Sderot factory fire after rocket attack
Flash 90
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon has vowed to strike hard at terrorists in the Gaza Strip and stem the escalating rocket fire against Israeli communities in the south.
Speaking with the mayor of the embattled southern town of Sderot, Yaalon said the IDF would keep up its operations against those responsible for the attacks. Yaalon was speaking to the mayor after a barrage of rockets Saturday night struck a factory in the town and burned it to the ground.
"We will not tolerate attempts by terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip to disrupt the daily lives of the residents of the south," Yaalon told mayor Alon Davidi, adding that the military would act "with a strong hand" against the sources of the rocket fire within the Hamas-run territory.
The Defense Minister's statement comes after the Israeli Air Force struck three concealed rocket launchers in the Gaza Strip in response to the attack on Sderot. At least three people were injured in the attack, which comes amid a recent escalation since Hamas terrorists kidnapped three Israeli teens on June 12.
The Iron Dome anti-missile defense system on Friday evening intercepted two rockets from Gaza towards the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council in southern Israel, just hours after a barrage of three rockets exploded in the Eshkol Regional Council, and a mortar shell was fired from Gaza as well.
Ahead of the rockets, the IAF conducted an airstrike, targeting a car in Gaza and killing two terrorists. The terrorists were identified by the IDF as Osama Hasoumi and Mohammed Fasiah, who were liquidated over being involved in the recent rocket escalation. Islamist sources in Gaza claimed the men were members of ISIS, the radical global jihadi group which broke off from Al Qaeda.
That IAF strike followed attacks emanating from Gaza on Friday morning, when a bomb exploded near troops manning Israel's security fence. The blast went off as an IDF patrol passed through the area, in what apparently was a targeted attack.
Former Navy SEAL Chris Beck chronicles the transformation to a woman, Kristin Beck, in her new book “Warrior Princess.”
A former member of SEAL Team 6 has become the poster girl for a Pentagon effort to include transgenders — people who have undergone sex-change operations — in the ranks.
Kristin Beck, formerly Senior Chief Petty Officer Christopher Beck, spoke recently at several high-profile events at intelligence agencies and the Pentagon to promote the integration of transgenders.
Transgender service in the armed forces, yes it will happen soon,” she said on Twitter.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, among the most politically correct Pentagon chiefs of the past several decades, fueled the effort within the Pentagon to integrate transgenders in May when he said the policy of banning transgenders should be reviewed continually. The transgender drive is the latest element of the Obama administration’s social engineering within the U.S. military.
The Pentagon currently defines transgenders as sexual deviants.
Enlarge Photo
Among Ms. Beck’s recent appearances were speeches at the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office and at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, according to the DIA and her Twitter feed.
She also was scheduled to speak to the Multicultural Heritage Committee at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, although one defense official said it is not clear how transgenderism fits within the multicultural spectrum.
Ms. Beck, author of “Warrior Princess,” spoke to the DIA on June 18 as part of the intelligence agency’s annual Pride Month — formerly Gay Pride Month but now expanded to include a host of sexually related terms, including transgenders. She received an award from DIA Director Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn at the event.
According to DIA’s newsletter, Ms. Beck, in her remarks, pushed for allowing transgenders in uniform. She said the Pentagon should stop defining people by external appearances and accept what they say they are on the inside.
“We are all, all of us, created equal, and we all deserve equal justice,” she said, explaining how she hid her true sexual identity during her military career.
As a man, Ms. Beck was part of SEAL Teams 1, 5 and 6 and was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
Since sex reassignment last year, Ms. Beck has sought to promote gay, bisexual and transgender acceptance in the military.
“The world is looking at us,” Ms. Beck told the DIA. “You can change the wallpaper, but I’m still right here. I can still do the job I was doing in uniform.”
The DIA said its event was designed to promote education and diversity in the workplace.
A Pentagon official critical of the sexual-diversity campaign said it was a waste of money.
DUBAI - Saudi King Abdullah, in a Ramadan message on Saturday, vowed to crush Islamist militants threatening the kingdom, the state news agency reported, saying the world's top oil exporter would not tolerate "a band of terrorists".
