Free Republic

Mossad Director Dedi Barnea countered optimistic remarks by the officials, back from Washington last week after making an urgent bid to ward off the damage contained in the nuclear accord with Iran before the US signs. It is a “bad deal,” they said, but the Biden administration may still be amenable to some adjustments. Barnea, however, harshly denigrated the deal on the table as “a strategic disaster” when he met a small group of reporters after briefing the Prime Minister and other high officials on the true state of play. Israel’s spy chief, who leads the national intelligence effort, did...

Iran knows they can do what they want with Obama/Biden in charge again. ..... Snip..... With Obama/Biden back in charge, Iran will do what it wants. Now with the help of the European Union, the US and Iran will hold indirect talks to get the Iran deal back on the table. Per ABC: The U.S. and Iran are holding indirect talks on Tuesday in what could be the first step toward reviving the 2015 deal that constrains Tehran’s nuclear facilities in exchange for sanctions relief. The meetings, hosted by the European Union, will work toward two separate agreements — on...

Many Israelis were scandalized when documents released by Edward Snowden revealed that their best friend, America, had in 2009 targeted a former prime minister and defense minister for secret surveillance. But their political leaders were not surprised. For years, the United States has been running a complex eavesdropping and surveillance web to spy on friends and foes alike, including Israel. Satellites gather and transmit data to command centers, “informers” operate in the field and the most fertile sources of all are not human but the instruments which bug cell phones, tablets and social networks. The US National Security Agency, NSA,...

Russia’s advanced S-400 air defense batteries at the Khmeimim Air Base in Syria have been quietly “deactivated,” according to Russian military sources and publications. This has not been officially confirmed or denied. One source said that today, not a single S-400 is operational anywhere in Syria. Three months ago, DEBKAfile’s military sources cited the Syrian military as reporting that the Russian S-400s posted outside the important Syrian military compound at Masyaf in the west had been “deactivated” indicating the shutdown of their radar systems. Our sources note that, although Russian S-300 and S-400 air defense systems have been deployed in...

Israel was seriously dismayed when first reports reached Jerusalem about the telephone conversation between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin Tuesday, during which Trump agreed to consider Putin’s plan for “de-escalation zones” in Syria, in place of the American security zones proposal. The Russian president’s plan includes the posting of Iranian military officers as co-monitors for those zones, one of which is to be located on the Syrian-Israeli border. President Trump described the conversation as “Very good.” The four “de-escalation zones” proposed would be situated at: 1. The northwestern province of Idlib up to the Turkish border; 2. The central...

Jul 2, 2019 @ 22:24 Diane Shalem First reports reaching DEBKAfile’s military sources say that a US submarine intercepted a Russian nuclear sub in American waters opposite Alaska. The Russian sub escorting the nuclear submarine responded with a Balkan 2000 torpedo and scuttled the US vessel. Urgent consultations in both the White House and the Kremlin were taking place on Tuesday night. US Vice President Mike Pence called off an appearance in New Hampshire after being recalled to Washington for a conference called by President Donald Trump without explanation. Russian President Vladimir Putin cancelled an engagement and headed for the...

In more than one campaign speech, President elect Donald Trump declared that his number priority was “to dismantle the disastrous deal” with Iran, which he said was “the worst deal ever” He was referring to the 2015 accord negotiated with Iran by the 5P+1 (five Permanent Security Council members plus Germany), which the Obama administration presented as putting the lid on Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Trump vowed to use force if necessary to prevent Tehran from acquiring the bomb. So does Tehran have more to fear from Donald Trump than from Barack Obama in the way of US military intervention?...

"Russia will ultimately bear responsibility for any further escalations in Syria" US UN Ambassador Nikki Haley 6/22/2018 "The IDF stated: Israel's air defenses and identification system located a threatening object before it crossed into Israel. No violations of sovereign Israeli air space will be permitted and action will be taken against any attempts to harm its citizens". "DEBKAfile"- Story 6/24/2018 Opponents of the Syrian government and pro-Syrian regime sources agree that the Russian Aerospace Forces (Air Force) launched attacks in support of a government offensive in the Daraa region of southwest Syria over the weekend. Different sources said anywhere from...

Israeli missiles struck at Damascus International Airport in the early morning hours of Tuesday June 26th. Syrian sources reported the attack. The attack is said to have been on an Iranian cargo plane. Syrian anti-aircraft defenses went into action with a pro-government source claiming an object was destroyed southwest of Damascus. Today (June 25th) the Israeli DEBKA website claimed that a drone targeted by an Israeli Patriot missile Sunday was participating in the offensive against jihadist opposition in SW Syria curently underway. DEBKA quoted a Syrian officer as its source. The Israeli attack on Damasacus came in the wake of...

