Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Obama's Inaugural: If God 'Truly' Created Us Equal, Homosexual ‘Love’ is Equal as Well
President Barack Obama opened his second inaugural address by quoting the statement from the preamble to the Declaration of Independence that all men “are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights."
He then went on to say that if men were in fact created equal, then homosexual “love” must be equal as well.
“What makes us exceptional, what makes us American," said Obama, “is our allegiance to an idea articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’"
“Today we continue a never-ending journey to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time,” said Obama. “For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they’ve never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth.”
A bit later in his speech, Obama returned to the theme of God creating all men equal, and this time tied it directly to his belief that the “law” should extend equal treatment to “the love” of homosexuals.
“Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law, for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well,” said Obama.
Obama has endorsed same-sex marriage. "I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married," Obama told ABC News in May.
Both the Old and New Testaments condemn homosexual behavior, and, in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ affirms the definition of marriage first presented in the book of Genesis as the union of a man and a woman.
“Some Pharisees came to Jesus testing Him and asking, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” says the Gospel. “And He answered and said, ‘Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but on flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Newsweek reported, based on an interview with Obama, that he grew up “without any particular religion” and was baptized at the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago sometime in the early 1990s.
“Obama's religious biography is unconventional and politically problematic,”Newsweek said. “Born to a Christian-turned-secular mother and a Muslim-turned-atheist African father, Obama grew up living all across the world with plenty of spiritual influences, but without any particular religion. He is now a Christian, having been baptized in the early 1990s at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.”
CNS
Food Stamp Recipients Increased 11,133 Per Day Under Obama
During President Obama’s first term, the number of persons taking federal food stamps, formally known as the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program (SNAP), increased by approximately 11,133 persons per day.
When Obama was inaugurated in January 2009, the number of SNAP recipients was 31,939,110. By October 2012, the latest month reported, they had jumped to 47,525,329.
That means the food stamp program grew by an of approximately 11,133 recipients per day from January 2009 to October 2012.
CNSNews.com reported earlier this month that the federal government spent a record $80.4 billion on the food stamp program during fiscal year 2012, which was a $2.7 billion increase from FY 2011.
Moreover, federal spending on SNAP has increased every fiscal year that Obama has been in office. In FY 2009—when SNAP was still known as the “Food Stamp” program—the government spent $55.6 billion.
According to an April 2012 report from the Congressional Budget Office, SNAP enrollment increased by 70 percent between 2007 and 2011.
CNS
You only think you know what's coming.. EXO-VATICANA (Pt 6)
Based on facts detailed in the previous entries, we started this part of the investigation saying the question is not whether humans were, can be, or are being hybridized, but whether alien/demon agencies are involved in the process.
Today, what some call “alien abduction,” in which a breeding program allegedly exists resulting in alien/human hybrids, seems but a contemporary retelling of similar DNA harvesting and genetic manipulation by those mysterious beings called “Watchers” whose genetic modification activities we have discussed.
In his book, Confrontations—A Scientist’s Search for Alien Contact, highly regarded UFO researcher, Dr. Jacques F. Vallée, once argued: “Contact with [aliens is] only a modern extension of the age-old tradition of contact with nonhuman consciousness in the form of angels, demons, elves, and sylphs.”[i] Later, Vallée more closely identified the operative power behind these “aliens” as equivalent to the fallen Watcher angels of the Days of Noah:
Are these races only semi-human, so that in order to maintain contact with us, they need crossbreeding with men and women of our planet? Is this the origin of the many tales and legends where genetics plays a great role: the symbolism of the Virgin in occultism and religion, the fairy tales involving human midwives and changelings, the sexual overtones of the flying saucer reports, the biblical stories of intermarriage between the Lord’s angels, and terrestrial women, whose offspring were giants?[ii]
Another highly respected and often-quoted UFO researcher, John Keel, echoed the same when he stated inOperation Trojan Horse:
