The seizing of the Philippine City of Marawi is the biggest warning yet that the Islamic State is building a base outside of the Middle-East.
Islamic State is exporting the turmoil of the caliphate to this region as our Last Days prophecy study describes, with the same brutal tactics as seen in Iraq and Syria in recent years.
For as Islamic State militants swept through they raised the black flag of ISIS, beheaded the police chief, burned buildings, and seized a Roman Catholic priest and worshipers.
Intelligence sources say the fighters have included militants from as far away as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Chechnya and Morocco which has particularly alarmed security officials.
The Philippine Region of Mindanao has been roiled for decades by Islamic separatists and was fertile ground for Islamic State’s ideology to take root. This is the one region in this largely Catholic country to have a significant Muslim minority and Marawi itself is predominantly Muslim.
And it is difficult for governments to prevent militants from getting to the islands of the Philippines as Mindanao from other countries through waters that have often been lawless and plagued by pirates.
After the Philippines President Duterte declared martial law and sent in the military, they have struggled in trying to take the city back. Now the commander of the army brigade in Marawi has been fired.
Meanwhile, IS flags fly across the city and masked fighters roam the streets proclaiming Marawi as theirs using loud-speakers to urge residents to join them and handing out weapons to those who take up the offer.
The military says that so far 120 rebels and 38 members of the security forces have been killed along with 20 civilians also killed in the fighting.
Officials in neighboring countries worry that even if the Filipinos successfully take back Marawi in coming days, the threat will still remain high.
And their counter-terrorism officials are worrying that the militants will come over to them since Mindanao isn’t very far away.
This is a strong wake-up call for the world on militant Islam that is being exported from the Middle-East as described in our Last Days prophecy study.
For believers in Jesus’ Church its another sign how the rapture of the Church is drawing near as the world transitions into its Great Tribulation.