The remarks came two days after the monarch ordered all necessary measures to protect the country against potential "terrorist threats" resulting from turmoil in neighboring Iraq, where Sunni Islamist militants have captured some cities from the government of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
"We will not let a band of terrorists who have taken religion as a disguise behind which they hide private interests to terrorize the protected Muslims, to touch our homeland or any of its sons or its protected residents," King Abdullah said in a message at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Michael Loccisano/Getty ImagesProtesters hold up placards outside of St. Patrick's Cathedral in 2010 in New York City. The Catholic Church has been rocked by global sex abuse scandals.
The Vatican conceded Thursday most Roman Catholics reject its teachings on sex and contraception as intrusive and irrelevant, and officials pledged not to “close our eyes to anything” when it opens a two-year debate in October on some of the thorniest issues.
Core church doctrine on the nature of marriage, sexuality, abortion and divorce is not expected to change. But Pope Francis is well aware the church has lost much of its relevance and credibility in today’s secular world and is seeking to redirect priests to offer families, and even gays in civil unions, a “new language” that is welcoming and responsive to their needs.
Already, the working document for the synod discussions marks a sharp change from past practice. It is the result of a 39-point questionnaire that asked Catholics around the world about their understanding of, and adherence to, the church’s teaching on sexuality, homosexuality, contraception, marriage and divorce.
Thousands of ordinary people, clergy and academics responded. Usually, such working papers are compiled by bishops alone.
The responses were brutally honest.
The moral evaluation of the different methods of birth control is commonly perceived today as an intrusion in the intimate life of the couple
“A vast majority [stressed] the moral evaluation of the different methods of birth control is commonly perceived today as an intrusion in the intimate life of the couple and an encroachment on the autonomy of conscience,” the document said.
“Many responses recommend that for many Catholics the concept of ‘responsible parenthood’ encompasses the shared responsibility in conscience to choose the most appropriate method of birth control.”
Asked if the church might change its position to align itself with the practice of most of its faithful, Monsignor Bruno Forte, a meeting organizer, said, “We will not close our eyes to anything. These problems will be considered.”
Nonetheless, the document makes clear the value of the church’s core doctrine.
AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino
Pope Francis waves as he is driven through the crowd during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, June 25, 2014.
It laments the media and its own priests have failed to communicate the “positive” aspects of the Vatican’s key document banning artificial contraception, the 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae. Better pastoral outreach is needed, along with a “new language” to communicate the complete vision of marriage and family life the church espouses.
“Some observations inferred that the clergy sometimes feel so unsuited and ill-prepared to treat issues regarding sexuality, fertility and procreation that they often choose to remain silent,” the document said.
The officials presenting the report were asked what advice about sexuality, matrimony and raising children a group of celibate men could offer when they had chosen not to have sex, marry or have families.
Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, the synod’s organizer, said many lay Catholics were consulted in preparing the working document. There was also “ample representation” of the laity at Thursday’s press conference: a married couple celebrating their 25th anniversary joined the six clerics on the podium.
The document itself, though, acknowledged the church had a credibility problem.
“Responses from almost every part of the world frequently refer to the sexual scandals within the church [pedophilia in particular] and in general, to a negative experience with the clergy and other persons,” it said.
“Sex scandals significantly weaken the church’s moral credibility.”
The document does not recommend changing church teaching on hot-button issues like its opposition to gay marriage.
But citing Francis’ frequent call for the church to be more merciful and less judgmental, it recommends new pastoral guidelines to confront the increasing legal recognition for same-sex unions.
“The episcopal conferences amply demonstrate that they are trying to find a balance between the church’s teaching on the family and a respectful, non-judgmental attitude toward people living in such unions,” it said. It distinguished between gays who are “discreet” in their lifestyle and those who actively, “often aggressively” call attention to their unions.
The document also suggests ways to improve the cumbersome and expensive annulment process to enable Catholics who divorce and remarry to receive the sacraments. Currently, they are barred from receiving communion because the church deems they are living in sin and committing adultery.
