Source: Associated Press In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press and Russia's state Channel 1 television, Putin said Moscow has provided some components of the S-300 air defense missile system to Syria but has frozen further shipments. He suggested that Russia may sell the potent missile systems elsewhere if Western nations attack Syria without U.N. Security Council backing. Syria (Listeni/ˈsɪriə/ sirr-ee-ə ; Arabic: سوريا‎ / ALA-LC: Sūriyā, or سورية / Sūrīyah; Syriac: ܣܘܪܝܐ; Kurdish: سوریه‌, Sûrî), officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest. A country of fertile plains, high mountains and deserts, it is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Turks, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shias and Arab Sunnis. The latter make up the majority of the population. Bashar Hafez al-Assad (Arabic: بشار حافظ الأسد‎ Baššār Ḥāfiẓ al-ʾAsad, Levantine pronunciation: [baʃˈʃaːr ˈħaːfezˤ elˈʔasad]; born 11 September 1965) is the President of Syria and Regional Secretary of the Syrian-led branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. He has served as President since 2000, when he succeeded his father, Hafez al-Assad, who led Syria for 30 years prior to his death. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the 25th and current Prime Minister of Turkey, in office since 2003. He is also the chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party, which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra (Arabic: جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام‎ Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahl ash-Shām, "The Support Front for the People of Greater Syria") is an Al Qaeda associate operating in Syria.[8] The group announced its creation on 23 January 2012 during the Syrian civil war.[9] It is described as "the most aggressive and successful arm of the rebel force".[10] The group was designated by the United Nations,[11] the United States in December 2012,[12] Australia in June 2013[13] and the United Kingdom in July 2013[14] as a terrorist organisation. In April 2013, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq released an audio statement announcing that Jabhat al-Nusra is its branch in Syria.[5] The leader of Al Nusra, Abu Mohammad al-Golani, denied the merger but affirmed their allegiance to Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.[15] By May 2013, a faction of Jabhat loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq leadership began acting under the name of the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" [16][17][18] Hezbollah (pronounced /ˌhɛzbəˈlɑː/;[4][5] Arabic: حزب الله‎ Ḥizbu 'llāh, literally "Party of Allah" or "Party of God")—also transliterated Hizbullah, Hizballah, etc.[6]—is a Shi'a Islamic militant group and political party based in Lebanon.[7][8][9] Its paramilitary wing is regarded as a resistance movement throughout much of the Arab and Muslim worlds,[7] and is considered more powerful than the Lebanese Army.[10][11] It has taken the side of the government in the Syrian civil war and in May--June 2013 successfully assisted in the recapture of the strategic town of Qusayr.[12] The governments of the U.S.,[13] Netherlands,[14][15][16][17] France,[18] Gulf Cooperation Council,[19] U.K., Australia, Canada, the European Union[20] and Israel classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, in whole or in part.[21][22] In English, the name "Syria" was formerly synonymous with the Levant (known in Arabic as al-Sham) while the modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the third millennium BC. In the Islamic era, its capital city, Damascus, among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world,[6] was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate, and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt. Bible prophecy or biblical prophecy is typically the prediction of future events based on the action, function, or faculty of a prophet.[1] Such passages are widely distributed throughout the Bible, but those most often cited are from Ezekiel, Daniel, Matthew 24, Matthew 25, and Revelation. Believers in biblical prophecy engage in exegesis and hermeneutics of scriptures which they believe contain descriptions of global politics, natural disasters, the future of the nation of Israel, the coming of a Messiah and a Messianic Kingdom, and the ultimate destiny of humankind. Al-Qaeda (/ælˈkaɪdə/ al-ky-də; Arabic: القاعدة‎ al-qāʿidah, Arabic: [ælqɑːʕɪdɐ], translation: "The Base" and alternatively spelled al-Qaida and sometimes al-Qa'ida) is a global militant

• published: 04 Sep 2013
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