Israeli officers saluting their flag. This is the only army ISIS fears. Photo: Israel Defense Forces/Flickr/Creative Commons
As ISIS works to set up a Muslim Caliphate in the Middle East with hopes of extending its influence into even Europe, there is only one country it fears — Israel. This is according to a German reporter who spent 10 days with ISIS in 2014.
Because of a unique relationship he had developed with ISIS leaders, Jurgen Todenhofer received permission to embed with the Islamic extremists. During this time he was able to interview several Jihadi fighting in Iraq and Syria.
Though several countries such as America and Britain have military in Iraq, Todenhoffer said in an interview with Jerusalem News that ISIS is not scared of them because they lack the commitment and experience needed for city guerrilla warfare.
As one fighter pointed out, Mosul, Iraq has 1.5 million people and ISIS has 10,000 fighters scattered throughout the city and Western armies lack the experience for that type of urban fighting. ISIS’s headquarters is based in Mosul.
In addition, ISIS fighters are prepared to die for their cause, and they do not believe Western troops have the same willingness. Todenhofer adds that ISIS hopes countries like the US and Britain will send in troops so the extremists can capture some and use them for extortion and display.
However, Israel is entirely a different matter. Technologically equipped and experienced, they are fighting for their lives.
Todenhofer said:
“The only country ISIS fears is Israel. They told me they know the Israeli army is too strong for them.”
The German reporter also interviewed a member of ISIS originally from Germany. The Jihadist said that their goal is to take Europe. Todenhofer quoted the terrorist who said:
“We will conquer Europe one day. It is not a question of if we will conquer Europe, just a matter of time that will happen. But it is certain… For us, there is no such thing as borders. There are only front lines.”
ISIS’s goal is to set up a Caliphate, a form of Islamic government, that would eventually rule all Muslims through a supreme leader referred to as a Caliph.
There are two major forms of Muslims — Sunni and Shia. Based on a 2010 survey, Pew Research estimates between 75% to 90% of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims are Sunni.
Though both groups have similar beliefs, they differ in how Islam is politically run. The Sunni believe any Muslim is capable of being the leader of Islam, while Shia believes the leader must be a descendant of Mohammad.
ISIS comes out of the Jihadi arm of the Sunni and in a power struggle within Islam is intent on eradicating the Shiites.
There has been a long-standing conflict between Sunni and Shia. Saudi Arabia’s recent execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others on terrorism charges is part of this internal Muslim battle. Saudi Arabia is made up of over 80% Sunni Muslims while Iran, which is largely Shiite, angrily condemned the execution.
At this point, ISIS controls territory in Iraq and Syria, but over recent months has lost about 30% of its territory.
If ISIS plays any kind of role in end time events, then I suspect Western and European countries will eventually tire of the fight and begin to negotiate with the Jihadis organization.
Revelation 18: 3,15,19 says that the merchants of the world will get rich because of their involvement with a group identified as Babylon. The usage of the name of an ancient Biblical city suggests a Middle East connection. These verses would also imply at some point the nations will enter into a pact with Babylon.
Sources:
OpentheWord.org 