Free Republic

PARIS (AP) -- Iraq's president says Arab powers Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia do not need to join airstrikes against the Islamic State group. In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, President Fouad Massoum also expressed regret that Iran was not invited to take part in the 26-nation conference in Paris on Monday to try to counter the Islamic extremists who control vast parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria. The conference of mostly Western and Arab world countries and the five permanent U.N. Security Council members aims to show a united front, especially from majority-Muslim nations....

US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet foreign ministers from around the world in Paris on Monday to discuss how to defeat Islamic State (IS) militants. French President Francois Hollande said the beheading of a British aid worker showed the world must act against IS. About 40 countries, including 10 Arab states, have signed up to a coalition to help fight IS in Iraq and Syria. Several Arab countries have offered to take part in air strikes on IS fighters in Iraq, US officials say. Mr Kerry says he is "extremely encouraged" by promises of military assistance to tackle...

Original title:UN Reveals Close Links Between Israel and Terrorist Organizations in Syria The United Nations (UN) has stressed that there are strong links and contacts between the armed terrorist organizations in Syria and the Zionist entity. The UN remarks came in a report by its Secretary General on the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) during the period from May 29th to September 3rd 2014. The report said that members of the so-called “armed opposition” transported 47 of its wounded members through “the ceasefire line” and handed them to the “Israeli army”, indicating that the “Israeli army” handed 43 of...

(AFP) -- Threats by jihadists have sent a fresh wave of Christians fleeing their Iraqi homeland, bustling from exodus to exodus in search of a safe haven to rebuild their lives Raja Marzina, who has taken refuge in Jordan with her husband and their five children, never imagined she would one day have to leave Iraq for good. "But we had no choice; we had to flee to save our lives and our religion," she said. Like dozens of others who fled the orgy of violence unleashed by Islamic State (IS) jihadists this summer, Marzina goes to the Syriac Catholics...

Saudi authorities have swooped on a house in the eastern province city of Khafji, on the border with Kuwait, and arrested 27 people for using the premises as church last week. Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia) also confiscated copies of the Bible and various musical instruments from the people during the raid. The swoop was prompted by a tip from a citizen, reported the English-language newspaper Saudi Gazette. Those arrested on September 5 were of various Asian nationalities, including women and children, the newspaper reported. "A citizen reported suspicious activities in...

Two loud sonic booms were heard at around 1.45PM LT in Central Italy as two Italian Air Force Typhoons accelerated to supersonic speed to intercept Middle East Airlines 214 flight, an Airbus 320 from Geneva to Beirut. The two fighter planes, belonging to the 4° Stormo (Wing) from Grosseto, in QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) service round the clock together with those of the 36° Stormo from Gioia del Colle, were dispatched to intercept the Lebanese plane that, once flying over Bari, in southeastern Italy, radioed the Italian Air Traffic Control the request to land at Rome Fiumicino airport, because of...

When asked by “Meet The Press” host Chuck Todd if any nation has committed to putting boots on the ground in Syria to combat ISIS, White House Chief Of Staff Denis McDonough said “we’re not looking at that now.” Todd shot back, “Wait a minute, why not?” “We’re trying to put together the specifics of what we expect from each of the members” said the White House flack, referring to the “broad coalition” President Obama referenced in his speech Wednesday night. McDonough tried to walk back his initial quote though. ‘”If you know you need combat troops on the ground,...

Jerusalem calls the move 'an unfortunate surrender to economic interests.’ First Fox Sports – Middle East wiped Israel off the map, then – following complaints – it got rid of the map altogether. The sports network broadcasts in Israel, and a weekly schedule can be found online, especially important for American football fans interested in knowing what games will be broadcast on any given Sunday. Up until Thursday morning, the website had a “select your country” button that accessed a drop-down list of 23 countries in the Middle East, from Algeria, through KSA (the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), all the...

QAA, Lebanon (AP) -- Every day around sunset, dozens of residents of this small Lebanese Christian village on the border carry their automatic rifles and deploy on surrounding hills, taking up positions and laying ambushes in case Muslim extremists from neighboring Syria attack. "We all know that if they come, they will slit our throats for no reason," said one villager as he drove through the streets of Qaa, an assault rifle resting next to him. Like many Christian villagers, he spoke to The Associated Press only on condition of anonymity, fearing for his safety.

Iraq's prime minister said Saturday he has ordered the army to stop shelling populated areas held by militants in order to spare the lives of "innocent victims" as the armed forces struggle to retake cities and towns seized by the Islamic State extremist group this summer. "I issued this order two days ago because we do not want to see more innocent victims falling in the places and provinces controlled by Daesh," Haider al-Abadi told a news conference in Baghdad, referring to the Islamic State group by its Arabic acronym. He accused the militants of using civilians as a human...