Demonology is not just another crackpot-ology. It is the ancient and scholarly study of the monsters and demons who have seemingly coexisted with man throughout history.… The manifestations and occurrences described in this imposing literature are similar, if not entirely identical, to the UFO phenomenon itself. Victims of demonomania [possession] suffer the very same medical and emotional symptoms as the UFO contactees.… The Devil and his demons can, according to the literature, manifest themselves in almost any form and can physically imitate anything from angels to horrifying monsters with glowing eyes. Strange objects and entities materialize and dematerialize in these stories, just as the UFOs and their splendid occupants appear and disappear, walk through walls, and perform other supernatural feats.[iii]
Associate professor of psychology Elizabeth L. Hillstrom was even more inflexible on comparisons between “alien” experiences and historical demonic activity, quoting in her bookTesting the Spirits an impressive list of scholars from various disciplines who concluded that similarities between ETs and demons is unlikely coincidental. Hillstrom cites authorities of the first rank including Pierre Guerin, a scientist associated with the French National Council for Scientific Research, who believes, “The modern UFOnauts and the demons of past days are probably identical,”[iv] and veteran researcher John Keel, who reckons, “The UFO manifestations seem to be, by and large, merely minor variations of the age-old demonological phenomenon.”[v] Harvard psychiatrist and Pulitzer Prize-winner John Mack risked his career when he announced that the abduction phenomenon is very much real albeit an assault of a quasi-spiritual nature. The following is a chilling excerpt from Mack’s Passport to the Cosmos:
Some abductees feel that certain beings seem to want to take their souls from them. Greg told me that the terror of his encounters with certain reptilian beings was so intense that he feared being separated from his soul. “If I were to be separated from my soul,” he said, “I would not have any sense of being. I think all my consciousness would go. I would cease to exist. That would be the worst thing anyone could do to me.”[vi]
Mack recorded page after page of such transparently demonic phenomenon. Another victim described her horror saying, “I knew instinctively that whatever that thing was next to me wanted to enter me. It was just waiting to enter me.”[vii] Of course, this screams demon possession, but, against the evidence, Mack’s naturalistic worldview steered him toward the extraterrestrial hypothesis. In contrast, Vallée connects the dots: “The ‘medical examination’ to which abductees are said to be subjected, often accompanied by sadistic sexual manipulation, is reminiscent of the medieval tales of encounters with demons.”[viii] With these sorts of characterizations coming from the secular scholars, it should be no surprise that we also connect UFO/ET phenomenon with demonic activity.
Incubi, Succubi, Daemons, and Elementals
In contrast to the “demons” of later Judeo-Christian belief, French UFO researcher, Aimé Michel (1919–1992), preferred thedaemons of earlier Greek antiquity as the culprits of UFO and ET activity. The difference between what most people today think of as a demon (an incorporeal, malicious spirit that can seduce, vex, or possess a human) and the daemons of ancient Greek Hellenistic religion and philosophy is that daemons were corporeal (though often invisible and constituted of material unlike human or animal genetics) and could be good (eudoaemons) or evil (cacodaemons). Eudoaemons (also calledagathodaemons) were sometimes associated with benevolent angels, the ghosts of dead heroes, or supernatural beings who existed between mortals and gods (as in the teachings of the priestess Diotima to Socrates in Plato’s Symposium), whilecacodaemons were spirits of evil or malevolence who could afflict humans with mental, physical, and spiritual ailments. (In psychology, cacodemonia or cacodemomania is the pathological belief in which the patient is convinced he/she is inhabited, or possessed, by a wicked entity or evil spirit.) This delineation, and its potential spiritual and physical ramifications on humans, was reflected in the works of Italian Franciscan theologian, exorcist and advisor to the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition in Rome, Ludovico Maria Sinistrari (1622–1701). Sinistrari, who was regarded as an expert on sexual sins, wrote extensively of individuals accused of amorous relations with demons. His work, De daemonialitate, et incubis et succubis, may be considered today among the earliest accounts of what could otherwise be called “alien abduction” resulting in hybrid offspring because the incubi and succubi of Sinistrari’s opinion were neither evil spirits nor fallen angels, but corporeal beings “created midway between humans and angels.”[ix] Sinistrari found that monks and nuns were of particular interest to the incubi/succubi, presumably due to pent-up sexual frustrations resulting from celibacy oaths that made them easier targets (which makes one wonder what the venerated St. Cecilia really meant when she said to Valerian, “There is a secret, Valerian, I wish to tell you. I have as a lover an angel of God who jealously guards my body”[x]). Physical evidence, including semen, left on site following intercourse with the phantoms was often copious, negating the possibility in at least some cases that the event was psychological. One such incident between a sleeping nun and an incubus in the form of a spectral “young man” had multiple eyewitnesses and was recorded by Sinistrari in his work,Demoniality. The Catholic Father writes:
