The situation in Syria

[Mackenaw]

Thank you for your reply, TrueAndMagneticNorth.

[Mackenaw]

Hello TrueAndMagneticNorth

God bless you this day.

Since you chose to edit your post, I will write an additional response.

I have not read every single post that you have posted since 2011; but I have read a great many. The tone of your posts have changed. When you began, you greeted your brothers and sister in Christ, and sometimes you included prayers within your posts. You mentioned God and Jesus, regularly.

I personally cannot imagine reading and researching, daily, the horrors and atrocities going on in Syria, without completely breaking down. I believe a person has to be given a calling from God in order to do so. I do believe that God has given you that calling.

Since I have read many of your posts starting in 2011, I have noticed changes. If I had not had that history (in reading your posts for the last 5-6 years), and my first introduction to you was in reading your post dated 9/3/2016, I would have had a entirely different idea of who you are, what your motive is/was, and Who you represent.

Remember to put on the full armor of God, guard your heart and keep the name of Jesus on your lips.

God bless and keep you.
In Christ Jesus' name,
Sister Mack

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

Hi All,

No time to really talk that much, but want to post a couple of articles.

A recent exchange with Mackenaw (previous posts) has led me to reflect on the fact that some of my descriptions and choices of phrase can be quite inflammatory.

Therefore, while I will continue to point out who I view as extremely negative influences on conflicts such as Syria, I'm well aware that I ought to support my statements solely with evidence (which I believe I do pretty well, by the way) instead of insulting language (even though the insulting language has been pointed at undoubtedly unsavoury actors). Needless to say, no matter how unsavoury the target of such language, it is obviously not very constructive.

Anyway, here are the articles. One is about the current plight of the Assad regime who, along with its allies and the Kurds as well, has been the side in the conflict that HASN'T been committing genocide against Christians. All in all, the current strategic situation of the Assad government is pretty good although, it needs to be remembered, this like most other wars tends to go in ebbs and flows.

Link is below:

http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/09/07/ass ... -in-texas/

The other article is about a couple of things including recent developments in Aleppo, Syria's biggest city. All of the warring parties and their backers know the importance of this city. Reinforcements for both sides have been moved towards Aleppo in recognition of its importance. The city continues to be divided between government and 'rebel' control, with Islamic State and the Kurds also holding smaller sections.

The 'rebels' managed to break a government siege of the rebel-held part of the city a few weeks back. In recent days, however, the government forces and Hezbollah reversed rebel gains and have reimposed the siege. This is good strategic news for the Assad government, but obviously terrible news for the innocent civilians living in 'rebel'-held sections of the city.

Yeah, it's no doubt a really messy situation no matter who is wining and losing. A debka article mentioning this and other strategic developments is linked below.

http://debka.com/article/25654/Hizballa ... -on-Israel’s-Golan-border

All the best. Til next time.

UPDATE: Here is a new fascinating article from debkafile about the growing Russian-Turkish partnership. Debka can be both very bad and very good, very accurate and very inaccurate, although one can usually only tell in hindsight. Remember, the Middle-East, and certain alliances, will play a big part in end-times Bible prophecy, although it is obviously quite unwise to predict how it will all pan out. Link is below:

http://debka.com/article/25656/Putin-Er ... for-Obama-

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

This is an interesting article. It was apparently written by Bishop Nazir-Ali, a high-up bishop from England. I'd never heard of him until he recently lead a delegation of people to meet with President Assad of Syria.

Needless to say, the visit was heavily attacked by all of the pro-rebel/pro-extremism types in western/international media, etc. However, this article gives a really good account of their visit to Syria and its purpose.

It's an outstanding, fair and balanced article, in my opinion. And, as usual- sorry if I sound like a broken record here- but the very distinct impression one can draw is that while the Syrian government is not necessarily beloved across much of Syria, it is still generally seen as a much preferable option compared to the so-called 'opposition' or 'rebels'.

I won't talk on this any more. If you don't have time to read all of the articles I post, I'd like to recommend this one in particular.

