Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul-Karim Ali said Damascus "has the option and the capacity to surprise in retaliation." He said he cannot predict when the retaliation will be, saying it is up to relevant authorities to prepare for it.
U.S. officials said Israel launched a rare airstrike inside Syria on Wednesday. The target was a convoy believed to be carrying anti-aircraft weapons bound for Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese militant group allied with Syria and Iran.
Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul-Karim Ali said Damascus "has the option and the capacity to surprise in retaliation." He said he cannot predict when the retaliation will be, saying it is up to relevant authorities to prepare for it.
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The deepening crisis created by the civil war in Syria poses a major threat not only to the continued existence of that nation but to the stability of an already chaotic Middle East. This story and the following other stories cover the growing Christian ministry to thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing into neighboring countries. Drops of dried blood lead like bread crumbs up three flights of stairs to a shrapnel-shredded apartment, perhaps 40 yards from the site of a car bombing that killed Lebanon's top intelligence chief Oct. 19 -- and threatened to destroy the country's shaky stability.
Christians in Syria impacted by the internal conflict are crying out for help.
Open Doors USA is hearing from some of the churches about the masses of displaced families who were forced out of their homes and left homeless, living in public parks or the wilderness. Trinity Broadcasting Network, America's favorite faith-and-family channel, is highlighting the award-winning video documentary The Cross: The Arthur Blessitt Story, produced and directed by TBN Vice President of Administration Matt Crouch, as this month's stewardship and love gift for TBN viewers and partners.
On Christmas Day 1969, Arthur Blessitt, a simple street evangelist sharing the gospel on tough and gritty Sunset Strip in Hollywood, California, began a 3,000-mile hike from the West Coast to Washington, D.C, carrying a 12-foot, 45-pound rugged wooden cross on his back. His only focus was to share with all he met what that cross symbolized: the forgiveness, hope, and healing all can find through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The situation in embattled Syria is getting worse for Christians.
That’s what a contact in Syria told Open Doors. “The Christians who have a way out of the country are leaving, but unlike the time after the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, when hundreds of thousands Christians fled Iraq, the surrounding countries have closed their doors to Syrians,” the contact says. "God is at work in this crisis, and we're trying to find where." -Aid worker among Syrian Refugees A grim summary: Civilian deaths in the nearly 18-month-old rebellion against the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad topped 21,000 in early August. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have fled their homes, seeking safety from government and militia attacks in shrinking sanctuaries within Syria or in neighboring countries. Army and rebel forces battle for control of Syria's major cities, as large swaths of the country fall under control of the rebels -- or of criminal gangs.
Syria admitted for the first time recently it has chemical weapons and may use them against outside forces.
Fears that those weapons could fall into terrorist hands or that jihadists could infiltrate Israel's border with Syria has the Jewish state on high alert. Israeli authorities are quietly stepping up distribution of gas masks at malls and other public places. By the end of the year, the army estimates another half million gas masks will be distributed—an average of more than 80,000 a month. <more...> |
Walter Blackwood
Associate Pastor with The Bridge Community of Faith in Kelowna BC Canada. Archives
May 2017
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