In a Monastery (I mention neither its name nor that of the town where it lies, so as not to recall to memory a past scandal), there was a Nun, who, about trifles usual with women and especially with nuns, had quarrelled with one of her mates who occupied a cell adjoining to hers. Quick at observing all the doings of her enemy, this neighbour noticed, several days in succession, that instead of walking with her companions in the garden after dinner she retired to her cell, where she locked herself in. Anxious to know what she could be doing there all that time, the inquisitive Nun betook herself also to her cell. Soon she heard a sound, as of two voices conversing in subdued tones, which she could easily do, since the two cells were divided but by a slight partition. [There she heard] a peculiar friction, the cracking of a bed, groans and sighs, her curiosity was raised to the highest pitch, and she redoubled her attention in order to ascertain who was in the cell. But having, three times running, seen no other nun come out but her rival, she suspected that a man had been secretly introduced and was kept hidden there. She went and reported the thing to the Abbess, who, after holding counsel with discreet persons, resolved upon hearing the sounds and observing the indications that had been denounced her, so as to avoid any precipitate or inconsiderate act. In consequence, the Abbess and her confidents repaired to the cell of the spy, and heard the voices and other noises that had been described. An inquiry was set on foot to make sure whether any of the Nuns could be shut in with the other one; and the result being in the negative, the Abbess and her attendants went to the door of the closed cell, and knocked repeatedly, but to no purpose: the Nun neither answered, nor opened. The Abbess threatened to have the door broken in, and even ordered a convert to force it with a crow-bar. The Nun then opened her door: a search was made and no one found. Being asked with whom she had been talking, and the why and wherefore of the bed cracking, of the sighs, etc., she denied everything.
But, matters going on just the same as before, the rival Nun, become more attentive and more inquisitive than ever, contrived to bore a hole through the partition, so as to be able to see what was going on inside the cell; and what should she see but an elegant youth lying with the Nun, and the sight of whom she took care to let the others enjoy by the same means. The charge was soon brought before the bishop: the guilty Nun endeavoured still to deny all; but, threatened with torture, she confessed having had an intimacy with an Incubus.[xi]
These entities were associated with the forest sylvans and fauns by Augustine in his classic, De Civiatate Dei (“City of God”):
There is, too, a very general rumor, which many have verified by their own experience, or which trustworthy persons who have heard the experience of others corroborate, that sylvans and fauns, who are commonly called “incubi,” had often made wicked assaults upon women, and satisfied their lust upon them; and that certain devils, called Duses by the Gauls, are constantly attempting and effecting this impurity is so generally affirmed, that it were impudent to deny it.[xii]
The incubus in Henry Fuseli’s famous 1781 oil painting The Nightmare
These devils usually appeared at night as either a seductive demon in a male human form (incubi, from the Latinincubo, “to lie upon”) having phantasmagoric intercourse with women, or elsewhere as a sensual female presence (succubi) who collected semen from men through dream-state copulation. Some believe these entities are one and the same. That is, the same spirit may appear as a female in one instance to collect male seed, then reappear elsewhere as a male to transfer the semen into a womb. The etymology (the study of the history of words, their origin, form, and meaning) of the word “nightmare” actually derives from the Old English maere for a “goblin” or “incubus” and variously referred to an evil female spirit that afflicted sleepers with a feeling of suffocation and bad dreams and/or elsewhere as a seductress. While religious credo involving incubi and succubi was widespread in mythological and legendary traditions, Sinistrari defied established church theology on the topic when he wrote: “Subject to correction by our Holy Mother Church, and as a mere expression of private opinion, I say that the Incubus, when having intercourse with women, begets the human foetus from his own seed”(emphasis added).[xiii] Ironically, Sinistrari considered the worst part of this sinful intercourse to be that the incubus—a morally superior being in his mind (as currently suggested by modern Catholic theologians regarding ET and documented in the upcoming book Exo-Vaticana)—had lowered itself by taking up with a human! “The incubus, (or succuba) however, does, he holds, commit a very great sin considering that we belong to an inferior species,” notes twentieth-century writer William Butler Yeats from Sinistrari’s own writings.