Link is below:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09 ... egime-cha/

[mlg]

TrueandMagneticNorth,

Why do you feel the Syrian government is better for the people than the rebels?

Take care

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

Hi mlg,

Thanks for the question. Firstly, let me say without a doubt that there would be a lot of Syrians who would choose the 'rebels' over the government, no question. But all unbiased polling I have seen indicates that while the Syrian government is not overly beloved, only a minority would choose the rebels over the government.

One poll I saw (can't remember the source as it was a while ago, but I could try to look it up if you wished to see the evidence, which would be fair enough) indicated that 70% of Syrians would prefer the government, 20% would prefer neither the government or the rebels, while 10% would favour the rebels.

Another poll I saw indicated that Assad would comfortably win in a free and fair election against a 'rebel' candidate Anyway, please note that such references to polling are merely a starting point for my answer to your question.

Assad is an Alawite, a sect that makes up about 15% of the Syrian population. All Alawites are public enemy number one of the rebels, who are mainly Sunni Muslim. Sunni Muslims make up about 60% of Syria's population (more on this a bit later).

Alawites have suffered massively from this war, and from the outset a common cry of rebels and rebel-sympathisers has been "Christians to Beirut, Alawites to the grave." This slogan obviously states that Christians should be ethnically cleansed from Syria, while genocide should be carried out against Alawites. But they are clearly more than words; there are volumes of indisputable evidence that this brutal sentiment has been actively carried out since the start of the war.

Christians in Syria are traditionally government supporters. In fact, Assad has had them in high-up governmental positions because he knows they are generally loyal and reliable servants. Moreover, along with minorities such as the Druze (a Shiite sect), actual Shia and some other smaller minorities, there are approximately 30% of minorities who make up the backbone of Assad's support.

Then there are the Kurds, a separate entity, who have no loyalty to the government or the rebels, but who have made it clear time and time again that they would rather have Assad in power than the rebels. The Kurds have co-operated with some minor rebel groups from time to time, but have been at war with the major rebels groups since the beginning of the conflict, and have suffered from horrendous atrocities at the hands of these rebel groups.

Then there is the Sunni Muslim majority. Many of these support the rebels, although the numbers are not clear. However, a sizeable number of these ('Urban Sunnis' as they are called) support the government, and there is a higher number of Sunnis in Assad's standing army then there are Alawites (although, to be fair, there do appear to be ongoing trust issues with some of these elements within the regime's army).

To be honest, mlg, I confess that I am nothing more than an 'armchair expert' on Syria. But I am, at least, an armchair expert who has undertaken extensive research on the topic from independent sources.

There were two main things which led me to start this forum several years ago: 1) The genocidal persecution of Syrian Christians by 'rebel' groups, and 2) The horribly dishonest portrayal of the conflict by the so-called 'International community' and its mainstream, establishment media.

Hey, I don't want to bore you with an overly long response. Sorry if I have already done that. Again, thanks for the question.

In summary, I never had any interest or sympathy for Syria until the outbreak of the so-called 'Arab Spring' about five years ago. When I heard isolated snippets about Christian persecution in that and other countries in the area, I began to dig and was horrified at what I learned, and became convinced, based on a wealth of evidence, that Syria was the victim of an international conspiracy (as other countries such as Serbia, Iraq and Libya haave been before it).

Before I continue, I invite you to watch the following 2-minute clip from General Wesley Clark, from 2011, in which he states that the real powers-that-be had plans (since 2001) to take down numerous Middle-East countries within a short span of time.

Please don't think my pieces of evidence are isolated. I have heaps to back it up, but am just offering you solitary pieces to keep it concise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RC1Mepk_Sw

To sum up, much of the turmoil in the Middle-East has been orchestrated from western countries and their allies. The 'rebels' have been CIA-backed from the outset, and the international media has played its deceptive part beautifully by demonising the Syrian government at every opportunity and completely ignoring and downplaying rebel atrocities, to the point that the mainstream media have been caught time and time again deliberately pinning the blame- for rebel led massacres- onto Syrian government forces (this sort of thing has been documented earlier in this forum).

