Free Republic

Palestinian terrorists open fire on Israeli cars en route to Passover meal; IDF troops launch massive manhunt in area; Hamas, Jihad praise attack. * * * Hamas and Islamic Jihad both praised the attack, although neither organization claimed responsibility. A spokesman for Islamic Jihad called the attack "a natural response to Israeli crimes," while Hamas said the shooting was "the response to the crimes of the occupation, and the repeated assaults on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and against our prisoners in Israel jails."

BEIRUT - Four people were killed in a blast in Beirut's southern suburbs on Tuesday, a security source told Reuters, attributing the blast to a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt. The source said another 20 people were wounded in the explosion, which occurred in a stronghold of the military and political movement Hezbollah. Images broadcast on the Shi'ite Muslim militant movement's Al Manar channel showed flames erupting from a building and a large plume of smoke billowing over a street near the charred remains of cars as a crowd gathered at the site of the blast. Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6nmy6mghpQ Al...

Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, accused Israel of assassinating Hassan al-Laqqis, a senior operative with the organization who was believed to have commanded Hezbollah forces fighting in Syria. Earlier this month, al-Laqqis was shot in the head from close range outside his home in the Hadath district of Beirut. "All evidence indicates that Israel is behind the assassination,” Nasrallah said on Friday in a televised tribute to al-Laqqis. The Hezbollah chief praised al-Laqqis as “one of the brilliant brains of the resistance.” "All the indicators and clues points to the Israeli enemy," Nasrallah said, in his first public comments...

A silvery green olive grove set in the red soil of a Palestinian village is a crime scene - testament to a practice so sensitive that it is spoken of only in whispers. One night in late November, Rasha Abu Ara, a 32-year-old mother of five, was beaten to death and strung from a gnarled tree branch as a gruesome badge of "family honor" restored. The woman's alleged sin was adultery, and her killer was either her own brother or husband ... Her murder brought to 27 the number of women slain in similar circumstances in Palestinian-run areas this year,...

A top military commander of Hezbollah, which is helping Syrian troops battle rebels, has died in fighting in Syria, a Lebanese security source said. "Ali Bazzi, a high-ranking Hezbollah military commander, was killed today in a combat zone," said the source on Sunday, without specifying the location. Sources have confirmed the death of Bazzi to Al Jazeera. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported earlier that Hezbollah fighters died Sunday during battles in Nabuk, one of the last rebel-held areas in the Qalamoun region bordering Lebanon. "There is fierce fighting in Nabuk between government forces, backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters,...

Israel allegedly struck a military base in Syria, reveal the presence of newly upgraded Russian anti-aircraft missiles and indicate that the US defense establishment, which hastily ordered the satellite photos from a civilian contractor, was given advance warning about the air strike. Taken at 10 a.m., roughly nine hours before the strike, the photos show two possible targets: an upgraded and deployed battery of S-125 missiles and six very large trailers that could carry missiles. The photos were first published by intelligence analyst Ronen Solomon along with a co-authored accompanying article in Israel Defense magazine. The S-125 battery, the photos...

Kuwait-based Al Jarida quotes Israeli security official as saying that Israel is mulling destroying remainder of cache in Beka'a Valley; report could not be confirmed by any other source. Lebanon Kuwait's Al-Jarida newspaper reported Wednesday that Israeli warplanes attacked a convoy carrying missiles along Lebanon's border with Syria two days earlier. Quoting Israeli sources, the newspaper said that the missiles were intended for delivery to Hezbollah, to bolster their cache of advanced weapons. The report did not specify whether the alleged attack was carried out on Lebanese or Syrian territory. The newspaper sources an Israeli security official, described as an...

Moscow, October 17, Interfax - A sculpture ensemble depicting Jesus Christ called 'I have come to save the world' has been erected on top of a 2,000-meter high mountain in Syria. The statue has been placed on a historic pilgrim route from Constantinople to Jerusalem, at the Cherubim Monastery in the community of Saidnaya at an altitude of 2,100 meters above sea level, the Moscow Spiritual Academy, which supported this peacekeeping project, said in a statement. "The ensemble with the blessing Christ in its center, seen from Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Israel, is designed to bring peace, mutual understanding, and...

An al Qaeda-affiliated group in Lebanon has claimed responsibility for last week’s terror attack on Israel, according to a newly released statement from the group. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, named after Osama bin Laden’s mentor, released a statement in Arabic late Monday claiming official ownership of the four rockets launched into Israeli territory on Thursday of last week. “This operation comes within the series of our jihadi work directed at the Jews,” read a translation the terrorist group’s statement, which was accompanied by several tweets from group member Sirajuddin Zureiqat, who posted photos of the rockets shot into northern Israel....

