WASHINGTON - Abdul Maulana Aziz, a follower of Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar who led the infamous Red Mosque rebellion in Pakistan, has declared his support for the newly formed Islamic State, led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The jihadist army of the Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS, had taken over large swaths of Iraq and declared the establishment of a caliphate, governed by Islamic law, or Shariah, that also includes northeastern Syria.
Aziz's backing of Baghdadi is seen as ominous by Western intelligence, since he is close to such groups as Sipa-e-Sahaba and the Tehnik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which seek the overthrow - even by violent means - of the Pakistani government, which possesses nuclear weapons.
Aziz's support for Baghdadi and ISIS comes as Pakistan, a predominantly Sunni country, faces yet another political crisis that threatens the existence of its democratic secular government. Political opponents of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have demanded his resignation, which he has refused.
His opponents want sweeping constitutional reform to replace parliamentary democracy and confront alleged corruption that has crept into the electoral process. However, jihadist groups see an opportunity now to assert their influence as Pakistan's political crisis grows worse.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/08/isis-gains-support-of-fierce-leader/#ltJCmrshCzEGO3SZ.99
Please pray for the government and military of Pakistan to contain and stop the Islamic radical groups within its borders that threaten not only this nation but the world. Pray for the cutting off of any connections between the Pakistani and other Muslim extremist groups with ISIS so that their vision of an Islamic caliphate pictured below will be frustrated and overthrown
Pic: ISIS five year plan map.
Please keep this potentially most dangerous border on earth in prayer. Between them, India and Pakistan have an estimated 230 nukes and according to Dr. Kent Moors, an intelligence expert, "are literally gambling with the fate of the rest of the world". A nuclear conflict between these two nations could, he says, "set off a global famine that could kill two billion people and effectively end human civilization" because of spreading radiation.
Having already fought three wars over the disputed Kashmir territory, another all-out war is possible, especially with much of the military of Pakistan under the influence of radical Islamic groups who do not fear "mutually assured destruction", the deterrence that thankfully kept the Cold War from going nuclear.
1 Please pray for the governments of Pakistan and India that they will find a way to keep the peace between them and to settle their differences over the much-contested area of Kashmir as well as the matter of sharing precious water resources.
2 Pray for the discrediting and overthrow of radical, extremist Muslim and Hindu groups that are willing to provoke a conflict and do not care about the end of the world scenario that could be activated.
3 Pray that the devil, diabolos, the divider and destroyer would be bound and unable to exacerbate this long-standing conflict.
(See Kent Moors' book, The Great Game: The Coming Face Off for Global Supremacy, The Money Map Press, 2014 for more intelligence on geopolitical issues worthy of serious prayer focus.)
Two crucial, timely prayer seminars to build up the Iraqi prayer movement will be held in the next several days, first in Erbil in Kurdistan and then in Baghdad. "The need for prayer there with the Iraqis and teaching is urgent", says the facilitator, a dear friend and prayer initiative colleague named Sam. "They wrote that relief - support is plenty but no one to lead and call for prayer among the locals."
Erbil, 4th - 9th
- Please pray that many sincere believers & leaders would come for the prayer - days and unite with one heart for the nation of Iraq.
- For a strong interest in the prayer - meetings & in the seminar!
- For a strong presence of His Holy Spirit to lead us into intense times of prayer, repentance, grieving, weeping & wrestling!
- For HIS heart for the nation!
- For revelation & guidance of the Holy Spirit to know how to pray.
- For strong protection over the participants and Sam and his family.
Baghdad, 11th - 15th
- Please pray for a huge participation of believers & leaders and that the Lord may keep the roads open for people to travel to the venue.
- For unity and God's heart for the city & nation!
- We need a strong presence of HIS spirit & a flow in prayer and real brokenness among the believers & leaders to really cry out for their nation, to repent, grieve, weep and wrestle for Iraq.
- Pray for a strong prophetic anointing, revelation and God's strategy in the meetings.
- For a strong protection over the believers in Baghdad!
Pray also for Sam to have God's wisdom, guidance and anointing and that he will enjoy special favor and protection in this current core trouble spot of the world.
People waiting in line at Baharka transit camp in Erbil to receive their food assistance from WFP. Photo: WFP/Mohammed Albahbahani
27 August 2014 - Food aid convoys from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have reached displaced Iraqis in Karbala, southwest of Baghdad, bringing the number of people receiving food assistance to over 700,000 people since the start of violence in mid-June...
"The humanitarian situation in Iraq is extremely challenging," said Mohamed Diab, WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and East Europe...
Throughout the country more than 1 million people have been displaced - many without access to food, water or other basic needs. They are living in unfinished buildings, mosques, churches, parks and schools...
Before the latest wave of displacement, WFP was already assisting about 240,000 people displaced by conflict in Iraq's al-Anbar governorate, as well as more than 180,000 refugees from the conflict in Syria who are sheltering in Iraq.
UN News Centre
www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=48577#.VAYJqigQjRd
Pray for the UN, World Food Program, and other humanitarian efforts to help the Iraqis who are displaced due to the ISIS invasion and takeover of their cities and villages. Pray for effective coordination and a generous and abundant flow of aid to those who need this help so desperately.
The parents and children of this Syrian family sleep on the streets of Istanbul in Turkey. They are among the 3 million refugees from Syria, many of whom live in desperate conditions.
29 August 2014 - Three million Syrians will have registered as refugees outside of their country today, the UN refugee agency reported, amid accounts of increasingly horrifying conditions inside their homeland - cities where populations are surrounded, people are going hungry and civilians are being targeted or indiscriminately killed
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A news release issued by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that a further 6.5 million people are displaced within Syria, bringing to almost half of all Syrians who have been forced to abandon their homes and flee for their lives. One in every eight Syrians has fled across the border, fully a million people more than a year ago. Over half of those uprooted are children.