Israel launched an unscheduled military exercise on the Golan Sunday, June 10. Thousands of army reservists were ordered to report for immediate duty with full gear and come directly from their homes and work places. That the sudden IDF announcement did not set a timeline for the exercise’s ending indicated that it was prompted by the Syrian military announcement on the same morning of a major army offensive impending this week in the Quneitra region opposite Israel’s Golan border.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sat down on Sunday, April 29 in Tel Aviv to discuss the Iranian threat, a Russian-backed Syrian force struck across the Euphrates to capture a string of US-backed fortified Kurdish SDF villages. This incursion of a key US area of influence region in eastern Syria, if confirmed, would rip up a key element of the US-Russian de-confliction zones accord and provide Iran with a springboard for a leap up to the Iraqi border. Pompeo, on his first Middle East Trip as Secretary of State, reiterated in Tel Aviv –...

US President Donald Trump’s “major decision” on Syria is contingent on the rallying of sufficient air and naval strength and allied participation. Military sources report that the only US warship immediately available for the promised US military response to Bashar Assad’s use of chemical weapons in Douma is the guided missile destroyer USS Donald Cook, which sailed from Larnaca Monday, April 9, on its way to the eastern Mediterranean. The USS Iwo Jima strike group, which visited Haifa last month, is now cruising in the Arabian Sea, days away from the scene, whereas the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group...

French special operations troops have moved into two US Syrian bases, Manbij and Remelin, as the US boosts its lines against Turkey. While US President Donald Trump was saying Tuesday, April 3, that he would “decide very quickly” to remove US troops from Syria, our exclusive military sources report that US Marines were heading toward the northern Syrian town of Manbij as reinforcements against Turkish inroads. They took up positions along the Sajur River, one of the three tributaries that feed the Euphrates River in Syria from sources in Turkey. This action blocked the Turkish army’s land access to Manbij,...

U.S. Moves Military out of Qatar & Turkey This past Thursday, Debka reported that the U.S. military has liquidated its two major air bases in the Middle East, at Incirlik (Turkey) and Al-Udeid (Qatar). Various facilities and capabilities will be moved: from Qatar to Saudi Arabia, and from Turkey to various friendly Middle Eastern countries. Air bases are designed to be liquidated and relocated in a short period of time. For historical context, we recall a similar event in the past. In 1969, King Idris of Libya was undergoing surgery in Athens, Greece. Taking advantage of his absence, Col. Muammar...

Russia foils massive attack on its Syrian bases by electronically “controlling” 6 drones, downing seven The Defense Ministry in Moscow revealed on Monday, Jan. 8: A massive terrorist drone attack on Russian military and naval bases in Syria was thwarted by electronic measures and anti-air weapon fire. The statement said that overnight on Jan. 6, Syrian “militants” (terrorists) sent a large swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles to attack Russia’s Tartus Naval base and Khmeimim air base. Russian defenses took control of six drones and its Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile and gun system shot down another seven. .... they used electronic measures...

Iran is preparing to celebrate the 38th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution next weekend by launching a satellite into space from the Safir vehicle, according to images obtained by US spy satellites from Iran’s launch sites.Safir was the first vehicle used to launch Iran’s first satellite into orbit in February 2009. In response to US President Donald Trump’s warning to stop missile tests, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tuesday: “The Iranian people will respond to his words on Feb, 10 and show how they stand up to such threats.” The satellite launch is expected to take place the next...

Drone over N. Israel: Iranian with stolen US apps [.... from Obama, Hillary and Kerry] The UMV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) that flew on July 17 over northern Israel was a “Yasir’ drone made in Iran that was launched from a Hizballah base in Syria’s Qalamoun Mountains, some 60km from central Golan. This is reported by debkafile military and intelligence sources. The Yaasir can reach an altitude of 5,000 feet, operate in a 200km radius and stay aloft for 8 hours. .... exceptional maneuverability, unlike most drones, due it is believed to the advanced US electronic systems installed by reverse engineering...

Ayatollah Khamenei reported Dead

President Barack Obama resolved earlier this month, much to the surprise of Washington insiders, to open a third anti-terror front in Libya to eradicate the Islamic Front’s tightening grip on the country. This top-secret decision was first revealed by DEBKA Weekly 692 on Jan. 1. --snip-- At the peak of the assault, large-scale US, British and French marines will land on shore for an operation first billed as the largest allied war landing since the 1952 Korean War. The attachment of Russian forces was negotiated later. According to this scenario, one group will be dropped ashore from the Gulf of...

Highly credible Iranian exile sources in Europe have revealed to debkafile that the Director of the Israel Desk of the Revolutionary Guards clandestine service was executed by a firing squad in late June or early July after he was accused of spying for Israel. Aged 46, Seyyed Ahmed Dabiri was his codename. His real name is not known. The sources report that he was tried by a Guards martial court and found guilty of tipping Israel off on classified information, including the movements of Iranian military commanders in Syria, Iranian arms shipments to Syria and arms convoys bound for Hizballah...