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(Photo: Facebook/Shane Idleman)
Shane Idleman, founder and lead pastor of Westside Christian Fellowship in Lancaster, Calif.
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. — Jeremiah 29:13
I would like to buy three dollars' worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk, or a snooze in the sunshine...I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy three pounds of God, please" — Wilbur Reese
Recently, I shared with our congregation that one of the most difficult challenges associated with pastoring is not sermon preparation or taxing counseling appointments, but witnessing the tragic results of spiritual dehydration— people dying spiritually with living water just steps away.
Sadly, we become so busy, so self-absorbed to drink of the living water that Christ often spoke about. The excuses are broad, the solution is narrow: "Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst" (John 4:14).
Very few are truly hungry and thirsty for God. Although most of us quote, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled," many have never truly experienced it. Paul said that he wants to know Christ in the power of His resurrection and in the fellowship of His suffering (Philippians 3:10). King David cried out, "One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life" (Psalm 27:4).
Hungering and thirsting for God is an all-consuming passion that drives every aspect of life. One summer, I took a bike ride out into the desert with little water. As I turned around and headed back to my truck, I realized that I was out of water. Each mile brought a new level of thirst and desperation. My thoughts were consumed with water; nothing else mattered. The scenery and quiet that I enjoyed minutes earlier had lost its attraction.
Hope surged when I spotted my truck in the near distance. Within minutes, I dropped my bike, sprung the truck door open, and devoured the remaining water. Dehydration and exhaustion quickly gave way to a refreshing sense of satisfaction. The extreme thirst that I was feeling was now satisfied.
This reminded me of the thirst that God often describes in His word—those who truly thirst (seek) Him with all of their heart will be satisfied. This is not partial obedience, its full surrender; it's not trying to squeeze God in, it's about allowing Him to fully saturate every aspect of our lives.
Ironically, we can have the letter of the law, but not the heart of Christ. We can quote the Bible, but hearts remains hard as stone. We rule our homes with a rod of iron, but know nothing about compassion, gentleness, and humility. We often come to church to give God "His due," rather than to truly seek Him. There are also those who have replaced conviction with compromise. As a result, their passion for God has been quenched. If you find yourself saying, "I'm just not convicted about seeking God," it may be time for self-evaluation. If one is offended by the fully surrendered life, it may be a good indication that change needs to take place.
Seeking God with all of our heart, mind, and soul is a mark of the surrendered life. The surrendered life is not an option like a choice in a buffet line; it is the mark of someone who is genuinely filled with the Spirit of God.
The lukewarm church disdains the heat of conviction; thus it remains lukewarm. Lukewarm knows nothing of holiness, surrender, and the Spirit-filled life. It may have a form of godliness, but it denies God by its lifestyle (see 2 Timothy 3:5). Charles Spurgeon rightly noted, "There will be three effects of nearness to Jesus—humility, happiness, and holiness."
Why don't many truly seek God?
1. First, it may be that one is not genuinely saved. They may have "religion" but not a true "relationship" with the living God.
They have never repented of their sin and experienced "times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19).
2. Second, many are rejecting absolute truth as reflected in recent denominational decisions to endorse same-sex marriage. The Bible was written so that people would know the truth — the truth about God, creation, sin, and redemption.
We are not called to make truth tolerable but to make it clear.
3. Third, many simply do not want to seek God they enjoy carnal living and satisfying the flesh. The excuse is often, "I just don't feel like seeking Him." But we must first discipline ourselves before desire comes. We must first empty ourselves in order to be filled. We must first obey before receiving the blessing. We must first break before there is restoration. We must first pray before there is transformation. We must praise Him before there is peace. And we must first seek Him if we are to truly find Him.
"He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (cf. Hebrews 11:6).
The fire of God, the manifest presence of God, does not fall on an empty altar: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God" (Romans 12:1).
Return to God...return to the voice of Truth.
Genuine faith is reflected in sincere humility, selfless love, true repentance, and a surrendered life.
Does your life reflect these characteristics? Are you truly seeking God? It's not too late.
