Free Republic

After the helicopter crash on May 19, 2024, that claimed the life of former president Ebrahim Raisi, the Iranian mullah regime swiftly scheduled early elections.Not being a particularly competent bunch, they announced the fictional date of Friday, June 31. They held the vote on Saturday.These elections were orchestrated under the watchful eye of the ailing 85-year-old Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, who aimed to use this occasion to solidify his succession plan. While it appeared that Saeed Jalili, a former Revolutionary Guard general close to Khamenei, was set to win, the historically low voter turnout effectively transformed the electoral process into...

Israel has lost effective sovereignty in the northern part of the country, thanks to constant Hezbollah projectile fire that has led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of Israelis, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday. The Times of Israel reported: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says that Israel “has effectively lost sovereignty in the northern quadrant of its country because people don’t feel safe to go to their homes.” In an on-stage interview at the Brookings Institution, Blinken reiterates his belief that Israel does not want a war in Lebanon, but admits that “they may well...

Airport whistleblowers have alleged that Hezbollah is storing large quantities of Iranian weapons, missiles, and explosives at Beirut's main civilian airport, according to the Telegraph. Among the weapons allegedly stored at Rafic Hariri International Airport are Iranian-made Falaq artillery rockets, Fateh-110 and M-600 short-range missiles, and road-mobile ballistic missiles with ranges exceeding 150 miles. The whistleblowers also claim the presence of AT-14 Kornet anti-tank guided missiles, Burkan short-range ballistic missiles, and RDX explosives. An airport worker expressed fears about the potential consequences of an attack or explosion at the airport, drawing comparisons to the devastating 2020 Beirut port blast. "Beirut...

Video The Hezbollah terrorist organization released a psychological warfare video overnight in which terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened to bring destruction upon the State of Israel in the event of a war in Lebanon. The video included Hebrew and English subtitles for Nasrallah, who spoke in Arabic, as well as images of Israeli landmarks. "In case an inclusive war is imposed on Lebanon, the resistance will fight without restraints, without rules, without limits," ...

Canada is preparing a massive evacuation of its citizens from Lebanon should a full-scale war break out between Israel and Hezbollah, Channel 12 reports.The report quotes from a conversation held Friday between Foreign Minister Israel Katz and his Canadian counterpart Mélanie Joly.The report says the conversation was tense and that Joly told Katz that the Canadian military was drawing up plans to evacuate 45,000 people from Lebanon.Katz reportedly urged Ottawa to put pressure on Hezbollah’s Iranian backers to reign in the terror group.There was no official read out of the conversation.However, Katz later posted on X: "Israel cannot allow the...

The head of the Shiite Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, threatened to expand his war against Israel in a speech on Wednesday, boasting that he allegedly has 100,000 terrorists at his disposal and suggesting war with Cyprus may also be imminent. Hezbollah, one of many Iranian proxy terrorist organizations, has long maintained ties with the Sunni jihadist group Hamas. The group has expanded its attacks on Israel since October 7, when Hamas terrorists launched an unprecedented invasion of Israel that resulted in an estimated 1,200 deaths, the abduction of about 250 people, and widespread torture, rape, and other atrocities....

Israel warned about the prospects of an “all-out war” in Lebanon after Hezbollah militants published disturbing drone footage threatening the Jewish state – as Hamas’ representative in Lebanon claimed the terror group would carry out the Oct. 7 massacre all over again if given the chance. As tensions boil along the Israel-Lebanon border, the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group published a roughly 10-minute video on Tuesday, allegedly taken by drone, depicting several Israeli military sites and residential cities that were tagged “highly populated.” Israeli officials slammed the propaganda video as an unabashed threat against the Jewish state, warning the Hamas allies...

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has officially approved plans for an “offensive in Lebanon” against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terror group illegally occupying southern Lebanon that has been firing at northern Israel since October. In a statement, the IDF said: Today (Tuesday), the Commanding Officer of the Northern Command, MG Ori Gordin, and the Head of the Operations Directorate (J3), MG Oded Basiuk, approved operational plans and held a joint situational assessment in the Northern Command. As part of the situational assessment, operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were approved and validated, and decisions were taken on the continuation of...

Members of a small far-right group advocating the annexation and settlement of southern Lebanon are set to hold a video conference on Monday, claiming their approach is the “only solution” to the ongoing clashes with Hezbollah amid increasingly vocal calls for Israel to invade its northern neighbor. “More assassinations in Lebanon, more firing of missiles, more alarms in the northern settlements, and no real change is visible on the horizon,” the Uri Tzafon organization said in a statement last week decrying the current escalation in the north. As an alternative, it invited the public to participate in what it is...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Iran and Sweden carried out a prisoner swap Saturday that saw Tehran release a European Union diplomat and another man for an Iranian convicted in Stockholm of committing war crimes over his part in 1988 mass executions in the Islamic Republic. The arrest of Hamid Nouri by Sweden in 2019 as he traveled there as a tourist likely sparked the detentions of the two Swedes, part of a long-running strategy by Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution to use those with ties abroad as chip in negotiations with the West.