In Defense of Christians, the nonprofit organization that has made protecting Christians in the Middle East its mission, challenged media reports Friday that Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was booed offstage at their inaugural Summit Gala Dinner Wednesday for supporting Israel. A 30-second YouTube clip from the dinner shows Cruz declaring to a restive audience: "I will say this, that I am saddened to see that some here, not everyone, but some here, are so consumed with hate …" At the mention of the word hate, guests at the gala became loud enough to drown out portions of Cruz's voice. He...

The families of two journalists beheaded by Islamic State jihadists were both warned by US government officials they could face prosecution if they raised a ransom for their release. The recent executions of James Foley and Steven Sotloff by Islamic State (IS) extremists triggered worldwide revulsion and Washington has since declared it is at war with the radicals. The United States has a policy of never paying ransoms, contending that doing so would endanger Americans all over the world. Late Friday, a spokesman for Sotloff's family said the murdered journalist's parents were told by a White House counterterrorism official last...

Leaders of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood group and allied clerics said on Saturday that they are departing Qatar, where they had sought refuge following the ouster of Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and the crackdown on his supporters. Their presence in Qatar had severely strained Doha’s relations with Egypt as well as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, all of which view the more than 85-year-old Islamist movement as a threat. The expulsion threatens to further isolate the group, which rose to power in Egypt through a string of post-Arab Spring elections but suffered a dramatic fall from grace during...

Well it took a while. “In Iran we don’t have homosexuals like in your country,” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at Columbia University last night in response to a question about the recent execution of two gay men there.“In Iran we do not have this phenomenon,” he continued. “I do not know who has told you we have it.” Fareed Zakaria claimed that Newsweek reporter Maziar Bahari was sentenced to prison in part for posting this photo on his Facebook page.And now they’ve been discovered in Iran. (via Religion of Peace) An 82-page document recently issued by Iran’s parliamentary research...

Via Breitbart, another dim attempt by the White House to keep this new Iraq intervention in Americans’ rhetorical comfort zone. “Wars” are long, involve vast numbers of fighters on both sides, and absorb much blood and treasure; our “victories” in war lately tend to be unsatisfying and ephemeral too. “Counterterrorism,” though, is lightning fast, typically involves a small number of military assets, and is usually decisive. (It also conveniently doesn’t require a new AUMF.) The Bin Laden raid is the supreme example. By the White House’s own reckoning, rolling back ISIS will take three years at least, already involves a...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Shi'ite Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Saturday that he had ordered his air force to halt strikes on civilian areas, addressing a condition set by Sunni Muslim tribal figures to support his campaign against Islamic State fighters. Rights groups say Iraqi government attacks this year, many of them in areas held by the Islamic State which controls one third of the country, have indiscriminately targeted civilians. "I have ordered the Iraqi Air Force to halt shelling of civilian areas even in those towns controlled by ISIS," Abadi said on his official Twitter account, using the...

US airstrikes already making headway, says Israeli official. Israel may play a frontline role in the international coalition forming against Islamic State – the jihadi group sweeping through Iraq and Syria in its bid to reinstate a Middle East caliphate. As world powers unite around a US-led plan for military action to topple the militant group, Jerusalem is signaling that if Islamic State decides to spread out to Jordan – Israel will not hesitate to act. "We will use any means necessary," a senior Israeli official told local television station Channel 2. "Let me make this clear: If Islamic State...

Funding for the conference was provided by Clinton donor and Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury, according to organizers. The wealthy businessman pledged $1 billion to the Clinton Global Initiative in 2009. Chagoury is also reportedly backer of Lebanese politician Michel Aoun, Hezbollah’s top Christian ally in the country, according to U.S. diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks. Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Raï, who was scheduled to speak during the same keynote slot as Cruz on Wednesday evening, has called Israel an “enemy state that is occupying Lebanese territory” and defended Hezbollah’s right to attack the Jewish state... (Snip) “I decided we should be present and...

President Obama held an Oval Office meeting with Middle Eastern-based Arab Christians on 9/11, one member of whom is a loud and proud supporter of the terrorist group Hezbollah. The day before, members of the same group, holding a conference under the name In Defense of Christians, booed and shouted down keynote speaker Senator Ted Cruz ”It’s surprising White House staffers allowed Maronite Patriarch Bashara Rai to meet with the President in the first place. As the Washington Free Beacon reports, the Lebanon-based Hezbollah supporting cleric isn’t shy about his views. “Everyone says why is Hezbollah carrying arms?” said Rai...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Struggling Syrian rebels that President Barack Obama once derided as "former doctors, farmers, pharmacists and so forth" now form a key pillar of the U.S. leader's strategy to beat back the militant insurgency known as Islamic State. For over three years, Obama has kept the so-called moderate rebels at arm's length. While giving verbal and limited material support, he and his spokesmen often said publicly that adding more weaponry to the civil war would only make things worse. Now Obama is taking a different tack as he sets out his strategy to defeat the Syrian-based Islamic State,...