“The supersonic and long-range anti-ship Yakhont missiles of the Syrian army and the Lebanese Hezbollah (resistance movement) are serious deterrents to a US naval attack by its warships in the Mediterranean Sea,” Dr. Mostafa Zahra, a military analyst and strategic studies expert, told FNA on Monday. He said that Syria’s Iskandar high-precision ballistic missiles and its anti-ship Scud missiles will also target the US warships in case of a US naval invasion of Syria, reminding that the American military vessels are not equipped with any weapons system to intercept or divert the Syrian anti-ship missiles. The P-800 Oniks, also known...

The Syrian government has agreed to allow UN inspectors to visit the site of a suspected chemical weapon attack outside Damascus, state media report. The move came shortly after a senior US official told reporters there was "very little doubt" that a chemical weapon had been used by government forces.

Syria has agreed to allow UN inspectors to visit three sites to investigate accusations of chemical weapons use during the country's civil war.

US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has said that President Obama has asked the military to "prepare options for all contingencies" as the crisis in Syria deepens following reports of a chemical weapons attack by that country's government earlier this week. Speaking in Malaysia Sunday, where he was starting a planned one-week tour of Asia, Hagel said that the administration was still weighing whether or not to use military force against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Among the factors being discussed, Hagel said, were an intelligence assessment of the attack as well as possible international support for a...

the Obama administration prepared for a possible military response by moving naval forces closer to Syria. Obama discussed the situation in Syria by telephone with British Prime Minister David Cameron, the White House said. It was Obama's first known conversation with a foreign leader about Syria since the reports this week that hundreds of Syrians had been killed by the alleged chemical attack in a suburb of Damascus, the capital.

President Barack Obama said the alleged mass chemical attack in Syria “is clearly a big event of grave concern,” he told CNN in an interview aired Friday morning. But the President was hesitant to get the U.S. more involved. Citing the ongoing human and financial burdens the U.S. still faces in Afghanistan, he was unwilling to “get involved with everything immediately” and “drawn into very expensive, difficult, costly interventions that actually breed more resentment in the region.” Two years ago this month, Obama called for the ouster of Syrian strongman Bashar Assad. A year ago, Obama drew what he called...

A previously undisclosed site advertised by Iran as a launching pad for its space program could be used for testing ballistic missiles, according to a London-based weapons research publication. The publication IHS Jane’s analyzed satellite imagery and concluded that the site, located 220 miles east of Tehran near the Caspian Sea, was developed in the last three years to be one of three launching sites for Iran’s space program, the New York Times reports: The Jane’s report was likely to be viewed with concern by Western officials and Israel. They have expressed suspicions that Iran’s ballistic missile development is part...

Gripped by more than a year of conflict the thriving commercial hub has been transformed into a series of battlefields and front lines, its residents struggling to live on amid the widespread disease, dirty water and crippling food shortages. The aerial pictures show the extent of the destruction of the city, one of the oldest and most historically rich in the world. The Ancient City of Aleppo is a Unesco World Heritage site, this year placed on the UN organisation's list of World Heritage in Danger. “Aleppo has been utterly devastated, its people fleeing the conflagration in huge numbers," said...

The FSA's statement said that three military officers, one of them a colonel, were killed. The Free Syrian Army (FSA) shot down a helicopter and 3 military officers in the helicopter were killed. According to a written statement by the FSA, the FSA's troops shot down a military helicopter with a missile near the International Damascus Airport. The statement said that three military officers, one of them a colonel, were killed. There was no statement or comment from the Syrian administration about the incident.

Iran's new president says 'Zionist regime' is a 'wound that should be removed' as millions mark al-Quds Day. Netanyahu: Rohani's true face exposed sooner than expected Ahmadinajed: A devastating storm will uproot basis of Zionism Iran's new president has called Israel an "old wound" that should be removed in comments published just two days ahead of his inauguration and as millions of Iranians took to the streets to mark al-Quds Day. Hassan Rohani's remarks about Israel - his country's archenemy - echo those of other Iranian leaders. Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency says Rohani spoke after taking part in an...

Palestinian Authority TV continues to promote Islam-based hate speech and Antisemitism, voiced by little children. In this latest example, two sisters recited a poem that included the following demonization of Jews: (video at link) "You who murdered Allah's pious prophets (i.e., Jews in Islamic tradition) Oh, you who were brought up on spilling blood You have been condemned to humiliation and hardship Oh Sons of Zion, oh most evil among creations Oh barbaric monkeys, wretched pigs."   The poem also taught that Jerusalem is not for Jews, because Jerusalem "vomits" out the Jews who are said to be "filth" and...