Let the Headlines Speak
Jun 28th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues
SLIGHT CHANCE OF MAGNETIC STORMS
NOAA forecasters estimate a 20% chance of polar geomagnetic storms this weekend in response to a minor solar wind stream blowing past Earth's magnetic field.
Texas Earthquake Today 2014 Strikes Pecos
A Texas earthquake today 2014 has struck Pecos. The Texas earthquake today June 28, 2014 began in the morning hours. Damage assessment is pending.
Japan set for landmark easing of constitutional limits on military
Japan is poised for a historic shift in its defense policy by ending a ban that has kept the military from fighting abroad since World War Two, a major step away from post-war pacifism and a big political victory for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
Report: Mexican Military Chopper Crosses Into US, Shoots At Border Agents
Border Patrol agents in Arizona were reportedly fired upon by a Mexican military helicopter that traveled across the border. Mexican authorities were conducting a drug interdiction operation when the incident happened early Thursday morning on the Tohono O’odham Indian Nation. The Mexican chopper fired at the agents and then flew back into Mexico.
Sierra Leone: Sheltering Ebola-infected people 'is a crime'
Sierra Leone has warned it is a serious crime to shelter patients infected with the Ebola virus who are in hiding. The Health Ministry said several patients had discharged themselves from hospital in Kenema district, the heart of the country's outbreak. The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for "drastic action" to contain the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which has killed almost 400 people.
Report: Israel, US prepared to help Jordan fight ISIS
Israel and the US may be prepared to aid Jordan as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) eyes the Jewish State's eastern neighbor, according to US officials quoted in a report by The Daily Beast on Saturday. US officials speaking under anonymity have speculated that if ISIS were to pursue a full-on assault on Jordan, the kingdom might not be able to repel the Islamists.
Iraq crisis: Armed US drones in use to protect advisers
Armed US drones are flying over Iraq to protect American military advisers on the ground, say officials. Their role is "force protection" of US assessment teams helping Iraqi security forces repel militants now running large parts of the country. They are supporting other manned and unmanned aircraft making 30-40 surveillance missions each day.
Syrian rebels buckling in face of jihadis
The Syrian rebels that the U.S. now wants to support are in poor shape, on the retreat from the radical al-Qaida breakaway group that has swept over large parts of Iraq and Syria, with some rebels giving up the fight. It is not clear whether the new U.S. promise to arm them will make a difference.
Last Time Lenders Did This, They Triggered The Financial Crisis
During the first quarter, 3.7 million credit cards were issued to subprime borrowers, up a head-scratching 39% from a year earlier, and the most since 2008. A third of all cards issued were subprime, also the most since 2008, according to Equifax. That was the glorious year when “subprime” transitioned from industry jargon to common word. It had become an essential component of the Financial Crisis.
Mexico arrests vigilante leader in state torn by violence
Mexican authorities detained one of the most well-known leaders of vigilante groups that have been battling drug gangs in the western Mexican state of Michoacan, a federal official said on Friday.
China's New Map Roils Diplomatic Waters in Region
China has roiled the diplomatic waters in the region by publishing a new map that lays claim to swaths of the South China Sea that encompass almost all of Southeast Asia.
Russia warns Europe over re-selling gas to Ukraine
Russia's state-controlled gas company, Gazprom, warned its European customers Friday that it could limit supplies to countries that intend to re-sell the natural gas on to Ukraine.
Thursday, June 26, the day before US Secretary of State John Kerry was due in Riyadh, King Abdullah summoned a National Security Council meeting “upon the current security events in the region, especially in Iraq,” and ordered “all necessary measures to protect the kingdom against terrorist threats.” This meant a general call-up of military units for a high level of preparedness.
debkafile’s military sources disclose that Egypt is assembling an expeditionary commando force to fly to Saudi Arabia and bolster its border defenses.
This flurry of Saudi-Egyptian military steps comes in the wake of intelligence gathered by Saudi reconnaissance planes showing Iraqi Al Qaeda-linked Sunni fighters (ISIS) heading for the Saudi border and aiming to seize control of the Iraqi-Saudi crossing at Ar Ar (pop: 200,000).
