USA bombing Libya, again

The USA has began another round of bombing in Libya, this time going against the Islamic State:

February 19, 2016

CAIRO — U.S. airstrikes Friday hit a suspected Islamic State training camp in Libya, leaving more than 40 dead — possibly including a senior leader — in an attack that followed Western calls for stepped up pressures against militant strongholds in North Africa.

The Pentagon press secretary, Peter Cook, said a key target was a senior Tunisian militant linked to deadly commando-style attacks last year in his homeland.

Earlier, a U.S. defense official said the militant, Noureddine Chouchane, was “likely killed” in Friday’s airstrikes. But Cook said full details were being assessed. Libyan authorities placed the overall death toll at more than 40.

It was the first major U.S. airstrikes in Libya since November and followed increased alarms by Western leaders about a widening Islamic State presence in Libya, which could open new oil-linked funding sources and give militants footholds along migrant routes to southern Europe.

President Obama this week urged for greater efforts to keep the Islamic State from “digging in” across Libya, where ongoing political infighting has divided the country into rival administrations and complicated Western-led efforts to battle militant factions. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/reports-airstrikes-target-suspected-islamic-state-base-in-libya/2016/02/19/e622c12a-d6f7-11e5-be55-2cc3c1e4b76b_story.html

February 19, 2016

The mayor of the Libyan city of Sabratha, Hussein al-Thwadi, told Reuters the planes struck at 3:30 a.m. (0130 GMT), hitting a building in the city’s Qasr Talil district, home to many foreign workers.

He said 41 people had been killed and six wounded. The death toll could not immediately be confirmed with other officials.

Photos released by the municipal authorities showed a massive crater in grey earth. Several wounded men lay bandaged in hospital.

The air strikes targeted a house in a residential district about 8 km (5miles) west of the centre, the municipal authorities said in a statement. The house had been rented to foreigners including Tunisians suspected of belonging to Islamic State, and medium calibre weapons including machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades had been found in the rubble, the statement said.

Tunisian security sources have said they believe Tunisian Islamic State fighters have been trained in camps near Sabratha, which is close to the Tunisian border.

A U.S. military officer said among those targeted in the air strikes was a senior Tunisian operative, Noureddine Chouchane, believed to be connected to the attacks last year on a Tunis museum and the Sousse beach resort which killed dozens of tourists.

Officials have said those two attacks, both claimed by Islamic State, were carried out by gunmen who trained in Libya.

“We are assessing the results of the operation,” said Col. Mark Cheadle, spokesman for the Pentagon’s Africa Command. http://www.reuters.com/article/libya-security-idUSKCN0VS1A5

The situation in Libya is one that the USA helped create as the Obama Administration bombed Libya a few years ago as part of its efforts to overthrow the ‘elected’ government of Muammar al-Gaddafi back in 2011. More than 8,000 American personnel in warships and aircraft were deployed in the area. At least 3,000 targets were struck in 14,202 strike sorties. Instead of bringing ‘peace,’ these interventions have created chaos and opportunities for terrorism. Back then, the USA supported a group with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Libya has had a lot of violence since, and there are various factions controlling different parts of it.

It is widely believed that USA actions and inactions in Iraq, Syria, and Libya led to the rise of the group calling itself the Islamic State. Many realize this and are upset.

Notice also the following from back in 2014:

Citizens of the West have little understanding of the depth of the sufferings unleashed on the peoples of North Africa, Palestine, Syria and Iraq since the United States and NATO launched wars against the peoples of this region…

It was three years ago when NATO had declared the end of the NATO mission, loudly announcing that the NATO mission to Libya had been ‘one of the most successful in NATO history.’ Despite this declaration of success there were clear signs of the remnants of the NATO suborned militias fighting for control of Libya. Today, that fighting has engulfed all of Libyan society to the point that the militias that had been deployed by NATO are now out of control while the funders of the militias are caught in the wider disputations over the future of the Africa, Palestine and the Arabian Peninsula. Calls for the United Nations and for the African Union to militarily intervene in Libya must now be accompanied by the call for ensuring that none of the current members of the UN Security Council who were participants in the NATO intervention can be part of any UN force to demilitarize Libya to disarm the out of control militias. …

Despite the best efforts of the United States’ State Department and NATO to present a so called ‘transition’ process with the procedural democratic rituals such as elections, the role of the militias has been the dominant feature of the warfare and destruction. When the Libyan human rights activist Salwa Bugaighis was slain in Benghazi last month, both Samantha Powers (US Permanent Representative to the United Nations) and Hilary Clinton (former Secretary of State) issued statements denouncing her murder but these two architects of the destruction of Libya remain indicted in the court of public opinion for their roles in creating the present conflagration. http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/01/the-united-states-nato-and-the-destruction-of-libya/

Americans tend to remember Benghazi because of the deaths caused at its embassy there in 2011 (see also Benghazi, American General Lovell, and Hillary Clinton and Hillary Clinton defends net result of intervention in Libya and deflects negative questions on Benghazi).

