12 Reasons Syria May Fulfill God's Isaiah 19 Promise for Israel - JONI KOSKI/REVIVE ISRAEL CHARISMA NEWS

Maalola, Syria (Public Domain Pictures)

12 Reasons Syria May Fulfill God's Isaiah 19 Promise for Israel

 9/18/2017 JONI KOSKI/REVIVE ISRAEL  CHARISMA NEWS

Many people today consider the Middle East hopeless darkness! However, Isaiah 19:23-25 speaks of a physical highway, connecting Egypt to Israel to Assyria—three nations worshiping together, a 'blessing,' dispelling the darkness.

In that day there shall be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel shall be the third group with Egypt and Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of Hosts has blessed, saying, "Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance."

For Israel, God will raise up Egypt and Assyria as a buffer between us and less friendly neighbors.

What Egypt and Israel are is clear! 'Assyria' sounds like modern-day Syria, and so it is easy to conclude the two are the same. However, Syria was only established in the 20th century, with its capital, Damascus, inside greater biblical Israel (Gen. 15:18), whose northern border was the Euphrates River.

Assyria was an aggressive ancient empire from Isaiah's time. The map below shows its larger extent in green and the area in purple its core. So who lives in that area today?

Compare with this map, showing the habitation of the ethnic Kurdish people, located in present day North Iraq (5 million), Northwest Iran (8 million), Eastern Turkey (18 million) and North Syria (2 million).

There is clearly a correlation between the geography of ancient Assyria and today's 30 million-plus Kurds, the world's largest ethnic group without a recognized state. So are there any more indicators which might suggest that the Kurds are the reawakened "worshipping" "Assyrians"?

1. Physically, the Kurds today are notably diverse. The ancient Assyrians relocated huge populations in the territories they conquered, so that their empire could be easily subdued, thus creating a highly mixed up gene pool, which is not ethnically Arab.
2. The earliest proselytization of Kurds to Christianity in Kurdish lands is attributed to the Apostle Andrew in the first century A.D.
3. In the year A.D. 338, a Kurdish ruler, Tirdad, converted to Christianity.
4. Saddam Hussein accused the Kurds (Sunni Muslims) of being non-Muslims and persecuted them to the extent of genocide.
5. There is a huge move amongst Kurds to form an independent state. Northern Iraq has its own Kurdish regional government. On Sept. 25, 2017, they plan a referendum towards total independence from Iraq—"Kexit." This move is strongly and jointly opposed by Turkey and Iran.
6. Prominent politicians in Eastern Turkey have also bravely called for a Kurdish independence referendum.
7. The Kurds of Northern Iraq have absorbed approaching 1 million Christians from southern Iraq, following increasing persecution and more recently due to ISIS—although persecution remain even there.
8. The Kurds do not usually display anti-Semitism and even trade with Israel, especially selling oil. Also, Israel has provided the Kurds with military training, support and humanitarian assistance.
9. Messianic Jewish believers from Israel have visited Kurdish believers and have been told that the Kurds hold no hostility towards Israel.
10. The Kurdish-speaking Church of Christ (The Kurdzman Church of Christ) was established in Arbil in 2000, and has branches in Silêmanî and Duhok.
11. In recent years, some hundreds of Kurds from Muslim background have converted to Christianity.
12. The prophet Jonah witnessed the conversion of the Assyrian capital, Nineveh, located in the area of present day Mosul. Could this be a foreshadowing of something greater in these last days?

Kurdish historic origins are ambiguous, their territory overlapping that of the ancient Medes and also incorporating that of present-day Assyrian Christians. However, their current geography, unity and aspirations are clear.

God describes the reawakened end-time Assyria as "the work of my hands" in Isaiah 19:25. A different term is used for Egypt, "my people" and for Israel, "my inheritance." "The work of my hands" indicates something created, requiring design, endeavor and a process of formation.

Personally, I count myself privileged to have a number of Kurdish friends and await expectantly what God will do among them. 

This article originally appeared at tribe.reviveisrael.org.

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Mosul Won't Solve the Real Problem—Enemies Still Surround Israel on All Sides - DR. MICHAEL EVANS CHARISMA NEWS

Federal police members carry their weapons as they attempt to break into the Old City during a battle against Islamic State militants in Mosul. (Reuters/Thaier Al-Sudani)

Mosul Won't Solve the Real Problem—Enemies Still Surround Israel on All Sides

 3/23/2017 DR. MICHAEL EVANS  CHARISMA NEWS

At 8,019 square miles, Israel is roughly the same size as New Jersey, America's fifth-smallest state. Think about how small that actually is. You can drive from one side of Israel to the other in as little as 90 minutes. And yet, there it sits, surrounded by geopolitical and ideological threats on all sides.

