Sabbath and New Moon Message1/4/36/120                                                                              

Dear Friends,                                                                                                                                                               
Matters are degenerating in Syria.  France and the UK have proven now that chemical weapons have been used in Syria. The US is trying to pretend that there is some doubt as to what it is but the samples and tests show sarin gas has been used in multiple cases and multiple areas. Samples from Damascus were brought back by Le Monde Journalists and also other information was made available through the BBC. There is no information on the other sample tested by France.  France has stated publicly that all options are now on the table including a full scale armed invasion. Discussions with the NATO groups in Europe and UK will now occur and they may invade with or without the US.

The UN has publicly stated that the conflict has plumbed to new depths of depravity.   Women and children are being killed in large numbers. Many are tortured and children are used as soldiers and also in atrocities and as public executioners, forcing them to take part in beheadings.

The French have said "We must react, but at the same time we must not block an eventual peace conference," (referring to US and Russia-backed efforts to get the rebels to join peace talks in Geneva).

What is sarin gas?

• Sarin is a colourless and odourless chemical that attacks the nervous system.
• In gas form it can be absorbed through the lungs or the skin.
• It disrupts the responses from the nervous system to muscles.
• Sarin is fatal at low concentrations, with the subject most likely to die of asphyxia as muscles used to breathe shut down.
• UN agreed in 1993 to a Chemical Weapons Convention to ban the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons.

Mr Fabius said France had transferred the results to the United Nations.  The Syrian Regime has had these and  stockpiled them for years and we have known that Russia appears to have assisted them in weapons stockpiling as did Iran.

The new UN report was the first time the commission - tasked with probing human rights violations in Syria since 2011 - added the suspected use of chemical weapons to its long list of war crimes committed in the country.

The commission called for Damascus to grant a group of UN experts full access to Syria to investigate the matter further.

Commission member Carla del Ponte, a high-profile former war crimes prosecutor, warned however that focusing too heavily on chemical weapons could overshadow the overall suffering in the country.

There have been 17 possible massacres listed

The UN report details 17 possible massacres in Syria between January and May this year.
It says both the rebels and government troops are committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon says the report is "sickening and staggering", according to his spokesperson Martin Nesirky.

Mr Ban also described the report as a "catalogue of atrocities".

It documents the systematic use of siege warfare, trapping and punishing civilians by causing shortages of food, medicine, water and electricity.

It says rebel groups are guilty of the same crimes as government forces, but they are less intense.
It says government forces are particularly guilty of frequent massacres and destruction on an unprecedented scale, and that there has been a dramatic rise in hostage taking.

The commission also says children are increasingly being used to fight in the civil war.

Over the first four months of this year, 86 children appeared to have been killed while taking part in the fighting.

The commission says government forces have taken children hostage and forced them to watch the torture and killing of their parents.

Rebels have also kidnapped and killed children in sniper and rocket attacks.

In one notorious incident, a child took part in beheading two captured soldiers.

The defeat of Syrian rebel forces who have now withdrawn from their positions in the town of Qusair represents a significant victory for the government and its Hezbollah allies.

Potentially it changes the dynamics of the conflict - something that will have political and diplomatic ramifications. It also increases the likelihood of a more persistent spill-over of the fighting into Lebanon.

Many of the key battles in the Syrian civil war have focused on supply routes and the key towns that sit astride these vital arteries.

Qusair is a case in point - its location is crucial for both sides. For that reason Hezbollah sent its forces into Syria from Lebanon through the Bekaa valley.

It is a focal point for arms supplies coming into Syria for the rebels from Lebanon via two main routes: the first coming up through Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, and the other coming from further west, from Tripoli and the coast.

The town is close to important supply lines for the government forces. Qusair is important in terms of controlling the road to Homs to the north-east. The road from Damascus to Homs is a central armature for the Syrian regime. Homs is the crossroads that connects to the Alawite heartland on the Syrian coast. The strategic importance of Qusair is not in doubt.

It adds to a growing sense over recent weeks that the government forces are gaining ground. They will not win but the rebels cannot force a victory either in the near future.