Those in Libya, Iraq, Syria, etc. have truly been suffering. ISIS, the remainder of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Ansar al-Sharia are all attempting to install a Sunni Muslim empire that seems similar to what the Bible tells of, in several places, such as Daniel 11:40-43, Psalm 83:2-8, and Ezekiel 30:2-8.

As far as Libya goes, there are various references to that word in the Bible. However, many of the translations are questionable as sometimes a word for an old area of Persia (Phut) is translated as Libya. Basically Strong’s (from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance) words 3864, 3865, & 3866 means people from the interior of Africa and seems to include the areas west of Egypt. Here are three prophetic passages that refer to it with Strong’s words 3864, 3865 & 3866, respectively:

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)

2 “Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God:
“Wail, ‘Woe to the day!’ 3 For the day is near,Even the day of the Lord is near;It will be a day of clouds, the time of the Gentiles. 4 The sword shall come upon Egypt,And great anguish shall be in Ethiopia,When the slain fall in Egypt,And they take away her wealth,And her foundations are broken down.
5 “Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, all the mingled people, Chub, and the men of the lands who are allied, shall fall with them by the sword.”
6 ‘Thus says the Lord:
“Those who uphold Egypt shall fall,And the pride of her power shall come down.From Migdol to Syene Those within her shall fall by the sword,”Says the Lord God.
7 “They shall be desolate in the midst of the desolate countries,And her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are laid waste. 8 Then they will know that I am the Lord,When I have set a fire in Egypt And all her helpers are destroyed. 9 On that day messengers shall go forth from Me in ships To make the careless Ethiopians afraid,And great anguish shall come upon them,As on the day of Egypt;For indeed it is coming!” (Ezekiel 30:2-9)

1 The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the nations…
9 Come up, O horses, and rage, O chariots!
And let the mighty men come forth:
The Ethiopians and the Libyans who handle the shield,
And the Lydians who handle and bend the bow.
10 For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts,
A day of vengeance,
That He may avenge Himself on His adversaries.
The sword shall devour;
It shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood;
For the Lord God of hosts has a sacrifice
In the north country by the River Euphrates. (Jeremiah 46:1,9-10)

In Ezekiel 30:5 and Jeremiah 46:9 it is the words translated as Lydia and Lydians, not those translated as Libya and Libyans, that appear to be referring to the people in the area of modern Libya.

All the wars and fighting in the Arabic regions will ultimately result in a leader rising up that the Bible refers to as the final King of the South. And that will not end well for those who truly support his end time confederation per Daniel 11:40-43. Yet, it likely will take even more war, as well as at least one peace treaty (cf. Daniel 9:27), for that leader to rise up. That being said, there is war and destruction prophesied for those associated with Libya in the Bible.

Jesus told His followers to watch, related to prophetic events, in Mark 13.

