Intelligence Agency Warns: Islamist Groups Have Become A Decentralized And Elusive “Swarm”

Like a decentralized and elusive swarm that is out to devour everything in its path such as, oh, say a swarm of locusts, perhaps? In the 12th Century an Islamic scholar named Abul Ala Mawdudi wrote a book describing the spiritual homestead of Islam — modern day Saudi Arabia — as the “Abyss of Darkness” to introduce non-Arab readers to Islam. Incidentally, the “locusts” of Revelation 9 are themselves described by John as coming out of the darkness of the Abyss …

Revelation 9:2-3, 11, “When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth… They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).”

By Thomas Escritt, Reuters – “Radical Islamist groups in the Netherlands have become a decentralized and elusive ‘swarm’ that may broaden their focus from the conflict in Syria to the wider Middle East, the Dutch intelligence service warned on Monday.

Its report reflects widespread concern in Europe at the threat posed by European citizens – mainly from Islamic immigrant milieus – leaving to fight in Middle East conflicts, then returning battle-hardened and posing security threats.

Dutch authorities estimate that 120 Dutch citizens have fought in Syria’s civil war, with 14 having died in combat, and that there are hundreds of jihadi militants in the country eyeing missions abroad, with thousands more sympathizers.

The Dutch General Intelligence and Security Agency (AIVD) said in its latest assessment of the threat posed by underground jihadi groups that they were stronger and more self-confident.

It said such militants continued to pose a ‘substantial’ threat to the Netherlands, one notch below the highest alert.

Most of the potential fighters were of Moroccan background although some were native Dutch converts to Islam.

The agency said the phenomenon was becoming ever harder to track as social media made it possible for increasingly ‘professionalised’ radical movements to coordinate themselves without the need for a centralised authority.

‘The movement has taken on the character of a swarm,’ the agency said. ‘There is a less hierarchical structure than at the turn of the millennium, which makes it more flexible, effective and less vulnerable to ‘attack’ from outside.’

European governments have struggled to stop their nationals, some just teenagers, from traveling to Syria where the conflict, which began as peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad and evolved into an armed rebellion is now in its fourth year. More than 160,000 people have been killed.

Daniel 7:7, “… in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast — terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts …”

Recommended: Islam In Bible Prophecy: “So, what was John talking about when he described the army of locusts? A fleet of 21st-century military helicopters? Some modern-day teachers who promote trendy, pop interpretations of prophecy see nothing more than helicopters in these verses. Christians of the past, who know history better than most of us do, saw this army of locusts as a prophecy of the rise and spread of Islam… Why an army of locusts to represent an army of Arabs? About 900 years before John’s Revelation, the Prophet Joel has symbolically described an invading, attacking army as a swarm of locusts. Any large, invading army might be compared to a swarm of locusts, but the Arabs and Muhammed have a unique connection to the locust: ‘In the Bedoween romance Antar, the locust is introduced as the national emblem of the Ishmaelites [one of the ancestors of the Arabs –DB]. And it is a remarkable coincidence that Muslim tradition speaks of locusts having dropped into the hands of Muhammed, bearing on their wings this inscription – ‘We are the army of the Great God.’” Read more.