Qusair

It has an estimated population of 30,000 people. Most people have fled to neighbouring towns and many more than 1,500 people are wounded. It is virtually decimated now.

Aid agencies speak of alarming reports that large numbers of wounded need urgent care.

Some 23 villages and 12 farms west of Qusair are reportedly inhabited by Lebanese Shia.

It is near the main route from Damascus to port of Tartous, a gateway to the heartland of President Assad's Alawite sect.

The result is a divided Syria forced to battle on with neither side able to force a decisive outcome. The area is becoming the proxy battleground for the regional political Shia/Sunni civil war in the Middle East.

The fighting will continue and escalate into the regional conflagration mentioned in prophecy.
Hezbollah has increased the stakes and shown the importance of Hezbollah assistance to the regime in Syria of President Bashar al-Assad.

Hezbollah’s move has openly declared its links to the Syria-Iran axis and the Shia cause pitting Sunni against Shia.

Hezbollah has in the past sought to present itself as a Lebanese national movement. Now it is engaged in an inter-Arab civil war. Because of this situation Hezbollah's image inside Lebanon has suffered.

As a result the violence in Syria will and has spilled over into Lebanon. In a BBC interview, the military commander of the Free Syrian Army, Gen Selim Idriss, has spoken of his desire to confront Hezbollah fighters inside Lebanon. The rebels held the town for about a year. Lebanon has become a part of this sectarian theatre of operations once again.

Late on Wednesday several rockets landed in the Hezbollah stronghold of Baalbek inside Lebanon - after rebel threats to strike at Hezbollah on its home turf.

Now that the route to Hezbollah through Qusair has been opened up the Israelis will be forced to use more air strikes to stop the SAM resupply of Hezbollah from Iranian/Russia in convoys through Syria.  The sporadic gun battles and air attacks will escalate.

Russia is foiling any diplomatic actions and it seems that NATO military action is unavoidable and soon. The UN is a paper tiger. The peace conference was postponed between the US and Russia but it will solve little and may lead to the final involvement in the north into Russia as foretold by prophecy.

The Qusair offensive is also unlikely to make the Syrian government more conciliatory in these enforced peace talks. The West will be faced with arming the Rebels and explicit military action.

The sectarian tensions in Syria are being felt all over the world and as far away as Australia. These conflicts will escalate. Radical Sheiks are recruiting Muslims to serve in Syria in the conflicts. Many are coming from Australia.

Meanwhile the UN is now faced with the replacement of Austrian troops in the Golan crossing when Syrian troops recaptured it. It is unlikely that Israel will allow the Golan Heights to be re-occupied by Syria and they will attack very soon. The UN force of 911 has been there since 1973 and the withdrawal of the Austrian contingent makes the force unfeasible. India and the Philippines are also part of the mission, but Manila has been considering a pull-out after its soldiers were detained by Syrian rebels earlier this year. Croatia pulled out its blue helmets in March and also Canada and Japan.

The Syrian army has taken control of a UN-monitored crossing in the Golan Heights that had been overrun by rebel forces, Israeli military sources say.

Tanks and armoured vehicles were used in the fighting at Quneitra, near Israeli-held territory, which occurred a day after the fall of Qusair. Syria's deployment of tanks in the demilitarised zone violates ceasefire agreements in place since the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, but sources have told the BBC that Israel will not react.

Israel captured part of the plateau in 1967 and later annexed it in a move that has never been internationally recognised. It is unlikely that Israel will sit idly by and not react to any action by Syria against Israel.

More than 80,000 people have been killed in Syria and more than 1.5 million have fled the country since an uprising against President Assad began in 2011, according to UN estimates.

Syria and Lebanon and Jordan will finally be absorbed into the greater Federation of Israel after the final conflicts of 2013 to 2021. Jordan will escape occupation from the NATO invasion of the Middle East over the coming years until 2018.

Pray for these people so that they are spared the horrors of the sectarian wars they have brought upon themselves.

Wade Cox
Coordinator General