Prophecy News Watch - December 31, 2019

Around the World
Iran proxy vows retaliation after US strikes in Iraq kill over a dozen militants
Iran-backed militias in Iraq vowed to respond to US strikes Sunday that killed between 12 and 24 fighters sponsored by Iran, as the US promised to continue battling Iranian influence in the region.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard reportedly seizes ship in Gulf over ‘smuggled fuel’
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard on Monday seized a ship in the Persian Gulf suspected of carrying smuggled fuel, state media reported.
Russia says US strikes on Iraq and Syria are unacceptable
Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Monday that US airstrikes on Iraq and Syria were unacceptable and counterproductive, and urged all sides to avoid fueling tensions in the region.
More than 235,000 flee intense bombing in northwest Syria
Civilians on Friday packed a road leading out of a flashpoint town in northwest Syria, where two weeks of heightened regime and Russian bombardment has displaced 235,000 people.

Israel-Palestinian Conflict
Ex-IDF intel chief: Now that US engaged Iran, Israel must be careful
Following Sunday's US airstrikes on Iranian-affiliated militias in Iraq, Israel must now be more careful about its own airstrikes in Iraq, former IDF intelligence chief Amos Yadlin tweeted on Monday.
Netanyahu praises ‘important’ US strikes on Iran-backed militia
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday praised as 'important' the series of US airstrikes a day earlier against an Iranian proxy group that had carried out an attack on American forces in Iraq.

Inside the United States
Two government investigations leave Steele dossier in shambles
Two official government reports have exonerated President Trump and his associates of the serious Russia allegations in the Democratic Party-financed dossier written by Christopher Steele and his handler, Fusion GPS.

Christian News
Sudan church, once harassed by Islamist government, receives personal apology on Christmas
In a gesture of reconciliation following years of persecution, the new religious affairs minister of Sudan, Nasr al-Din Mufreh, attended Christmas celebrations in Khartoum to personally apologize for former dictator Omar al-Bashir's harassment of Christians.
Wang Yi, Chinese pastor, locked up for 9 years for publishing manifesto against Xi Jinping's 'sinicization' plan
Chinese pastor Wang Yi was sentenced to 9 years of prison on December 30th, following a year of detention in an unknown location in which he was deprived a lawyer by President Xi Jinping's Chinese Communist Party.
Texas pastor thankful parishioners had 'opportunity to protect ourselves' during church shooting
A minister at a Texas church where a parishioner shot and killed a man who opened fire on the Sunday congregation thanked state leaders for granting the man the right to carry a firearm to the service.