[xiv] In this sense, Sinistrari’s interpretation of the incubi and succubi is similar to the alien abductors of modern tradition and the daemons of Hellenistic Greek religion. They also reflect the beliefs of the alchemists who preceded Sinistrari, especially German-Swiss occultist Paracelsus, who believed in the Aristotelian concept of four elements (earth, fire, water, and air),[xv] as well as the three metaphysical substances—mercury, sulfur, and salt—the finest of which were used by the entities to constitute the more majestic “bodies” of those elemental beings. Elementals are referred to by various names. In the English-speaking tradition, these include fairies, elves, devas, brownies, leprechauns, gnomes, sprites, pixies, banshees, goblins, dryads, mermaids, trolls, dragons, griffins, and numerous others. An early modern reference of elementals appears in the sixteenth-century alchemical works of Paracelsus. His works grouped the elementals into four Aristotelian elements: 1) gnome, earth elemental; 2) undines (also known as nymph), water elemental; 3) sylph, air elemental (also known as wind elemental); and 4) salamander, fire elemental. The earliest known reference of the term “sylph” is from the works of Paracelsus. He cautioned that it is harmful to attempt to contact these beings, but offered a rationale in his work, Why These Beings Appear to Us:
Everything God creates manifests itself to Man sooner or later. Sometimes God confronts him with the devil and the spirits in order to convince him of their existence. From the top of Heaven, He also sends the angels, His servants. Thus these beings appear to us, not in order to stay among us or become allied to us, but in order for us to become able to understand them. These apparitions are scarce, to tell the truth. But why should it be otherwise? Is it not enough for one of us to see an Angel, in order for all of us to believe in the other Angels? [xvi]
A book that popularized this concept in the late sixteenth century was the work Le Comte de Gabalis, ou entretiens sur les sciences secrete (“Count Gabalis, or Secret Talks on Science”), which helped the revival of the third-century mystical philosophy based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonists known as Neoplatonism. It explained:
The immense space which lies between Earth and Heaven has inhabitants far nobler than the birds and insects. These vast seas have far other hosts than those of the dolphins and whales; the depths of the earth are not for moles alone; and the Element of Fire, nobler than the other three, was not created to remain useless and empty. The air is full of an innumerable multitude of Peoples, whose faces are human, seemingly rather haughty, yet in reality tractable, great lovers of the sciences, cunning, obliging to the Sages, and enemies of fools and the ignorant. [xvii]
“According to Count Gabalis,” Robert Pearson Flaherty explains, “these elementals were—like Sinistrari’s incubi and the ETs of current lore—corporeal and capable of begetting children with humans.”[xviii] This occult concept holds potential for deep deception and near future malevolence, as, according to the doctrine, it was “the original intent of the Supreme God that humans should join in marriage with the elemental races rather than with each other, and the ‘fall of man’ occurred when Adam and Eve conceived children with each other rather than with elemental beings. Unlike humans, elemental beings had mortal souls; hence, they had but one hope of immortality—intermarriage with humans.”[xix] Flaherty compares this to modern ET abduction stories and the messages received by those who are part of the “alien” breeding program:
Through hybridization with humans, ETs of current lore do not seek immortality but rather to avoid extinction. Historian of religions Christopher Partridge describes how the concept of malevolent ETs is rooted in Christian demonology (belief in evil spirits). Here, “ET religion” is used to refer to the positive valorization of ETs, who are portrayed not as fallen angels and scheming demons, but as [like Vatican theologians argue in the upcoming book Exo-Vaticana] our saviors, creators, and (in the hybridization myth) partners in continued evolution and survival.[xx] (emphasis added)
raidersnewsupdate.com
Benjamin Netanyahu expected to hold on for win
Many voters have said they will cast ballots for Mr Netanyahu because they see no viable alternative. Polls suggest hawkish and religious parties that have been his traditional allies will form the core of his next coalition government.
The big question is whether he will be able to woo centrist parties with more moderate positions on peacemaking into his governing coalition – and whether they would have any influence on his policies.
The election comes at a troubled time for Israel. Mr Netanyahu's hard-line stance toward the Palestinians has created mounting diplomatic isolation, the economy is slowing and the budget deficit has ballooned, and in the background is the question of whether Israel will attack Iran over its suspect nuclear program.
A smiling Mr Netanyahu arrived early at a heavily secured polling station in Jerusalem with his wife, Sara, and two sons, both first-time voters.
After casting his vote, the prime minister said that a flood of ballots for his list "is good for Israel."
Thirty-two parties are running for representation in Israel's 120-member parliament. Israel historically has had multiparty governments because no party has ever won an outright majority of 61 seats in the country's 64-year history.