ISIS and its Sunni allies are still on the march after capturing Iraq’s border crossings with Syria and Jordan earlier this week.
On Wednesday, Kerry warned Mideast nations against taking new military action in Iraq that might heighten sectarian divisions.
By then, he had been overtaken by a rush of events, as debkafile reported this morning.
When the first of the 300 military advisers US President Barack Obama promised the Iraqi government arrived in Baghdad Wednesday, June 25, Iranian and Saudi Arabian arms shipments were already in full flow to opposing sides in embattled Iraq, debkafile’s military sources report.
At least two cargo planes from bases in Iran were landing daily at Baghdad’s military airport, carrying 150 tons of military equipment. More than 1,000 tons were flown in this past week alone. Tehran has replicated for the Iraqi army the routine it established for Bashar Assad’s army, furnishing its needs on a daily basis as per its commanders’ requests. Those requests come before a joint Iranian-Iraqi headquarters set up at the Iraqi high command in Baghdad for approval and the assigning of priorities for shipment.
At the same time, Saudi arms are flowing to the Iraqi Sunni tribes fighting alongside the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) against the Iraqi army and the Shiite Nouri al-Maliki's government.
They are coming in both overland and by airlift.
Saudi arms convoys are crossing the border into Iraq with Saudi and Jordanian air force cover and heading north up to the Al-Qa'im district near the Syrian border. There, Sunni and ISIS fighters, after capturing this key Anbar district, have begun refurbishing the bases and runways at H-2, once one of Saddam Hussein’s largest airbases. Situated 350 kilometers west of Baghdad, this air base has two long runways and hangars for fighter planes and helicopters.
debkafile's military sources disclose that, on Tuesday June 24, unmarked civilian cargo planes landed at the base, bringing arms shipments from Saudi Arabia.
The response was swift. Syrian warplanes, on their first bombing mission inside Iraq, tried to damage the partially repaired runways at H-2 to prevent any more Saudi air shipments from landing.
Military sources in Washington confirmed Wednesday June 25 that those air strikes were conducted by the Syrian Air Force “in Anbar province” and left at least 57 people dead and 120 wounded - most of them Iraqi civilians. They declined to say what was attacked, referring only to ISIS-related targets.
That incident was a striking demonstration of the tight operational sync between the Iranian command centers in Damascus and Baghdad, which are attached respectively to the high commands of the Syrian and Iraqi armies. This coordination offers Tehran the flexibility for its command centers in both Arab capitals to send Iranian drones aloft from Syrian or Iraqi airbases to feed those centers with the intelligence they need for the strategic planning of military operations to be conducted by the Syrian and Iraqi armies.
Iranian command centers in Baghdad and Damascus are fully equipped therefore to decide which Syrian, Iraqi or Hizballah force carries out a planned operation in either Syria or Iraq. Both are now pushing back against further ISIS advances towards its goal of a Sunni caliphate spanning both countries.
This is just what US Secretary of State John Kerry meant when he said in Brussels Wednesday June 25, after two days of talks in Iraq, that "the war in Iraq is being widened."
He had good reason to sound worried. Shortly before he spoke, the first group of US military personnel, out of the 300 that President Obama had promised, had arrived in Baghdad. But neither Tehran nor Riyadh had consulted Washington before they organized heavy arms shipments to their respective allies in Iraq.
The Iraqi battle arena is become a veritable Babel of war. So far, six countries are involved in varying degrees: the US, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
The Department of Justice has spent $1.2 million on a website which depicts cartoon cellphones engaging in real-life dating scenarios, in an effort to help teens define their “digital line” as it pertains to relationship abuse.
The website, ThatsNotCool.com, which is operated through the DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women, is perhaps the cheesiest government-funded ad campaign in recent memory.
The site features a series of cartoon videos as well as “callout cards,” which teens can send to their “textual harassers,” or people who send intrusive text messages.
The first video featured on the site, titled “Password,” shows two female cellphone characters sitting on a city bench. One character is typing away on her body, which is also a cellphone keypad.