Hamas to the west of Israel in Gaza.

Hezbollah to the north of Israel in Lebanon.

ISIS to the east of Israel in Syria and Iraq

ISIS to the south of Israel in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

Most recently, coalition forces are battling to retake Mosul after more than two years under the control of ISIS. With the terrorists now on the defensive, it's critically important that we don't repeat the mistakes of the past by assuming this means victory.

Let's recap a bit of recent Middle Eastern history to prove that it doesn't.

Osama Bin Laden, born in Pakistan, traveled to join the Mujahideen resistance in the Soviet war in Afghanistan in the '80s. In the '90s, Bin Laden moved to Sudan, where he leveraged the weak infrastructure of the chaotic East African nation to establish the Al Qaeda network and eventually—after moving back to Afghanistan—launched the largest terrorist attack in American history before being killed in 2011.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, born in Jordan, also traveled to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets. After spending a few years in a Jordanian prison, he returned to leverage the lawlessness of Afghanistan, where he started training jihadis. After Afghanistan was invaded by U.S. forces after 9/11, Zarqawi moved into the lawless region of northern Iraq, where he eventually became the mastermind behind the insurgency which threw Iraq into a bloody sectarian war and nearly toppled the nascent, U.S.-backed Iraqi government. Zarqawi was finally killed in 2006, and he remains the father of ISIS.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, born in Iraq, took over Zarqawi's old network in Iraq in 2010. This time, it was the chaos in Syria that would provide the jihadis a prime opportunity to regroup and launch their most ambitious plan to date: the creation of a geographical caliphate complete with Sharia law, schools, hospitals, revenue from oil and land. This was the creation of ISIS, a fearsome military presence that has been continually reinforced by foreign fighters flooding Syria and Iraq to wage jihad. Baghdadi is still at large.

These three men are merely representatives of a growing and evolving, existential threat to the very existence of Israel and her allies. And candidly, they only represent one branch of the ideological threat, namely Sunni radicals. Iran's Shiite regime funnels billions of dollars into Lebanon's Hezbollah (also Shiite) and to Hamas in Palestine.

When Mosul is liberated, it will certainly mark a victory for freedom-loving peoples everywhere as well as the citizens of that terrorized city. But let us not kid ourselves. The truth is, like a virus, radical Islamic terrorists will continue to infiltrate other chaotic and lawless nations to spawn their strain of hatred for Israel and the West all over again. Next, could it be Libya or Somalia? Maybe it will be a region like the northeast of Nigeria or Kenya?

You see, it's important to properly frame recent history so that we can look clear-eyed into the future, and this is what it reveals: If radical Islamic terrorism is the virus, then stability is the antibody.

And it's a critical moment. Slowly, Middle Eastern regimes that have quietly funded and encouraged jihad from the safety of their palaces and oil rich treasuries, have come to realize that they, too, are viewed as enemies and apostates by terrorists like ISIS. Should the opportunity present itself, jihadists will infiltrate whatever nation they can, killing innocent civilians and toppling regimes in order to establish their idea of a true caliphate--spreading instability and chaos with it.

But they are no match for stable governments, working in unison and sharing intelligence to disrupt terrorist networks and root out jihad in all its forms. This is exactly why Israel is the key to the Middle East's current crises. Israel possesses the single greatest surveillance gathering network in the region; boasts the strongest military might; enjoys the most robust economy; and is the region's only stable democracy. It's common knowledge that for all of these reasons, Israel is the best friend of the United States in the Middle East, but what's less understood—while they would never admit it—is that Israel is also the ad-hoc best friend of all its Arab neighbors that the terrorists would also aim to destroy from the inside out.

Israel may be surrounded by threats on all sides (literally), but so, too, are her neighboring nations surrounded themselves by jihadis. Some of them have already been infiltrated by them. When Mosul is reclaimed, the remnants of the virus of ISIS will scatter to the wind. Where they will ultimately end up, no one yet knows.

Let us hope and pray that we finally have consensus and the political will throughout the Middle East, to rip this barbaric and hellish virus up from its roots once and for all.

