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Under Military Pressure, IS Lost 22 Percent of Its Territory in 15 Months

March 17, 2016

Increased military pressure against Islamic State fighters in both Syria and Iraq led to the group losing 22 percent of its territory in the past 15 months, with about half of the loss coming since the beginning of this year.

That is the result of analysis by monitoring group IHS, which said the militants are “increasingly isolated and being perceived as in decline.”

IHS pointed to the area of northern Syria between the Islamic State de facto capital of Raqqa and the Turkish border, where airstrikes from Russia and a U.S.-led coalition combined with Kurdish and Sunni fighters on the ground pushed out the militants and freed key border crossings.

Under IS control

Islamic State now controls only a small portion of Syrian territory where it can smuggle in supplies and fighters from Turkey.

The addition of Russia’s bombing campaign was controversial, with Western accusations that its forces were focused too much on targeting rebel fighters in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad instead of on Islamic State.

But the start of Russia’s airstrikes on September 30 last year marked a significant increase in the overall aerial campaign.

Between January 1, 2015, and the start of Russia’s airstrikes, the warplanes in the U.S.-led coalition were carrying out a combined average of 20 airstrikes per day in Iraq and Syria. Since the Russian bombing began, that number has risen to 23 per day, according to a VOA analysis of Pentagon data.

Iraq cities

As the collection of forces beat back Islamic State in northern Syria, pro-government forces in Iraq made their own gains, highlighted by the army and Sunni and Shi’ite militias taking back the city of Ramadi.

Iraq plans to make a similar push in the northern city of Mosul, one of the major areas the militants have held for more than a year and a half, but that operation is not imminent.

The international community has pointed to the need for unity in the battle against Islamic State and for the Syrian government and rebels to reach a peace deal in order to allow military resources to focus on eradicating the militants instead.

That process, which saw little progress for several years as more and more people died and millions fled the country, has renewed life with this week’s launch of U.N.-led negotiations in Geneva. http://www.voanews.com/content/under-military-pressure-islamic-state-lost-territory/3241460.html

March 17, 2016

Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday that ISIS has been committing genocide against Yazidis, Christians and Shiite Muslims.

The designation marked just the second time a U.S. executive branch has used the term “genocide” during an ongoing conflict.

“Daesh is genocidal by self proclamation, by ideology and by actions,” Kerry said in a televised address, using another name for the Sunni militant group. “We must recognize what Daesh is doing to its victims.”

“Naming these crimes is important but what is essential is to stop them,” he added.

Congress had put mounting pressure on the State Department to label ISIS atrocities a genocide and set a March 17 deadline for Kerry to determine his findings.

Fireworks erupted at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing last month when lawmakers grilled Kerry over why the State Department had not yet branded ISIS massacres of Christians a genocide.

“The whole world knows Christians are being slaughtered in the Middle East,” Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican and frequent critic of the Obama Administration, said at the hearing. http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/kerry-designate-isis-atrocities-genocide-n540706

The loss of territory is not a surprise, nor is the labeling in an election year.

Since 2014 I have written that I do not believe that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi would be the final King of the South:

I do not believe its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi will become the biblical King of the South. (Thiel B. Islamic State kills 500 Yazidis who would not convert; 20,000 hidden escape; USA drops more bombs. August 10, 2014)

The Bible suggests that Iraq will be involved in a confederation of North African and Middle Eastern nations (Ezekiel 30:1-9; Psalm 83:4-8) who will support a leader that the Bible refers to as the final King of the South (Daniel 11:40-43).

At this moment, I do not believe that this will be the ‘Caliph’ of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Instead, I believe that many will point to groups such as the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Hamas, Boko Haram, etc. as extremists and claim that a ‘moderate’ Arabic-Turkish Islamic confederation is the best way to control ‘extremism.’ The West, including probably the UK and USA, will go along with that. (Thiel B. UK will not fight with Assad against Islamic State, many British Muslims fight for the Islamic State, US calls Islamic State ‘apocalyptic,’ and Muslims killed in Iraq. August 22, 2014)

While many are focusing on the face of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his Islamic State, they are only a part of what is happening. Though in some respects, they may act like a trigger.