“I should know your profile password,” says one character to her girlfriend. “It’s no big deal. We’ve been together for a long time now.”
The second cellphone is worried about the invasion of privacy, saying that she is not comfortable giving her social media passwords to her girlfriend or anyone else.
“What should I do?” she asks.
Another video, titled “Show Me Your Battery,” asks “Is it OK to pressure someone for nude pics?”
Besides the Office on Violence Against Women, ThatsNotCool.com is co-sponsored by the Ad Council and the non-profit group, Futures Without Violence.
The DOJ awarded the $1.2 million grant to Futures Without Violence, which is based in San Francisco.
While the program has generated little buzz, raising questions over whether it is cost-effective, the deputy director of the Office on Violence Against Women claims it has been successful.
“So far the campaign has produced strong results in raising awareness of the issue and available resources, including over 3 million website visits and 77,000 Facebook fans,” deputy director Bea Hanson testified to the Senate Judiciary committee earlier this month.
“A critical part of this project addresses cyberstalking by helping teens define their ‘digital line’ as it relates to relationship and dating abuse.”
The “That’s Not Cool” site also features “Callout Cards,” which are meant to be printed and shared. One card reads “Congrats! With that last text you’ve achieved stalker status.”
Another reads, “You’re much more attractive when you’re not textually harassing me.”
Other outreach efforts include an ambassador program which aims to groom young leaders to help raise awareness over dating and relationship violence.
Funding for the program extends through Sept. 2014, according to the website USASpending.gov. The Office on Violence Against Women did not immediately return a request for comment.
Moussa Abu-Marzouk (L) and Fatah leader
Flash 90
Hamas Deputy Leader Moussa Abu-Marzouk revealed that despite the talk of a Fatah-Hamas unity government, Hamas remains firmly in charge of Gaza, and is giving the terrorists raining rockets on Israel a free hand.
Abu-Marzouk, deputy to Hamas's political bureau leader Khaled Mashaal and the man tasked with the reconciliation with Fatah, clarified on his Facebook page that Hamas has no security coordination with the IDF, something Hamas has criticized the Palestinian Authority (PA) over.
The Hamas deputy leader clarified that the Hamas ceasefire with Israel, which was brokered by Egypt to end the 2012 counter-terror Operation Pillar of Defense, is different than the PA's security cooperation with the IDF.
That ceasefire, according to Abu-Marzouk, was a strategic achievement for Hamas, given that it canceled the buffer zone on the Gaza side of the security barrier, allowing terrorists to approach the fence to launch attacks. Abu-Marzouk added that it expanded the maritime boundaries for local fishermen, and opened border passages.
Abu-Marzouk announced that the terrorists launching rockets, which on Saturday night directly hit a factory in Sderot burning it down, are not being stopped or arrested by Hamas.
While the IDF notes that Gaza terrorists have fired over 30 rockets at southern Israel since the kidnapping of three teens by Hamas terrorists on June 12, Abu-Marzouk clarified that not a single arrest has been conducted against the perpetrators of the recent attacks.
The unity government reportedly has responsibility for managing Gaza, although unity government Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah has admitted that his government is completely powerless in Gaza.
Hamas may not be stopping the rocket launching terrorists, but the IAF for its part took out two of the perpetrators in an airstrike on Friday, targeting a car in Gaza. CCTV video footage from Gaza apparently captured the targeted airstrike on film.
A moderate earthquake was felt in Greece, reported Israel Radio on Saturday. The quake rated 4.7 on the Richter scale and centered near Andros, Greece, about 100 miles east of the country's capital in Athens.
No injuries or damages have been reported.
Christian Werner/ DER SPIEGEL
Some 40,000 Christians live in Qaraqosh, a town near Mosul, Iraq. Residents have been gathering daily in 12 local churches as ISIS jihadists advance towards the community. Their existence is a precarious one.