Polls close at 10pm local time (8pm GMT), and preliminary results are expected about two hours later.
The three-month election campaign has been largely bereft of any debate over the critical issues facing the country, focusing more on the major parties' leaders. The 63-year-old Mr Netanyahu has positioned himself in the campaign as a tough leader who protects Israelis' security in a hostile region. All the polls show his Likud Party – in alliance with the more hawkish Israel Beitenu party – winning more than a quarter of the seats, and together with other rightist and religious parties should command at least a narrow overall majority.
The conventional wisdom is that the incoming coalition will be even more hard-line than the current government. Up to one-sixth of the incoming legislature is expected to be settlers who advocate holding on to captured land the Palestinians want for a future state. A likely coalition partner, the pro-settler Jewish Home, is even pressing to annex large chunks of the West Bank, the core of any future Palestinian state.
Some Israelis warn that the continued occupation of millions of disfranchised Palestinians will turn Israel into an apartheid-like state where a Jewish minority will ultimately rule over an Arab majority.
Yet the conflict with the Palestinians, long a dominant issue in Israeli politics, has barely registered as a campaign issue. Many Israelis have despaired of the prospect of making peace, believing Israel's best possible offers have been made and spurned, sometimes violently. Many are also disillusioned with the bitter experience of Israel's unilateral pullout from the Gaza Strip in 2005, which led to years of attacks from militants there.
The country's centre-left opposition, which rallied around the issue for decades, is badly splintered and has failed to produce a compelling alternative leader. The Labour Party, traditionally the dominant standard-bearer for peacemaking, is now more focused on the average Israeli's frustration at having to struggle to make ends meet.
Prospects for peacemaking would not necessarily be improved even if Netanyahu, in his desire to establish a broad, stable government, reaches across the aisle to co-opt lawmakers interested in clinching an accord. Two moderate partners had joined his current government but ultimately bolted, in part because they didn't think he was serious about making peace.
The prospect of another Netanyahu term has fuelled a sense of despair among Palestinians, who fear that his ambitious plans for settlement construction over the next four years could kill their dreams of establishing an independent state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, territories Israel captured in 1967 and still controls to varying degrees.
Their hope is that President Barack Obama, emboldened by his own re-election, will put heavy pressure on Mr Netanyahu to return to negotiations. But it is equally possible that the US leader will not risk squandering political capital on the peace process unless he is convinced Israel is willing to make concessions that Mr Netanyahu has not yet signalled he is ready to make.
The Telegraph
Inauguration poster likens Obama to jesus
Street vendors and souvenir stores across Washington, D.C. are selling posters depicting President Obama as Jesus Christ — and one national news publication called him the “Second Coming.”
The poster, which does not have the official endorsement of the White House, features an image of the president in prayer with the headline, “Prophecy Fulfilled.”
“Barak is of Hebrew origin and its meaning is ‘flash of lightning,” the poster notes, referencing a passage in in the Old Testament book of Judges.
Hussein, they allege, is a Biblical word meaning “good and handsome.”
“So you see, Barak was destined to be a good and handsome man that would rise like a flash of lightning to win victory in a battle against overwhelming odds,” the poster read.
This week’s cover of Newsweek depicts President Obama as the “Second Coming” – a biblical reference to the return of Christ.
It’s not the first time that Obama has been deified by his supporters.
Actor Jamie Foxx called President Obama “our Lord and Savior” during a recent television appearance.
“It’s like church over here,” Foxx told the audience. “First of all, give an honor to God and our Lord and Savior Barack Obama.”
“Barack Obama,” he shouted as the audience cheered.
Florida A&M professor Barbara Thompson published a book titled “The Gospel According to Apostle Barack.” The book likens Obama to Jesus Christ and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Fox News
Russia Sells Record $15 Bln of Arms in 2012
MOSCOW, January 21 (RIA Novosti) – Russia sold a record $15.16 billion worth of weaponry in 2012 while expanding its foreign client list, the Federal Military-Technical Cooperation Service (FSMTC) reported on Monday.
“The volume of arms exports has reached $15.16 billion, according to preliminary calculations…which means that our plans have been fulfilled by 111.8 percent,” FSMTC chief Alexander Fomin told a government meeting on state defense contracts.
Russia reported arms sales of $13.2 billion in 2011, enough to maintain its position as the world’s second arms exporter after the United States.