But, trust me, without Israel it would be worse—maybe even apocalyptic. 

Dr. Michael D. Evans is a No. 1 New York Times best-selling author and head of several prominent international non-profit organizations in the U.S., Netherlands, and Israel, including the Friends of Zion Heritage Center and Museum in Jerusalem.

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Biblical King's Palace Found Under Shrine Demolished by ISIS - Israel Today

Biblical King's Palace Found Under Shrine Demolished by ISIS

Wednesday, March 15, 2017 |  Israel Today Staff

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Bible

ISIS is going around destroying any and all historical sites that belong to any religion besides Islam.

But they may have just unwittingly helped prove the veracity of at least one book of the Bible.

While occupying the Iraqi city of Mosul, ISIS demolished the traditional Tomb of Jonah, the biblical prophet tasked with preaching to the people of the Assyrian capital of Nineveh.

After ISIS was recently pushed out of Mosul, archaeologists had a chance to examine the wreckage, and made a stunning discovery.

Fox News reported that below the ancient tomb lies the long-lost palace of the Assyrian King Sennacherib, whose invasion of Judah and miraculous defeat before the walls of Jerusalem is extensively documented in the Bible.

In the palace, archaeologists have begun to uncover ancient inscriptions and documents from the time of Sennacherib, his son King Esarhaddon, and his son King Ashurbanipal.

The find is one of the more exciting archeological finds in recent years, and provides yet further evidence that the biblical account of Middle East history is accurate.

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Muslim Sends Poignant Message to Persecuted Christians - JESSILYN JUSTICE CHARISMA NEWS

A man stands by a handmade cross and explains its backstory. (Facebook)

Muslim Sends Poignant Message to Persecuted Christians

1/17/2017 JESSILYN JUSTICE  CHARISMA NEWS

Join us on the new C-Pop podcast where Taylor and Jessilyn discuss, debate and sometimes deride pop culture with a strong sense of humor and a focus on Christ. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.

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While the world plots to divide Israel in favor of the nation's Palestinian Muslim neighbors, a few countries over, one man did something shocking.  

Marwan, a Muslim, wanted to send a strong message to his Christian counterparts. The Islamic State had destroyed his icons as well as the Christian churches during its reign of terror in Mosul.  

ISIS tore down icons, statues, crosses and more, essentially telling believers, "Leave or die." Followers of Jesus were no longer welcome in one of the oldest Christian cities.  

Marwan says the Islamic State was wrong. He decided to step in and do something about it. Instead of ransacking the already-destroyed churches, he built a cross.  

Watch the video to see more. 

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Iraqi Christians Fighting ISIS on Their Knees - CBN NEWS

Displaced people from the outskirts of Mosul arrive in the town of Bashiqa, after it was recaptured from the Islamic State, east of Mosul, Iraq. (REUTERS/Khalid al Mousily)

Iraqi Christians Fighting ISIS on Their Knees

 11/18/2016 CBN NEWS

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Kurdish and Iraqi forces are still fighting to break the Islamic State's iron grip on Mosul. Meanwhile, thousands of refugees are fleeing from certain death just miles away from the ISIS stronghold and Iraq's Christians are asking God to restore their land. 

CBN News Military Correspondent Chuck Holton described the scene on the front lines in Northern Iraq.

"We're hearing a lot of explosions and machine gunfire. There are coalition jets circling overhead," he said positioned just miles beyond enemy lines. 

While the scene is full of heavy gunfire, smoke and ground-shaking explosions, it is impossible to ignore the thousands of wounded refugees running for their lives. 

"They've been coming in groups of 10, 20, 30 even 100, waving white flags and surrendering to the Peshmerga," Holton said. "Many of them were told by ISIS that if they went to the Kurdish lines they would be beheaded by the Kurds. The refugees said they would rather die by Kurdish hands than by ISIS." 

The tired and wounded refugees do not receive the sword once they reach Kurdish territory; instead, they get bowls of food and glasses of water. 

"When they get to the Kurdish lines and find out they are well-cared for and given food and water, they just sometimes break down in tears," Holton said. "The wounded people we saw just a little while ago included a man whose wife and brother were killed in a U.S. airstrike. His daughter was with him and lost an arm and an eye."

Although many have escaped, Holton says there are still many trapped in ISIS territory with targets on their backs.  

"ISIS has herded thousands and thousands of people in Mosul into where the fighting is and using them as human shields. There are upwards of 700,000 people still trapped in Mosul," he said. 

