The Assyrian Church of the East in Lebanon bishop says that over 15,000 Assyrian Christian families remaining in Syria are at risk from the ongoing crisis.
BEIRUT, August 10 (Sputnik) – Over 15,000 Assyrian Christian families remaining in Syria are at risk from the ongoing crisis, the Assyrian Church of the East in Lebanon bishop said Monday.
On Friday, ISIL jihadists abducted 230 Assyrian Christians in Homs province during an offensive to seize the town of Quaryatayn in a reprise of a similar kidnapping earlier this year.
"My personal sources say there are about 15,000 families left in Syria. Of course, they do not live in the villages captured by militants, but were able to temporarily relocate to nearby towns," Bishop Yatron Koliana told RIA Novosti.
He said the resettled families still face uncertainty, but an estimated 3,500-strong Assyrian diaspora in Hasakah, Qamishi and Tall Tamr was able to accommodate an estimated 1,500 internally displaced families.
Koliana added that over 550 Christian refugees have received shelter in Lebanon since March before the government banned refugees entrance into the neighbouring country in May.
An agreement with the church allows Assyrian Christians passage into Lebanon provided they display the needed documentation.
The Bishop underscored the Assyrians’ desire to return to their homeland, but said their security largely depends on "strong countries that in one way or another affect the Syrian crisis."
"We very much hope that countries such as Russia and the United States will hear our call for help from their Christian brothers in the Middle East," the Bishop emphasized.
The latest abductions follow a similar attack on Assyrian villages in Hasakah province in late February and early March, when IS militants have taken over 250 Christians captive. Dozens of the inhabitants were killed, their homes and churches were looted.
Religious leaders in Lebanon and the Vatican classified the acts as genocide.
Assyrians are an ethnic group whose historic home lies in southeast Turkey, north Iraq and northeast Syria, and are considered the earliest group to adopt Christianity.
Syrian government forces are in the fourth year of a military standoff with several independence and extremist groups, including IS and the Nusra Front.
Two Russian warships have docked in northern Iran “carrying a message of ‘peace and friendship,’” and preparing for naval training exercises with the Islamic Republic, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
The vessels docked in Iran’s Anzali port Sunday in anticipation of “joint naval exercises during the three-day stay,” according to a Persian-language report in Iran’s state-controlled Fars News Agency. The Free Beacon also cited Persian-language reports translated by the CIA’s Open Source Center.
“The [Russian] warships, Volgodonsk and Makhachkala docked in Anzali Port [near the Caspian Sea], in the fourth naval zone, on the afternoon of 9 August,” the Fars report said.
The Russian fleet commander is set to hold meetings with “local political and military officials” in Iran’s northern provinces, according to Fars. The sailors were “welcomed by Iranian naval commanders and staff,” the report said.
Russia’s ambassador to Tehran, Levan Jagarian, reportedly attended the docking ceremony and called for “for boosting mutual ties between the two countries in various fields.” The two nations went on to say that among the priorities of the visit is “expanding bilateral economic, political, and military cooperation.”
Iran is “ready to give such a powerful response to the slightest move of the U.S. that it won’t be able to make any other moves,” Fadavi reportedly said.
Russia and Iran have become allies in recent years, with delegations from each country regularly visiting the other to sign arms deals. The two nations agreed to begin building several new nuclear power plants earlier this year, and Russia has offered to sell Iran an Antey-2500 anti-ballistic air defense system that offers enhanced combat capabilities to help prevent attacks by Western powers.
A Russian fleet also docked in northern Iran in October.
Apparently Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains (PPRM) is proud of their abortion and organ harvesting business. The following picture was taken at their Planned Parenthood location in Denver.
The Center for Medical Progress (CMP) released two videos featuring the medical director of PPRM, Dr. Savita Ginde. In the first, Dr. Ginde tells the actors posing as buyers for a human biologics company that she wants to charge per “tissue sample” because that will bring in the most money. She said, “I think the per-item [pricing] works a little better, just because we can see how much we can get out of it.”
Then, in another video, Ginde says that they have to train abortion doctors how to properly perform second trimester abortions if they want to obtain salable organs for harvesting. She said, “We’d have to do a little bit of training with the providers or something to make sure that they don’t crush fetal organs.”
As LifeNews previously reported, the abortionist goes on to explain that by classifying their work with organ harvesting as “research” they can get away with selling aborted babies. Gindesaid, “Putting it under ‘research’ gives us a little bit of an overhang over the whole thing. If you have someone in a really anti state who’s going to be doing this for you, they’re probably going to get caught.”
The sale or purchase of human fetal tissue is a federal felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison or a fine of up to $500,000 (42 U.S.C. 289g-2). Federal law also requires that no alteration in the timing or method of abortion be done for the purposes of fetal tissue collection (42 U.S.C. 289g-1).
In another part of the video a licensed phlebotomist who used to work for a fetal tissue company explains that Planned Parenthood definitely receives compensation for body parts. Holly O’Donnell said, “For whatever we could procure, they would get a certain percentage. The main nurse was always trying to make sure we got our specimens. No one else really cared, but the main nurse did because she knew that Planned Parenthood was getting compensated.”
Michael Norton, from ADF’s Senior Counsel, said the following about the appeal: “No one is above the law, including Colorado politicians who are violating our state’s constitution by continuing to fund Planned Parenthood’s abortion activities with state taxpayer dollars. The state acknowledges that about $1.4 million of state taxpayer money flowed from state government agencies through Planned Parenthood to its abortion affiliate. The lower court seems to have agreed with that but dismissed the case on a technicality.”
OVER THE WEEKEND, a small earthquake swarm hit in the Okataina Caldera Complex on the north island of New Zealand. The swarm itself only lasted a few hours and generated a few dozen earthquakes, all less than magnitude 3. The swarm was located directly underneath the Waimangu Geothermal Valley, the chain of hot springs, mudpots and geysers left by the 1886 eruption of Tarawera—the last eruption from the Okataina Caldera Complex. That 1886 eruption was an impressive event, creating one of the few, recent basaltic plinian eruptions that spread dark ash all the way into the Bay of Plenty. The Waimangu Valley itself is amazing, even if the world’s largest geyser no longer erupts along its length.
Now, why would I bring up a small earthquake swarm in a volcanically active area? Mostly to show how rumbling like this is to be expected anywhere that has recent (and repeated) volcanism. The Okataina Caldera Complex has a multitude of eruptions over the last few thousand years, including the two that I’ve studied: the Kaharoa (~1300 AD)and Whakatane (5600 years ago). Most of the eruptions since 1886 have been steam-driven explosions that, as we’ve seen in the past, have little-to-no precursor. However, there is no doubt magma still underneath this area of the Okataina. The current earthquake swarm (which is already over) was located ~5-7 kilometers below the surface, which is likely the depth of the rhyolite magma body that fed the Kaharoa eruption.
So, [SPECULATION] these earthquakes could be related to magma movement within this body of rhyolite, whether it be recharging or reorganizing since the 1886 basaltic eruption blasted through it. If you look at a map of earthquakes in the area (see above), there is an alignment of earthquakes (and volcanoes) that likely represents a preferred pathway for magma to ruse from the mantle under Okataina. So, it makes sense that if magma is percolating up into the cooling crystal mush, the earthquakes associated with that would be along that trend. [/SPECULATION]. In any case, earthquake swarms like this are a reminder that although it has been quiet for an anthropologically long time (127 years), for the volcano, the last eruption was just yesterday (and the next one is around the corner).
You can watch the GNS Science webicorder for Okataina to see if the swarm returns. Even with this small swarm, the alert status at Okataina has not been raised above Green/0 (the lowest).
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