Hey, I'll leave it there. I'm well aware that not all of my info would be 100% accurate but it's better than the 10% (maximum) accuracy that is offered by the mainstream media.

Last point (my opinion based on research): Is Assad perfect? No- far, far from it. Are the rebels perfect? No, they are much worse than Assad and they are largely backed by international players who are meddling in Syria for sinister reasons. The outside world might not recognise it, and might ignore it, but the average Syrian knows far better what is really going on inside their country (and they know it far better than me, too).

I could go on for ages about this, but feel I've already gone on long enough.

Thanks for the enquiry. May the Lord bless you, and yours.

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

Hello my friends,

Wasn't planning on posting anything any time soon, but a couple of articles have jumped out at me lately. Firstly, there was one from debkafile, an Israeli intelligence site that tends to be very hit and miss, but sometimes excellent (and with an open pro-Israeli point of view).

The following article candidly and frankly discusses Israel's open and large-scale support for al-queda and other jihadist factions in Syria, and Israel's refusal to protect members from the minority Druze sect when Israel's jihadist allies are menacing areas populated by people from this small sect. Link is below:

http://www.debka.com/article/25660/Fail ... -on-Golan-

The other article is just as interesting. It has long been known to anyone smart enough not to trust the western government/media complex that the idea of 'moderate' Syrian rebels is right up there with Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. As has been extensively documented in this forum, Christians have suffered genocidal persecution since the start of the Syrian conflict; not from Assad and his allies, who are generally friendly toward Christians, but from the western-backed rebels.

Well now, here is yet another exhibit. The title of the article is "American Commandos 'forced to run away' from US-backed Syrian rebels". A quote from one rebel says it all, "Christians and Americans have no place among us."

Think about this quote- not from an American-centric point of view, but a Syrian point of view. Again, "Christians and Americans have no place among us," were the words. Remember, Syria is 10% Christian, and these Christians are allied with other minorities in Syria, as well as a substantial minority of Sunni Muslims, who (altogether) make up the backbone of Assad's support.

Now I'm going to editoralise. This is just one man's view, take it or leave it: There is only one side in this war that a Christian should support if that Christian has something against genocide against fellow Christians. There is only one side. It is not a perfect side, by any means. But it is (along with the Kurds, to an extent) the only side that can act as a protector of the already-decimated Christian population in Syria.

The side I speak of, needless to say, is not the Israeli/US-backed Syrian 'rebels' (not to mention those others backing them as well, including the shameless leaders of my own country). Link is below:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09 ... rian-rebe/

UPDATE: Here is another article about the incident involving so-called 'moderate' Syrian rebels and the American soldiers. It is titled, 'US troops forced out of Syrian town by anti-Assad rebels'. Here is the first subtitle under the heading: 'Video purportedly shows supposed American allies of the Free Syrian Army chanting: 'We're going to slaughter you'.

Link is below:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 11666.html

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

The latest news is indeed very disturbing. What has been substantiated, and even admitted by the American side, is that American warplanes have bombed a number of Syrian army positions in Deir al-Zor, a government-held enclave in eastern Syria that is besieged by 'Islamic State' forces.

The American bombing of these positions killed dozens of Assad's soldiers, and paved the way for the Islamic State forces, allowing the jihadists to then overun at least one of the positions. Hard not to wish for justice against these perpetrators right now, but I'll keep it to myself.

Was it an accident? Who cares what I think. But it did happen, and there have long been strong suggestions that the USA government, along with other western countries, has played a significant clandestine part in establishing and maintaining the whole Islamic State organisation.

Seriously, what a horribly topsy-turvy, messed up world. This is our 'New World Order', perhaps the very same one detailed in the Bible in the lead-up to the end times. Who knows. Relevant links are below:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/syrian-army- ... 22114.html

https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/2016 ... -army.html

[mlg]

Hi TrueandMagneticNorth,

It is not a secret that the Obama Administration is against the Assad government in Syria. This has been known before the rise of the Islamic State. Obama has said many times that he wants the Assad government out. It was the Obama Administration that authorized sending weapons to the rebels to help them in their fight against the Assad government. Sadly, many of these weapons have fallen into the hands of the Islamic State.

