UK and France, which have proposed lifting or amending the EU arms embargo on Syria to help anti-Assad forces. The Foreign Office welcomed the agreement as a ‘potential step forward’but insisted: ‘Assad and his close associates have lost all legitimacy. They have no place in the future of Syria.’ Opposition leaders were sceptical about prospects for talks if Assad remained in power.
Illustrating their plight, FSA commanders say that entire units have gone over to al-Nusra while others have lost a quarter or more of their strength to them recently.
‘Fighters feel proud to join al-Nusra because that means power and influence,’ said Abu Ahmed, a former teacher from Deir Hafer 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 [suicide] operations.’
Abu Ahmed and others say the FSA has lost fighters to al-Nusra in Aleppo, Hama, Idlib and Deir al-Zor and the Damascus region. Ala’a al-Basha, commander of the Sayyida Aisha brigade, warned the FSA chief of staff, General Salim Idriss, about the issue last month.” Read more.
Flashback: ‘Nowhere In Rebel-Controlled Syria Is There A Secular Fighting Force To Speak Of’ – ” In Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, rebels aligned with Al Qaeda control the power plant, run the bakeries and head a court that applies Islamic law. Elsewhere, they have seized government oil fields, put employees back to work and now profit from the crude they produce. Across Syria, rebel-held areas are dotted with Islamic courts staffed by lawyers and clerics, and by fighting brigades led by extremists. Even the Supreme Military Council, the umbrella rebel organization whose formation the West had hoped would sideline radical groups, is stocked with commanders who want to infuse Islamic law into a future Syrian government. Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of.” Read more.




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