Matthew Nowery leads Samaritan's Purse in northern Iraq and he says this is the perfect time for revival. 

"This is a dangerous calling. But I ask for prayer for the people themselves that are going to be displaced. That God would soften their hearts now. That they would be receptive to the message that so many of Jesus' followers are going to be out here in the desert of Iraq to provide," he told CBN News. 

Many Christians throughout the Middle East are fighting the war against ISIS on their knees and are praying for God to sanctify and restore the land the jihadis have defiled. 

Friday, Nov. 18, Iraqi Christians are meeting for an event called "Christ Day." That day will be dedicated to praying over the land defiled by ISIS militants. 

Fabian Greche leads a prayer group in northern Iraq and believes God is far from finished with the Middle East. 

"We easily get affected by darkness around us. It affects us, but if we look at Jesus and at His Word we see that God wants to pour out His Spirit. He's coming back for a bride, and He will have one in the Middle East." 

Reprinted with permission from CBN.com. Copyright The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc., All rights reserved.

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Are you serious? CNN did WHAT to Israel?? - ISRAEL VIDEO NETWORK

Are you serious? CNN did WHAT to Israel??

ISRAEL VIDEO NETWORK  Nov. 6, 2016

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CNN has been bashing Israel for decades. The headlines say it all. Is there a double standard here? Is CNN perhaps the most unfair and one-sided news broadcasting network?

ISIS are terrorists and Hamas is not a terrorist organization?

Who are they fooling?

Honest Reporting hits it on the nose. Way to go Honest Reporting.

If CNN covers Israel with a double standard, then it’s time CNN gets treated with a different standard than other news outlets.

The Spiritual Battle that Could Decide the Fate of the Mideast - CBN News Chris Mitchell

The Spiritual Battle that Could Decide the Fate of the Mideast

10-28-2016

 CBN News   Chris Mitchell

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ERBIL, Kurdistan – Officials say the current military effort to kick ISIS out of Mosul could take months. While that's happening on the ground, a growing prayer movement contending for the spiritual fate of the Middle East is spreading throughout the region.

At several houses of prayer, Christians are praying for God's plan to be fulfilled in perhaps the most volatile place on earth.

"We're just seeing an increase of hours of prayer meetings both from believers, local believers, (and) also people outside praying for the Middle East and coming here to pray as well," Fabian Greche, co-founder of the Mesopotamia House of Prayer in northern Iraq, told CBN News.

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In the Bible, it is known as Assyria.

Greche says they're praying for the fulfillment of Isaiah 19:23-25: "In that day, Israel will be one of three, with Egypt and Assyria – a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of Hosts shall bless, saying, 'Blessed is Egypt my people and Assyria the work of my hands and Israel my inheritance.'"

"So in order for that to happen (in) this region in the Middle East – all Muslim countries to be a blessing on the earth – we need to become a habitation of the presence of God," Greche explained. "And in order to be a habitation for the presence of God, God is building the altar of prayer and worship, and this is exactly what we are seeing in these prayer meetings."

With so much carnage in the region, the fulfillment of these verses may seem farfetched. Greche says in light of all the bad news, it's important to know where to look.

"We are to look to Jesus, to look at God's promises in His Word, so we would be influenced by Him and not by what happens around us in this world," he said. "We easily get affected by darkness around us. It affects us but if we look at Jesus and at His Word, we see that God wants to pour out His Spirit.

"He's coming back for a Bride and he will have one in the Middle East," he continued. "And so we need to simply look to Jesus, not be influenced by bad news, and hear good reports of what Jesus is doing. It stirs our hearts. And gives us hope to believe for more."

This week, the Mesopotamia House of Prayer is hosting believers from 15 countries for 100 hours of continuous prayer and worship for the Middle East.

Iraqi Christians Look Homeward Toward Mosul, Uncertainly - WORLD WATCH MONITOR CHARISMA NEWS

A man returns to his village after it was liberated from Islamic State militants, south of Mosul in Qayyara. (REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani)

Iraqi Christians Look Homeward Toward Mosul, Uncertainly

10/24/2016 WORLD WATCH MONITOR  CHARISMA NEWS

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Tens of thousands of Christians fled from Mosul and its surrounding towns and villages to Kurdistan when Islamic State (IS or ISIS) seized swathes of territory in summer 2014.

