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The Burden of Damascus


 

Syrian children enduring ‘unspeakable’ suffering

 


February 5, 2014BBC News reports: “A new report shows children have endured ‘unspeakable and unacceptable’ suffering during the conflict in Syria, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says.

Children have been sexually abused and tortured in government detention, while rebels have recruited them in support roles and for combat, the report warns.

It estimates that more than 10,000 children have been killed. Many more have been injured or have disappeared.

Mr. Ban urged both sides in the conflict to protect and uphold their rights.

While the UN has previously accused the government and rebels of grave violations against children, the report is the first to have been presented to the UN Security Council.

Mr. Ban’s special representative for children and armed conflict, Leila Zerrougui, is scheduled to brief diplomats on the report’s findings next week…” (God will deal with these murderers: “And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea” – Mark 9:42.)


 

Syria accused of torture and 11,000 executions

 


January 21, 2014BBC News reports: “There is clear evidence that Syria has systematically tortured and executed about 11,000 detainees since the start of the uprising, a report by three former war crimes prosecutors says.

The investigators examined thousands of still images of dead prisoners reportedly smuggled out by a defector.

One of the authors told the BBC there was evidence of government involvement. Damascus has denied claims of abuse.

The report comes a day before peace talks are due to begin in Switzerland.

The Guardian newspaper in the UK – which along with CNN first unveiled the report – says the release appears timed to coincide with the conference, opening in the resort town of Montreux, and continuing in Geneva two days later.

The talks, known as ‘Geneva II’, are being seen as the biggest diplomatic effort to end the three-year conflict which has left more than 100,000 dead and millions displaced…” (Islamic Sharia Law rewards those who put apostates to death.  This is the punishment of all Muslims who mock Mohammad or the Koran.  Judaism and Christianity both accept and practice God’s Ten Commandments including Exodus 20:14: “Thou shalt not kill.”  In both Judeo-Christian religions murderers are not rewarded with 72 virgins as in Islam but are instead cast into hell – the Lake of Fire – Revelation 20:15; 21:8; 22:15.  See the next report.)


 

Syria barrel bombs ‘kill dozens of civilians’ in Aleppo

 


February 2, 2014BBC News reports: “Syrian government forces have killed dozens of civilians in air raids in the northern city of Aleppo, activists say.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) says about 90 people – most of them civilians – died when helicopters dropped barrel bombs on Saturday.

Aleppo has been the focus of bitter fighting between President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and rebels.

Meanwhile militants linked to al-Qaeda are reported to have killed the leader of a rival Islamist militia there.

Fighters from the Islamic State of the Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) killed Adnan Bakkour during a raid on the base of rivals, the Tawheed Brigades, according to SOHR, a UK-based group that monitors the conflict.

Attacks using barrel bombs and Scud missiles by President Assad’s forces are believed to have killed hundreds of people in Aleppo since the conflict began almost three years ago.

The use of the barrel bombs – essentially barrels packed with explosives – has been condemned by rights groups as indiscriminate.

Among those killed on Saturday were 33 civilians, including women and children, who died in a bombardment of the al-Bab area of Aleppo, while at least 13 civilians were killed in eastern areas of the city, SOHR said…”


 

U.S. Intelligence Chief Warns Against Syria’s Biological Weapons

 


January 30, 2014Israel National News reports: “The Syrian regime has agreed to dismantle its arsenal of chemical agents but may now have the ability to produce biological weapons, the U.S. intelligence chief warned senators Wednesday, according to AFP.

‘We judge that some elements of Syria’s biological warfare program might have advanced beyond the research and development stage and might be capable of limited agent production, based on the duration of its longstanding program,’ James Clapper, director of national intelligence, said in a written statement presented to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Clapper offered no further details but it was the first time officials had stated publicly that America’s spy agencies believed Syria had made significant strides in its biological weapons program.

British experts have already warned that there is a ‘clear and present danger’ of Al-Qaeda gaining possession of the Assad regime’s stockpile of biological weapons, claiming to have substantial evidence that Al Qaeda-linked groups may already have possession of toxic agents.

Clapper, according to AFP, added that Syria could potentially launch biological agents with conventional weapons…” (God’s Word predicts that 25% of the world’s population will die through viruses, and animal diseases – Revelation 6:7, 8.  And another 33% will die as nuclear war covers the globe – Revelation 9:14 – 18.)


 

Syria: Al Qaeda Training Western Citizens for Terror Abroad

 


January 21, 2014Israel National News reports: “Al-Qaeda has been using the influx of foreign nationals to Syria to train potential terrorists to begin cells abroad, specifically in the United Kingdom (UK) and European Union (EU), Britain’s The Telegraph reported Monday.

A defector from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) and Western security sources confirmed to the British news agency what UK and other intelligence officials have long suspected: that at least some foreign nationals who leave to fight in the Syrian civil war plan to use their experience and training there to attack their native countries upon their return.

The defector, speaking from the Turkish border – a route commonly taken by foreign Islamist fighters into Syria – said that Al Qaeda has been training recruits from Europe, the UK and the US how to make and detonate car bombs and suicide vests in anticipation of being sent home to start new terror cells.

‘They talked often about terrorist attacks,’ the defector, who would only give the name of Murad, stated to the British daily. ‘The foreigners were proud of 9/11 and the London bombings. The British, French and American mujahideen [holy warriors] in the room started talking about places that they wanted to bomb or explode themselves in Europe and the United States. Everyone named a target. The American said he dreamed of blowing up the White House.’…”(Terrorism is soon to be unleashed upon the world.  Jesus said in Matthew 24:37: “…as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”  In Noah’s day Genesis 6:11 states: “…the earth was filled with violence.”  See Luke 21:9, 27, 28, 31, & 32.  See also the next report.)


 

Swedish Study: Islamic Extremists Greatest Terrorism Threat

 


February 2, 2014Breitbart.com reports: “A study of extremist groups in Sweden finds that Islamic extremists pose the biggest threat of terrorist violence.

The study looked at extremists on the far left and far right, but finds that an election year there, and a possible return of Swedes who have joined the Syrian jihad, increase the potential for violence. Sweden’s national police agency, Säpo, reported that at least 75 Swedes have gone to Syria to join the fight against dictator Bashar al-Assad.

The report was presented Friday to Democracy Minister Birgitta Ohlsson.

The country saw its first suicide bombing in 2010, carried out by a man who moved to Sweden as a child but reportedly became radicalized during his college years in England.

Sweden is home to cartoonist Lars Vilks, whose images of the prophet Muhammad were among those published in a Danish newspaper in the fall of 2005, prompting violent protests months later. This continues to make him an assassination target for Muslim extremists throughout the world. Communication intercepted by the FBI shows that American Colleen LaRose made killing Vilks ‘my goal till I achieve it or die trying.’ She traveled in preparation for an attack and even tried to contact the cartoonist, she admitted in a 2011 guilty plea…”