"The Syrian crisis has become the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era, yet the world is failing to meet the needs of refugees and the countries hosting them," said High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres.
And UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie said: "Three million refugees is not just another statistic. It is a searing indictment of our collective failure to end the war in Syria."
UNHCR Spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told a press briefing in Geneva today that increasing numbers of families are arriving in a shocking state, exhausted, scared and with their savings depleted. Most have been on the run for a year or more, fleeing from village to village before taking the final decision to leave their country.
The vast majority remained in countries neighbouring Syria, with the highest concentrations in Lebanon (1.14 million), Jordan (608,000) and Turkey (815,000), according to UNHCR.
In addition to the 3 million registered refugees, governments estimated that hundreds of thousands more Syrians had sought sanctuary in their countries with more than four in five refugees struggling to make a living in towns and cities outside of camps, with 38 per cent living in sub-standard shelter, according to a recent survey.
Syrians are now the world's largest refugee population under UNHCR care, second only in number to the decades-long Palestinian crisis. The Syria operation is now the largest in the agency's 64-year history.
Jens Laerke, Spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), stated that more than 191,000 had lost their lives since the beginning of the conflict in March 2011. Even that high number was considered a conservative estimate with the real death toll likely to be much higher, he said.
He said the advance of Islamic State (IS) militants into central Syria had taken violence against civilians to a whole new level as the group continued to commit horrific atrocities against those opposing its rule. There had also been an increase in the use of barrel bombs by Government forces in Aleppo while Islamist militants had cut off the water supply to an area for displaced people, also in Aleppo, on several occasions. That kind of collective punishment was clearly a breach of some of the most basic principles in international humanitarian law.
Overall, nearly 11 million people are in need of aid in Syria and 4.7 million of them live in areas that are hard to reach. There are still some 241,000 under siege in various locations. Mr. Laerke informed that the UN has now sent nine shipments to Syria from neighbouring countries and more are planned over the following month.
While donors had contributed more than $4.1 billion to successive regional response plans since 2012, more than $2 billion more is needed by the end of 2014 alone to meet the urgent needs of refugees...
Please pray for the end of Syria's conflict and the huge numbers of refugees suffering in the midst of this way. Pray too that the remaining need in humanitarian funds will be met by the international community. May many Muslim Syrians encounter Jesus Christ in this terrible disruption of their lives!
UN News Centre
www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=48589#.VAYHjygQjRc
Photo: UNHCR/S. Baldwin
Afghanistan's finance minister has said deadlock over the disputed presidential election has cost the economy $5bn. Omar Zakhilwal told the BBC he would have to cut salaries and lay off government workers if the crisis was not resolved by the end of the month. Foreign investment is at a standstill and government revenues have fallen sharply since the April vote.
Two contenders have claimed victory but have so far failed to reach a deal on a government of national unity. A full audit of the votes is still under way under United Nations scrutiny. But the BBC's David Loyn in Kabul says the audit could take weeks to complete.
The two leaders competing for power, Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, have failed to reach a deal despite a personal intervention from US President Barack Obama.Our correspondent says there is a worsening air of crisis and that prices of basic foods have risen sharply, while the Taliban have staged some of their biggest assaults for many years, taking ground in the south and east.
Mr Zakhilwal told the BBC that cuts he had already made in non-essential spending had had a "depressive effect" on the economy, and the continuing political uncertainty was having an impact in every corner of the economy.
Ashraf Ghani, who was leading in preliminary results, has most to lose from conceding too much ground before the final result is known.
His rival Abdullah Abdullah has accused election officials of "massive fraud". Many of his senior supporters want him to take a tougher line, believing that their candidate won the vote.
Pray for this political and economic crisis to be handled effectively and for a government of national unity to result from the audit of the voting process.
Also, continue to pray that the Taliban Muslim extremists who recently launched an attack near the capital of Kabul will be defeated and put to flight by the Afghan military forces. One of their leaders has also expressed interest in linking up with the ISIS "caliphate" in Iraq, which would add significant further danger to the war on terror.
http://m.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28924968
From some Iranian ministry leaders:
After 18 years of work, in partnership with Wycliffe Bible Translators, we are excited to be able to provide the people of Iran with a beautiful, elegant and accurate translation of the Bible. In recent years the Iranian church has experienced remarkable expansion. Operation World says it is the fastest growing church in the world today. Iranian Christians have been waiting eagerly for this new Bible. They already love the translation of the New Testament portion and have seen its massive impact.
There are so many stories of people who have found Christ through reading it. Just last week I heard that the son of an Ayatollah came to Christ as he read the Gospels. We believe as the Word of God spreads, Iran will be transformed.
Please pray for:
- Seamless printing of 100,000 copies before yearend
- Wisdom for distribution
- The Lord to open new channels for getting Bibles into the country
- Protection for all those involved in transportation, receiving and giving out the Bibles
- For the Holy Spirit to speak to believers and non-believers as they read the Bible
- That Iran will be spiritually transformed as the Word of God spreads.
During the last couple of weeks, 105 people died, 195 are missing, and around 20,000 people have been displaced through serious flooding. It is really hard for people.
Please pray for God's grace and mercy upon flood victims and for the relief efforts. Pastor Jaggu Gahatraj in mid west Nepal reported that his 45 church members were displaced and do not have food and home and clothes... Many have become orphans, homeless, landless, and many have lost their loving family members. Pray that God would be with these needy people.
We appreciate your prayer and love.
Govinda Budhathoki
House of Prayer
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