A video went viral on Thursday that showed Israeli troops using a trebuchet to lob fireballs over the wall near the Israeli border with Lebanon, apparently to clear brush. The Israeli broadcaster KAN published a video of the “creative solution” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers used to reportedly clear dense brush near the border with Lebanon. Trebuchets, which drop a heavy weight to propel a long throwing arm with a sling assembly on the end, have considerably longer range and better accuracy than older catapult designs. They were regarded as such a marvel of technology in their day that...

US Central Command reporting destruction... Russia says it repelled a massive Ukrainian drone attack...Slight damage reported from a Ukrainian attack on an oil depot... The US Justice Department says that police in Phoenix engaged in a pattern of conduct violating the civil rights of residents... A senior Hezbollah commander reportedly killed in southern Lebanon tonight. Israel launching what... At the G7 summit Joe Biden signing a ten-year security pact with Ukrainian President... In the British Election there is a new You Gov poll showing Reform UK at 19 percent leading the Conservatives at 18 percent for the first time... Dutch...

"The powerful elimination worries Hezbollah members. They now understand that the IDF knows much more about them than they know about us," says Professor Amatzia Baram. Approximately 250 rockets were launched on Wednesday towards northern Israel, disrupting the holiday calm with successive alerts. Rockets that exploded in open areas caused fires. In the city of Tiberias, a siren was activated for the first time since October. These launches come after the assassination of senior Hezbollah official Sami Taleb Abdullah, whose rank was equivalent to a brigadier general in the IDF. For the past 20 years, Abdullah had led rocket fire...

Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terrorist illegally occupying southern Lebanon, fired hundreds of rockets at Israel overnight into Wednesday morning after an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) strike on a senior Hezbollah commander. IAF aircraft eliminated Sami Taleb Abdullah, the commander of the Nasr Unit in the Hezbollah terrorist organization, last night. This was part of a strike on a Hezbollah command and control center in the area of Jouaiyya in southern Lebanon, which was used to direct terrorist… pic.twitter.com/DE4qKnC7Mk — Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 12, 2024 The attacks coincided with the Jewish holiday of Shavuot (Pentecost), which celebrates the giving of...

Russia has rolled back on comments suggesting that a major agreement with Iran had been suspended due to problems it faced with Tehran. Since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, Tehran has supplied Moscow's war machine with equipment such as the Shahed drone, which has been used to attack Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. In September of that year, work on a new treaty between Moscow and Tehran was announced during a meeting between Putin and the late President of the Islamic Republic, Ebrahim Raisi. Russia's Foreign Ministry had said in January that the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty...

The Houthi authorities in Yemen say that an "American-Israeli spy network" was using international organizations... Israel striking some 90 miles deep in Lebanon tonight... Pennsylvania Democrat US Senator John Fetterman involved in a traffic accident in Maryland Sunday morning... US Central Command tonight saying that one drone launched by Houthi forces in Yemen was destroyed... The United Nations Security Council adopting a US resolution regarding the situation in Gaza... An aircraft carrying the Vice-President of Malawi and nine others gone missing... Five Israelis taken to hospital for smoke inhalation following a drone attack... US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in...

Egypt and Jordan, two countries that have peace treaties with Israel, condemned the Israeli rescue of four hostages on Saturday — as did officials from the European Union (EU) and United Nations (UN) — over Palestinian casualties. As Breitbart News reported, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israel Police, and Israel Security Agency (ISA) rescued four hostages: Noa Argamani, 25; Almog Meir Jan, 21,; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 40. The commander of the elite Israeli police anti-terror “Yamam” unit, Arnon Zamora, was wounded in the attack and later died in the hospital. Palestinian sources claimed that over 200 people...

Gunmen attacked the United States embassy building in Lebanon on Wednesday morning, according to statements from the U.S. government and the Lebanese army. “At 8:34 a.m. local time, small arms fire was reported in the vicinity of the entrance to the U.S. Embassy. Thanks to the quick reaction of the LAF [Lebanon Armed Forces], ISF [Israel Security Forces], and our Embassy security team, our facility and our team are safe. Investigations are underway and we are in close contact with host country law enforcement,” the embassy said in a statement on X. At 8:34 a.m. local time, small arms fire...

One of the most influential Arab journalists in the world, Jamal Khashoggi, went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last week. Turkish authorities have blamed the Saudis, but Riyadh has denied harming the veteran reporter.Jamal Khashoggi, 59, was born in Medina, Saudi Arabia, one of the holiest cities in Islam. Like many Saudis at the time, Khashoggi left to study abroad. He earned a business administration degree in 1983 at Indiana State University in the United States.Career in journalismKhashoggi began his career as a reporter for the English language newspaper Saudi Gazette. He went on to work for...

A top New York Times union organizer posted on X that Zionists are “butchers” and “depraved monsters” — igniting a firestorm in the newsroom, The Post has learned. In addition to posting comments like Zionists “know how to kill,” Nastaran Mohit, organizing director of the NewsGuild of New York — who works on behalf of Times employees under a union contract — called the Gray Lady itself a “decrepit institution,” according to comments reviewed by The Post. In response to a post celebrating the Times winning a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the war in Gaza, she posted it...