Watch the Middle East.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Libya, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia in Prophecy What is ahead for North Africa? What does the Bible teach?
The Prophesied ‘Islamic’ Confederation Where is an Islamic caliphate prophesied? Will one happen? Should you be concerned about it? Here is a link to a related video video: Will an Arabic Calphiphate Destroy the West?
Iraq, the King of the South, Armageddon, and Prophecy What will happen to Iraq? Is it the prophesied Mystery Babylon? What is Armageddon and how does that have to do with Iraq? Here is a related video Iraq, Armageddon, & Prophecy.
Gaza and the Palestinians in Bible Prophecy What does the Bible teach about Gaza and the fate of the Palestinians?
Damascus and Syria in Prophecy Will Bashar Assad hold power as he has it? Does the Bible show that Damascus, the capital of Syria, will be destroyed? What will happen to Syria? Will the Syrians support the final King of the South that the Bible tells will rise up? Which scriptures discuss the rise and fall of an Arabic confederation? Does Islamic prophecy predict the destruction of Syria. This is a YouTube video.
The ‘Peace Deal’ of Daniel 9:27 This prophecy could give up to 3 1/2 years advance notice of the coming Great Tribulation. Will most ignore or misunderstand its fulfillment? Here is a link to a related sermon video Daniel 9:27 and the Start of the Great Tribulation.
Iran in Prophecy Is Iran in Bible prophecy? If so, what does the Bible teach? What names, other than Persia, may be used to describe Iran? There is also a YouTube video titled Iran in Prophecy. Here is a related video Iran In Prophecy.
Is the Future King of the South Rising Up? Some no longer believe there needs to be a future King of the South. Might Egypt, Islam, Iran, Arabs, or Ethiopia be involved? Might this King be called the Mahdi or Caliph? What does the Bible say? A YouTube video of related interest may be: The Future King of the South is Rising. The Muslim Brotherhood and the Rise of the King of the South The Bible tells of the formation of a power of nations that are in the Middle East and North Africa that are part of the final “King of the South” (Daniel 11:40-43) The Muslim Brotherhood wishes to have an Islamic empire with basically the same nations. This YouTube video explains what to expect from such a confederation.
The Arab and Islamic World In the Bible, History, and Prophecy The Bible discusses the origins of the Arab world and discusses the Middle East in prophecy. What is ahead for the Middle East and those who follow Islam? What about the Imam Mahdi? What lies ahead for Turkey, Iran, and the other non-Arabic Muslims? An item of possibly related interest in the Spanish language would be: Líderes iraníes condenan la hipocresía de Occidente y declaran que ahora es tiempo para prepararse para el Armagedón, la guerra, y el Imán Mahdi.between these groups will put them in position to be part of the final end time Babylon that the Bible warns against as well as require improper compromise.
World War III: Steps in Progress Are there surprising actions going on now that are leading to WWIII? Might a nuclear attack be expected? Does the Bible promise protection to all or only some Christians? How can you be part of those that will be protected? A related video would be Is World War III About to Begin? Can You Escape?
Wars, rumors of wars, and the Apocalypse Jesus foretold a time before the end where there would be wars and rumors of wars. The Apocalypse (the Book of Revelation) warns of the red horseman of war. Now, even secular writers, like Larry Edelson, are worried that wars and rumors of war are the most menacing problem that now haunts the earth? Are they right? What is the solution? This is a sermonette-length video.
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe? Here is a link to a video titled: Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European?
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies for the Great Monarch point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States? In the Spanish language check out ¿Quién es el Rey del Norte? Here is a link to a video titled: The Future King of the North.
Jerusalem: Past, Present, and Future What does the Bible say about Jerusalem and its future? Is Jerusalem going to be divided and eliminated? Is Jesus returning to the area of Jerusalem? There is also a related YouTube video you can watch titled Jerusalem To be divided and eliminated.
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2016, 2017, or 2018? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: ¿Puede comenzar la Gran Tribulación en 2016 o 2017? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? You can also see the English language sermon video: The Great Tribulation from the Mount of Olives. A shorter video is: Can the Great Tribulation Start in 2016?
Hillary Clinton, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States This is a 188 page book for people truly interested in prophecies related to Hillary Clinton and the United States, including learning about many that have already been fulfilled and those that will be fulfilled in the future. It also discusses Republicans. The physical book can be purchased at Amazon from the following link: Hillary Clinton, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States: Is Hillary Clinton Fulfilling Biblical, Islamic Catholic, Hopi, and other America-Related Prophecies? $11.99.
Hillary Clinton, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States-Amazon Kindle edition. This electronic version of the 188 page print edition is available for only US$3.99. And you do not need an actual Kindle device to read it. Why? Amazon will allow you to download it to almost any device: Please click HERE to download one of Amazon s Free Reader Apps. After you go to for your free Kindle reader and then go to Hillary Clinton, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States-Amazon Kindle edition.
Barack Obama, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States-Second Edition for Second Obama Term This is a 160 page book for people truly interested in prophecies related to Barack Obama and the United States, including learning about many that have already been fulfilled (which the book documents in detail) and those that will be fulfilled in the future. It also has a chapter about a Republican choice. This book is available to order at www.barackobamaprophecy.com. The physical book can also be purchased at Amazon from the following link: Barack Obama, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States: Is Barack Obama Fulfilling Biblical, Islamic Catholic, Kenyan, and other America-Related Prophecies? What About Republican Leaders? Second Edition for Second Obama Term.
Barack Obama, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States-Second Term-Amazon Kindle edition. This electronic version is available for only US$2.99. And you do not need an actual Kindle device to read it. Why? Amazon will allow you to download it to almost any device: Please click HERE to download one of Amazon s Free Reader Apps. After you go to for your free Kindle reader and then go to Barack Obama, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States-Second Term-Amazon Kindle edition.