Several thousand families have sought refuge in Jordan and Lebanon, while others have left the Middle East to start new lives in Western nations such as Canada, Australia and, in a small number of cases, Britain. Levels of Christian emigration began rising in response to the violence that followed the 2003 US-led invasion and removal of President Saddam Hussein.

Rev. Ammar is a Chaldean priest who fled from the town of Qaraqosh—home to some 60,000 Christians until summer 2014, and now being fought over as the coalition of forces advances on Mosul. He serves displaced Moslawis (people from Mosul) in the Kurdish capital, Erbil, and said: "We hope to be able to return to our houses and towns soon."

Rev. Thabet, of the village of Karamles, said he wanted to return to the nearby Hill of St. Barbara, a mound on top of ruins of ancient Assyrian temples—named after a pagan ruler's daughter who converted to Christianity in the fourth century. "If my town is liberated, then one of the greatest joys would be to have a Mass in the open air on top of the Hill of St. Barbara and celebrate the holy Eucharist [there] again."

Rev. Poulos, from the town of Bashiqa, said: "We are warned that IS possibly put mines in our houses. After villages are liberated, it may still take more than three months before we can go back for a first visit. Returning to our houses then would take even longer." He added that all this week heavy fighting has been reported in his home town. "In Bashiqa it's a true war situation, with Turks, Peshmerga and Iraqi forces coming in—a lot of explosions and fighting."

Poulos is in touch with eight Syriac Orthodox monks living in Mar Mattai (St. Matthew), a monastery on a mountainside less than five kilometers from Bashiqa. "I've called them several times and they hear the sound of bombs. From the monastery they can see that a lot of bombing and fighting is going on. Nobody can go there now, but I hope it will be retaken soon."

The battle was not immediately affecting the monastery (which also houses three displaced families). "We have no problems, but we are watching for the future what will happen."

However, other Iraqi Christians who have moved far from home expressed no desire to return—because some of their Muslim neighbors had sympathized with IS. Rev. Aphram Ozan, a Syriac Orthodox priest in London who fled Mosul in 2011 after his family home was attacked by extremists, said: "I don't think Christians will return to Mosul. In the beginning, the people of Mosul welcomed IS. We were let down by the people; they left us."

Rev. Khalil Jaar, a Catholic priest in the Jordanian capital, Amman, and a partner of World Vision, said "not one" of the 500 or so Moslawi refugee families for whom he is co-ordinating aid was considering returning to the area. He said if adequate protection were offered, some had said they might return briefly to sell their houses, but would then go to their new homes. "ISIS is finished but the mentality and spirit of ISIS lives on in the heart of so many people in Mosul," he said.

One Christian former resident of Mosul in his early 30s recalled that increasing levels of extremism had strained his friendships with Muslims, even before 2003. "Growing up, I had friends who were Muslim. We played together and ate together and their parents treated us as though we were their children. But when some of them got to about 16 or 17, something changed. Maybe they had learnt something from the Quran or from the mosque—they changed and became more extreme, which made a gap between us. They became more extreme than their parents."

Suha Rassam, a Chaldean Catholic from Mosul and author of Christianity in Iraq, said that among her Iraqi Christian friends and relatives, "everybody is excited that Mosul is being liberated." But she added: "Although there are no more Christians in Mosul, I am still concerned about the Muslim population there, that they may not suffer too much and there is no slaughtering of the Sunni." However, she expressed concern that the presence of Kurdish and Turkish forces in the Nineveh Plains around Mosul could lead to both powers making territorial claims there. Extremism took hold in Mosul partly as a reaction against Kurdish expansionism, she said. "Even once Mosul is liberated, we can still expect a lot of trouble. It's not good for the unity of Iraq," she said.  

Christians and others suspect that the aim of the Kurdistan Regional Government is to earn political capital. Some voiced fears that because some Iraqi qualifications are not recognized there and government jobs require Kurdish-speakers, Arab Christians impoverished by their displacement could find themselves subjected to a "Kurdification" process.

One Christian former resident of Mosul whose family fled to Kurdistan said: "For all of history, the Kurds have been killing us, until now. They're trying to put on a good face; they want to liberate themselves from Iraq and show they are better than Iraq. But there's no future for Christianity in Kurdistan: my parents don't speak Kurdish, and because my nephews aren't Kurdish they aren't allowed to go to state school there."