It was the evening of Tuesday, June 10 when Salam Kihkhwa walked into a mobile phone shop in the Qaraqosh city center to purchase more minutes for his phone. Kihkhwa surfs the Internet for several hours each day and was carrying an iPhone 5s in his hand as he navigated his way past brackish puddles on the edge of the road. He set a few wrinkled dinar notes down on the counter to pay for a pack of Winchesters. Just at that moment, he recalls, he heard the scream: "The jihadists are in the city!"
Salam no longer remembers where the scream came from or whether it was a man or a woman. But he knows he left his cigarettes and money on the counter, grabbed his phone and made a run for it. Hundreds of others joined him, and the crowd kept swelling as it dashed through the streets of Qaraqosh.
"They're coming," the people fleeing yelled, warning others along the way. They ran into their houses -- and the bells of Qaraqosh's 12 churches began to ring.
Yet the day that the residents of Qaraqosh thought that the radical Islamist militia of terrorist Abu Bakr a-Baghdadi had entered the city turned out to be just one fear-filled day among many. And the situation this week appears to be worsening.
A week after his trip to the shop, Salam is sitting on a sofa in his small home, a wooden cross hanging on the wall behind him. His mother Sabria has set a meal of chicken and couscous on the table while his father Samir brings glasses of ice water. "God, we thank you for this meal," they say. "Please stand by us."
Salam, their only son, is 28 years old, and wears a lemon-colored t-shirt, jeans, tennis shoes and sunglasses to protect his eyes. Salam has suffered from poor vision since surviving a bombing attack in Mosul four years ago. Since then, he's had a lot of time on his hands. He only works occasionally -- sometimes at local gas stations, others on his computer at home. Otherwise he teaches himself different English accents, reads books about physics and energy production and, now and then, the Bible.
A Bastion of Catholic and Orthodox Christians
Salam and his parents are Catholic. Their hometown, Qaraqosh, is located some 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Mosul in northern Iraq between craggy mountains and the Nineveh plains. Iraq is a culturally divided country, and it's in cities like Qaraqosh where this division is most evident. There are few places in the Middle East that are home to as many Christians as the population of 40,000 residing here. In Qaraqosh, they have established 12 churches that rise above the city like stone sentinels. They include names like Tahira, MarZena, Saint Behnam et Sara, and they count both Catholics and Orthodox Christians among their followers.
Each church looks different from the other, rising above the low-rise homes of this desolate city. Qaraqosh's roots go back to the biblical times of Mesopotamia, with history flowing between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Babylon, Ur and Nineveh, places that play a role in the Old Testament, are all located in modern-day Iraq, a cradle of civilization and once a place of creation. Today, however, the streets of Qaraqosh are filled with trash and a pungent smell in the air.
In these days of terror, which have shown Iraq's extreme fragility, one aspect of life in Qaraqosh has overshadowed all others: danger. Qaraqosh is home to an Iraqi minority that is disliked by Baghdadi's jihadists. "We shouldn't be living here any longer," says Salam.
Two weeks ago, radical Islamist ISIS militants seized control of Mosul and then proceeded to advance to within seven kilometers of the Christians. The people of Qaraqosh have been living in a state of fear ever since. The first invasion reports turned out to be exaggerated and the jihadists still haven't entered the city, despite heavy fighting on Wednesday. But the fear remains real. "For two days, my parents and I barricaded ourselves inside our home," Salam says. He peers out through the iron bars covering the windows overlooking a garden with six dried-out cucumber plants. There's not much else in sight.
'It's Dumb that We're Still Here'
He didn't see, for example, how 1,500 heavily armed Kurdish Peshmerga fighters had come in from Erbil and taken positions at the edge of the city. Soldiers with the Iraqi army had only been stationed at forward posts near Qaraqosh which they abandoned after the fall of Mosul. For a time, Qaraqosh had been left completely defenseless. "We've felt a little bit safer since the Kurds got here," Salam's mother says. "But the very fact that they have to be here in the first place is scary for us."
Qaraqosh has simultaneously become a safe haven and a prison for locals. Around half the population had already fled to the Kurdish city of Erbil by last week, say those who have stayed. Many more left on Wednesday following battles between ISIS and the Peshmerga on the outskirts of town, according to news reports.
