Free Republic

The death toll of multiple U.S. drone strikes launched on Sunday against training camps of al- Qaida militants in Yemen's southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwa has risen to 55, the Yemeni Interior Ministry said on Monday. Three local leaders were among the 55 dead militants, the ministry said in a brief statement on its website. It said that its security services are working to identify the nationalities of foreign fighters who were killed among al-Qaida militants in the airstrikes. The ministry described the air strikes as the strongest assault launched against the militants since 2012, when the army retook...

Top News Story Financial Times WASHINGTON/TEHRAN: The US has prepared several plans to attack Iran since 2003, a former intelligence expert with the US military reported Sunday in the Washington Post. According to security analyst William Arkin, the US Central Command has been devising war scenarios with Iran at least since May 2003, shortly after the US-led invasion of neighbouring Iraq. One of the possible campaigns, entitled TIRANNT (theatre Iran near term) dealt with clash of US and Iranian ground troops, taking into account US experiences in its recent Iraq invasion, Arkin said. In addition, the US drew up...