But Poulos said he already knows what he will do if it's ever possible to go back to Bashiqa: "The first thing I will do is go to the church. If the church is not damaged and I can go in, I will pray. After that we will check how much damage is done to the church and to the houses. What needs to be done, what needs rebuilding?" 

This article originally appeared on World Watch Monitor.

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Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog: After many delays, the battle to liberate Mosul from a hellish ISIS nightmare is about to begin.

New post on Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

After many delays, the battle to liberate Mosul from a hellish ISIS nightmare is about to begin. Here’s the latest. by joelcrosenberg The good news: two years after the Islamic State swept through large swaths of north-western Syria, and seized control of upwards of one-third of Iraq, a coalition of U.S, Arab and Kurdish military forces are poised to launch a massive new battle to liberate the city of Mosul, Iraq's second largest. The bad news: how much time do you have? For one thing, while ISIS is losing ground in Iraq, and even losing some ground in Syria, it's ideology has spread to some three-dozen countries. Second, ISIS is recruiting jihadists from well over 100 countries. Third, ISIS operatives and loyalists are launching deadly terror attacks all over the world, including in North America and various NATO countries. Four, the battle for Mosul -- repeatedly promised yet repeatedly delayed over the past year -- could cause ISIS to slaughter many more innocents. Fifth, the battle for Mosul could also create a massive new refugee surge. In the days ahead, I'll keep you updated on this multi-national effort to retake Mosul, end the hellish ISIS-led genocide against Christians and Yazidis, and drive ISIS out of northern Iraq once and for all. I'll also report on a fascinating Iraqi proposal to create a new province in northern Iraq where Christians and other minorities can be safe. For now, please join me in praying for the people of Mosul. Please pray the Lord would liberate them from the ISIS nightmare they have been suffering for two years. Pray that the Lord would show grace and favor on the coalition preparing to attack ISIS. Please pray, too, for the various Christian ministries (including the organization we founded,The Joshua Fund) that is trying to minister to refugees in Iraq, strengthen the local persecuted Church there, and be a light in the darkness. That said, here's the latest news reports on preparations for the battle of Mosul: "Thousands of troops are massing outside ISIS-held Mosul in preparation for a battle that could spell the end of the terror group in Iraq," reports the UK Daily Mail. "The fight to reclaim the city is expected to begin next week in what will be the biggest Iraqi military operation since the US-led invasion in 2003." "A successful conquest would destroy ISIS's last bastion of power in the country, and represent a serious blow to its legitimacy," the British paper notes. "Some 30,000 Iraqi troops are expected to take part in the battle, with support from US special forces and western coalition warplanes." The BBC reports: A planned military offensive to reclaim Mosul from so-called Islamic State (IS) could see up to a million Iraqis flee their homes. The UN's refugee agency has told the BBC how it and its partners are gearing up to deal with the expected humanitarian crisis by building camps to house those in need. The much-delayed operation to drive IS from Iraq's second-largest city is expected to begin this month, more than two years after the jihadists over-ran Mosul and proclaimed its caliphate. In preparation, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and its partners are stepping up contingency plans, informed by a number of lessons learned from previous offensives, such as Falluja, says Bruno Geddo, a UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Iraq.... An estimated 3.3 million people -- equivalent to almost 10% of the population of Iraq -- have been uprooted by fighting since the start of 2014. Those currently fleeing Mosul and its surrounding areas join about half-a-million people who fled the city in June 2014. There are no firm figures on how many people remain in Mosul, but there were more than two million when IS took the city more than two years ago. Mr Geddo estimates the population could now be "anywhere between 1.2 and 1.5m people.".... > Order the new paperback edition of The First Hostage today — click here. —————————– You can now pre-order my next novel — Without Warning — which will release on March 14, 2017. Click here for details. Order The First Hostage today — the new political thriller about genocidal ISIS leaders plotting a terrorist attacks against Israel, Jordan and the United States — available in hardcover, softcover, e-book and audio formats. Order THE THIRD TARGET today , the first in this new series — now out in paperback — the New York Times best-selling novel about ISIS capturing chemical weapons in Syria and plotting genocidal attacks on the U.S. and our Mideast allies. ———————-—- Subscribe (free) to the RSS feed (click here) and receive every new posting on this blog directly via email Follow on Twitter — @joelcrosenberg Follow on Facebook — Epicenter Team page joelcrosenberg | October 16, 2016 at 2:23 pm | Categories: Epicenter | URL: http://wp.me/piWZ7-5Ss