"In the past ten years, we have seen a general increase in exports, which have tripled since 2003,” Fomin said.
“The portfolio of orders for defense-related products has also tripled. Its current value exceeds $46 billion,” he added.
India is the leading purchaser of Russian arms, with Myanmar,Vietnam, Venezuela and Middle East countries also among the Russian defense industry's main clients.
Fomin said Russia's expanded list of its clients in 2012 included Afghanistan, Ghana, Oman, and Tanzania.
The FSMTC also claimed the quality of exported Russian military products has improved, though problems still remain, especially with poor after-sales services.
“We have been issuing fewer licenses to replace or repair exported products, which is an encouraging trend,” Fomin said.
The controversy over the quality of Russia’s defense-related products has been widely-publicized.
Algeria refused delivery of a batch of MiG-29 fighters in 2007 claiming their “inferior quality.”
Russia’s traditionally strong position on the Indian arms market has been recently undermined by failures to fulfil or properly execute several contracts, including the long-delayed delivery of the overhauled aircraft carrier Vikramaditya to the Indian Navy.
Last year, India asked Russia to replace faulty parts on the leased Nerpa nuclear-powered submarine which had affected its operational readiness.
Fomin said his service was drafting new legislation that would allow Russian arms manufacturers to open their own service centers abroad and to import defense-related products to satisfy their own needs.
RIA Novosti
Russia lifts nationals out of Syria and Iran arm Assad for major armored push
The Russian emergency ministry said Monday, Jan. 21 that it is sending two planes to Beirut to evacuate 100 Russians from Syria - the first such effort since the uprising against Bashar Assad began in March 2011. Moscow also announced contingency plans to lift 30,000 Russian nationals from the embattled country.
This evacuation of Russian nationals starting Tuesday was decided after the Syrian high command received orders from President Assad to organize mobile armored strike groups with massive fire power for a big push to run the rebel forces out of the towns, villages and areas they have captured, mostly in the north and southeast.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that, because they are in a hurry, the Syrian army chiefs decided to use only seasoned officers and men with experience in active service against the rebels, rather than new recruits who would need weeks of combat training. The divisions or brigades holding the line in such trouble spots as Aleppo, Homs and Deraa, are being depleted, some of their units detached for service in the new armored strike groups.
Our sources report that Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps officers are supervising the effort for what Assad sees as his biggest assault yet to finally crush the revolt against his regime.
Its timing marks two fundamental developments in Syria’s bloody civil war:
1. The self-confidence of Assad and his top military staff is gaining in direct contrast to the weakening of the insurgency. It was therefore decided in Damascus that the time was ripe for a major offensive to push the rebels out of the strategic areas from which they could threaten central government.
2. Western-Arab arms supplies to the rebels have slowed down steeply because the funding from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAR has dried up. The high-grade weapons still in rebel hands were mostly looted from Syrian army bases and stores.
3. According to DEBKAfile’s military sources, Russian officials up to the level of President Vladimir Putin examined the Iranian-Syrian armored strike group tactics and approved.
These developments, according to Western intelligence sources familiar with the Syrian situation, explain the recently intensified coordination between Moscow, Tehran and Damascus and the resulting accelerated flow of Russian and Iranian weapons to the Syrian army.
Russian arms ships are lining up at the Syrian port of Tartus to unload their freights, while Iranian air transports are touching down and taking off at speed from Damascus and Aleppo military airports.
Arms deliveries are coming in aboard large Russian naval vessels, including the Azov andAklexander Shabalin landing craft, the amphibious Kaliningrad and others.
To camouflage heir rapid movements in and out of Tartus, the Russian navy Sunday, Jan. 20, announced a large-scale sea maneuver would take place in the Mediterranean up until Jan. 29. None of the ships taking part in the drill were identified except to say that they came from Russia’s Baltic, North and Black Sea fleets.
Our military sources report that the Russian deliveries consist mainly of armored vehicles, self-propelling recoilless guns, all-purpose vehicles for rough terrain and a variety of missiles and rockets for combat in built-up areas – all items clearly designed to outfit Assad’s new armored strike units.
Tehran, for its part, is sending ammo, spare parts for Syrian tanks and artillery and missiles.
According to those sources, the Syrian army plans to kick off its new offensive at Daraya, a small town near Damascus which is held by the Free Syrian Army.
DEBKAfile
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