Groups like the Islamic State will end up encouraging the West to embrace a variety of proposals, including one that the Bible suggests sounds like a type of Islamic caliphate (at least the peoples it discusses in it are currently predominantly Islamic at this time). A confederation of predominantly Islamic nations will happen per Daniel 11:40-43 and Ezekiel 30:2-8. (Thiel B. Kissinger tells of New World Order, Cameron concerned about ISIS terrorism, while Obama tells of ‘no strategy’ related to bombing Islamic State raises some concerns. August 29, 2014)

Also notice something I posted last month:

I still do not believe that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the final King of the South. His actions and practices are turning much of the world against him and his group. This will spur more to rise up against him and the Islamic State–despite the fact that it will still do damage in various areas. Expect some type of defeat for the Islamic State. But also look for the rise of an Arabic leader to become that King. (Thiel B. Islamic State reportedly low on funds, so what might it do? February 16, 2016)

So, why did I include “but . . .” in the headline of today’s post?

Because the Bible shows that terrorism is prophesied:

14 ‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, 15 and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, 16 I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you. (Leviticus 26:14-17)

25 The sword shall destroy outside; There shall be terror within (Deuteronomy 32:25)

12 “Cry and wail, son of man; For it will be against My people, Against all the princes of Israel. Terrors including the sword will be against My people; Therefore strike your thigh. (Ezekiel 21:12)

12 Behold, these are the ungodly,Who are always at ease; They increase in riches…19 Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. (Psalms 73:12,19)

25 Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke, 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, 27 When your terror comes like a storm, And your destruction comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. (Proverbs 1:25-27)

5 Also they are afraid of height, And of terrors in the way (Ecclesiastes 12:5).

The Islamic State has provided terror to many places. The Bible specifically warns about acts from Palestinians and Syrians:

8 The Lord sent a word against Jacob,
And it has fallen on Israel.
9 All the people will know —
Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria —
Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:
10 ‘The bricks have fallen down,
But we will rebuild with hewn stones;
The sycamores are cut down,
But we will replace them with cedars.”
11 Therefore the Lord shall set up
The adversaries of Rezin against him,
And spur his enemies on,
12 The Syrians before and the Philistines behind;
And they shall devour Israel with an open mouth. (Isaiah 9:8-12)

In Genesis 48, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were the sons of Joseph, received blessings from Joseph’s father Jacob, whose name was changed by God to Israel:

13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near him. 14 Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. 15 And he blessed Joseph, and said:

“God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has fed me all my life long to this day, 16 The Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; Let my name be named upon them…(Genesis 48:13-16).

Because of this, sometimes when the Bible uses the term Israel it can be referring to the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh, and they include the Anglo-nations. Ephraim is the progenitor of the British people, which includes the Anglo-Saxons of the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.

Since the USA, UK, and Canada have all agreed to accept Syrian refugees, and the Islamic State has reportedly been able to get some of its supporters to be ‘migrants/refugees,’ the ‘effects’ of the Islamic State will not be over once that group is no longer as it has been.

Furthermore, the Islamic State’s formation has reminded many Muslims that Islam expects to have a caliphate.  The Bible tells of a confederation of peoples in the Middle East and North Africa that will arise and then fall:

40 “At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. 41 He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. 42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. (Daniel 11:40-43)

Since those involved in supporting the final King of the South are from lands currently dominated by Islam, it remains my position that the actions of the Islamic State will contribute to the rise of the final King of the South of Bible prophecy (Daniel 11:40-43), who will cooperate in a major way with the final King of the North (Daniel 11:27; Psalm 83:3-8).

The Islamic State will NOT be the final King of the South. Yet a confederation will arise involving many Islamic lands.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 17th, 2016 at 3:30 pm and is filed under Prophecy.

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• WSJ: Barack Obama sends secret letter of cooperation to Iran related to Islamic State; VOA: Barack Obama to request permanent air strike authorization against Islamic State
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• BibleNewsProphecy: Obama Administration Pushing for an Islamic Empire? Islamic State advances, terrorizes, and kills.
• Islamic State gaining weapons and land: Barack Obama dimisses recent setbacks
• Obama Declares End to Combat Mission, Ogwyn Suggested Changes
• Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to Islamic State: So what is next?
• Iraq is a failed state
• BibleNewsProphecy: Will an Arabic Calphiphate Destroy the West?
• UK will not fight with Assad against Islamic State, many British Muslims fight for the Islamic State, US calls Islamic State ‘apocalyptic,’ and Muslims killed in Iraq