Of those who have stubbornly remained, Salam had this to say last week: "It's dumb that we're still here."
Salam spent his childhood in Baghdad and knew from an early age that he wanted an education. As Baghdad sank into chaos under Saddam Hussein, Salam read books about Albert Einstein at home and won competitions on questions about religion. For years, he longed to become a priest.
Later, when his family moved to Qaraqosh, Salam joined a Protestant sect and handed out Bibles to Muslims in Mosul, a potentially deadly provocation. He liked the idea of having a future as a clergyman. He though it would give him all the time in the world for learning. But his mother ultimately talked him out of the idea. "I want grandchildren," she says.
For several days now, a member of the Kurdish Peshmerga with broad shoulders and a loaded assault rifle has been standing guard near a window in front of Salam's home. Salam has been having trouble sleeping at night since the man arrived. He fears ISIS fighters will fire at the Kurd and, in the process, also strike his house.
The story of Qaraqosh is also the story of rearmament. Even though more than 800,000 of the 1.3 million Christians living in Iraq have fled the country over the past 20 years, Qaraqosh remained a bastion of stability.
On March 20, 2003, the day the Iraq war began with the bombardment of Baghdad, priests in Qaraqosh summoned their people and handed them wooden staffs they could use to defend their city. Over the years, they acquired arms, uniforms and training. Today, some 1,000 Christian fighters were already at the edge of the city when the Peshmerga arrived to help. The city's protective force is its most important employer. It's now the men's job to prevent the ISIS from burning down the churches, raping their women and shooting their children.
'We Have to Protect the Christians'
Qaraqosh is located between Mosul and the Kurdish city of Erbil, there are, of course, questions about the motives of the Kurds, who have deployed troops here. Are they acting purely for humanitarian reasons?
"The Christians are a peaceful people and they have lived here for a long time," says Qaraqosh security chief Mohammed, a Kurd and Muslim who receives his salary from the Kurdish autonomous government. He sits behind a desk near Salam's home and spins his pistol with his index finger. "No one has died in Qaraqosh since we got here," he says. "And no one will enter the city alive from the outside."
"We have to protect the Christians because we are stronger," he says. "It's our duty. Of course, they would also have advantages if they were part of Kurdistan. We have work, oil and water." One reason the Kurds are keen to serve as protectors to the Christians is that they want to expand their territory and found their own state. Qaraqosh is home to one mosque and around 100 Muslims. In order to prevent that population from growing, city authorities have banned Muslims from buying land or houses here.
Fighting between ISIS and Kurdish forces in Qaraqosh has forced 50,000 Assyrians to leave the city.(AINA) -- Nearly all of the population of Qaraqosh, 50,000 Assyrians, has fled the city amid fighting between ISIS and Kurds. Syrian Catholic Archbishop Mar Youhana Boutros Moshe attempted to negotiate with ISIS and the Kurds to convince them to leave the city, but the negotiations failed. ISIS and the 'Revolutionary Tribes' (Sunnis) are set to storm the city.
According to Bishop Yousif Habash of the Syriac Orthodox Church in New Jersey, Qaraqosh (also known as Baghdede) is now almost completely abandoned. A source reporting from Qaraqosh told AINA the population has fled to Arbel, Dohuk, Alqosh, Tel Kepe, Telsqop and Ankawa. Monasteries and churches are filled with displaced Christian refugees from Baghdede. There is an urgent need for food, water, medical aid and blankets.
Kurdish forces and ISIS pounded each other with mortars. The Kurds have positioned themselves on the east side of Qaraqosh, ISIS and the 'Revolutionary Tribes' have stationed themselves on the west and south side, near the villages of Tawajna and Qurtaba-Arab and south of Balawat.
ISIS has given the Kurdish forces an ultimatum to leave by 7 P.M. else face an attack.
The city is known by three names: Baghdede in Assyrian, Hamdaniya in Arabic and Qaraqosh in Turkish.
(Photo: Facebook/Shane Idleman)Shane Idleman, founder and lead pastor of Westside Christian Fellowship in Lancaster, Calif.