Now, what many people don't realize is that the everyday American does not get to make the decisions for America. Whether Obama has done what is wrong or what is right, I could not personally tell you. All I know is that many Christians from Syria and Iraq have now been displaced or killed. Satan is waging a war against Christians.

I have been watching the developments in Syria closely now for a couple of years myself. I believe that there is a lot of Biblical History that has been destroyed in Syria. I believe that from what I have read, that Christians have been persecuted for awhile in Syria and Iraq. God sent many to witness in Syria from Biblical times onward. I believe that country was still majority Islamic instead of Christian even after God sent so many missionaries to share His truth. The people chose to not choose the Truth. I believe that God is allowing Syria to be destroyed. I wonder if maybe he is allowing it because He was denied by so many in Syria.

Just some thoughts.

Take care

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

Thanks, mlg,

I appreciate and value your thoughts. There could well be validity to what you say. God obviously operates on a completely different and unfathomable level to us mere mortals, and there would indeed appear to be very strong spiritual elements to the entire Middle-East mess.

One thing that I would like to add is that it would not be wise for people in the western countries (Christians or otherwise) to think that they will remain immune from God's judgement. If God has really let Syria be destroyed because it has largely rejected him, then the simple fact of the matter is that the future for America, England, Europe, Australia, etc (all of which have also largely rejected God in the modern age) is not going to be very bright at all, and could go just as badly as Syria has gone, unless there is a wholesale turning back from the suicidal path taken by the west in the recent era.

Pretty sobering stuff, that's for sure. But certainly worthy of prayer, to say the least.

Again, thanks for the input. God bless you.

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

Greetings All,

Can't talk this morning, so will try to keep it brief (and post a couple of relevant articles). Anyone following Syria lately will have heard one-sided media reports about alleged Syrian government and Russian atrocities in Aleppo (northern Syria) where it appears that there has been a significant escalation of violence in recent times.

This dramatic escalation is, in essense, the result of the fundamental failure of a recent US-Russian ceasefire agreement. The incident that sparked this failure was the American bombing of Syrian government soldiers, a war crime which is now widely accepted as having been deliberately carried out (and seemingly in co-ordination with Islamic State fighters).

To be fair, this war crime does not appear to be the work of high-up politicians. What I have read (and yes, I know I can be wrong sometimes) is that the bombing of the Syrian soldiers was possibly ordered by state department and/or pentagon type figures who deliberately wanted to sabotage the Russian/US ceasefire agreement in Syria. Well, if this is the case, it certainly seems to have worked.

As for the latest deluge of anti-Assad, anti-Putin media reports about Aleppo, it's more of the same one-sided propaganda that our corrupt media gives us. Indeed, it is quite possible that Syrian government and Russian government forces are committing war crimes in Syria. If anyone can tell me an active participant in any conflict that didn't commit a war crime, they're probably a liar.

However, as usual, what we are seeing are pure crocodile tears from media, politicians and their fellow travellers alike. While they condemn the Syrian government and Russia for their alleged actions in Syria, we hear virtually nothing about the ongoing, genocidal atrocities committed by the western-backed 'rebels'.

If anyone is wondering how ths topic should be prayed about, I would suggest to pray that God's will be ultimately done in Syria- not Russia's will, not America's will, but God's will. And if anyone out there doesn't really like the idea of WW3 breaking out any time soon, I would suggest praying earnestly that the type of cold-blooded, treasonous, zealous elements that bombed the Syrian government soldiers are weeded out of their positions and brought to heel/justice (not only in America, but wherever they may reside, to be fair).

Two good articles I have read on these topics are linked below:

http://debka.com/article/25696/US-Russi ... -in-Syria-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10 ... hospitals/

God bless you.

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

Oh, one more thing. If anyone else would have reasonable suggestions for prayer points on this topic, please feel free to post.