Free Republic

Washington (CNN)A number of cruise missiles launched from a Russian ship and aimed at targets in Syria have crashed in Iran, two U.S. officials told CNN Thursday. Monitoring by U.S. military and intelligence assets has concluded that at least four missiles crashed as they flew over Iran. One official said there may be casualties, but another official said this is not yet known.

Venezuela and Bolivia are supplying Iran with uranium for its nuclear program, according to a secret Israeli government report obtained Monday by The Associated Press. The two South American countries are known to have close ties with Iran, but this is the first allegation that they are involved in the development of Iran's nuclear program, considered a strategic threat by Israel.

U.S.-backed rebels in Syria appealed to the Obama administration on Friday for anti-aircraft missiles to defend their positions against relentless Russian airstrikes that have so far mostly targeted the moderate opposition to President Bashar al-Assad's rule, according to The Washington Post. We need one of two things. Either a clear policy from the United States to prevent Russia and the regime from bombing Syrians, or otherwise they should send us anti-aircraft missiles so that we can confront the Russian planes," said Hassan Haj Ali, the commander of Suqour al-Jabal, U.S.-backed group targeted by Russian strikes on Thursday, the report says....

With Syria making national headlines on a daily basis, it’s easy to forget about the Middle East’s other proxy war raging in Yemen. For months, a Saudi-led coalition has been battling Iran-backed militants for control of the country which was effectively wrested from Mansour Hadi earlier this year when the Sauid-backed President was forced to flee to Riyadh as the Houthis advanced on Aden. Sadly, Yemen has since descended into chaos, an embarrassment for the Obama administration which just a little over a year ago held the country up as an example of Washington’s successful counterterrorism efforts (no mention was...

Anti-regime activists say jihadist fighters linked to al-Qaeda fought with rebels to capture a Syrian military air defense base near Aleppo. Videos posted online Friday apparently shot inside the base say Jabhat al-Nusra participated in the overnight battle for the base. The videos show fighters inspecting lines of large missiles.

Moscow will reportedly provide Russian troops in Syria with an advanced antiaircraft missile system as part of its military support for Syrian president Bashar Assad. "This system is the advanced version used by Russia, and it's meant to be operated by Russians in Syria," a Western diplomat who is regularly briefed on US, Israeli, and other intelligence assessments told Reuters. And as The Daily Beast's Michael Weiss points out, any antiaircraft missiles deployed by Russian troops in Syria won't be directed at ISIS, since ISIS has no air force. In fact, none of the rebels do — only government forces...

Six months ago, authorities seized a cargo plane in Bangkok that contained 35 tons of North Korean military weapons. These included versions of the Chinese HN-5 “man-portable air defense system,” or MANPADS. The MANPADS were being shipped to Iran. The HN-5 — a copy of the Soviet SA-7— is less capable than the MANPADS Iran produces on its own. Why, you ask, would Iran be importing more primitive missiles than the ones it already makes? The only conceivable answer is that Iran was planning to provide North Korean missiles to Iran’s proxy terrorist groups, to gain plausible deniability in case...

first glance, the takeover by the Israeli Navy of the "humanitarian flotilla" heading towards Gaza is just one more of the disputed crises between Israel and its foes. As in all previous incidents, the spiral of accusations will eventually reach bottom. While media attention will highlight the tactical events—seizure of the ships, rules of engagement, who fired first, the legal location of the incident and the other dramatic details—the rapidly expanding debate will soon reach the strategic intent of the "flotilla." After all the governments involved issue their condemnations and warnings in all directions, after the UN conferences and issues...

Over the past few days, Iranian officials have confirmed that international inspections of its nuke sites will be severely limited if permitted at all. This post provides excerpts from recent articles quoting them. Iran's nuke sitesThe restrictions noted in this post are in addition to previously disclosed prohibitions on access by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to military sites, which Iran itself will inspect instead. Even The Daily Beast has mentioned this problem in reliance on an Associated Press article which states, All IAEA member countries must give the agency some insight into their nuclear programs. Some are required to do no more than give a yearly accounting of the nuclear...

Turkey and the United States said Sunday that Washington would withdraw its Patriot missile batteries from the country in October, after bolstering Ankara's air defenses against threats from Syria's civil war. The NATO mandate for the mission will run out in October and will not be renewed, but the United States is prepared to return Patriot assets and personnel to Turkey within one week if needed, a joint Turkish-U.S. statement quoted by AFP said. "They will be redeployed to the U.S. for critical modernization upgrades that will ensure the U.S. missile defense force remains capable of countering evolving global threats...

The U.S. came within seconds of launching a nuclear strike on Russia ,unleashing WW3 during the coldest period of the Cold War, according to secret documents revealed by a historian. Washington and Russia came extremely close to a massive nuclear war because of a faulty 46-cent component that caused a computer glitch, according to the documents. The secret documents were revealed and detailed in a book by American author Eric Schlosser titled Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety. The documents include over 1,000 accidents with nuclear weapons that occurred due to the negligence...

**SNIP** Charged with hijacking a community group for criminal gain, Chow claimed last week that federal authorities are giving major City Hall figures a pass while selectively prosecuting the crustacean and his cronies. Mayor Ed Lee, who was among the Bay Area names in a sensational court filing, compared Chow and his lawyers to “orangutans” and denied allegations that he, like Yee, took bribes and flouted campaign laws. But the brief is a San Francisco treat in itself, a colorful feast of felonious finger-pointing, a dim-sum cart brimming with deliciously dastardly dealing. On one page, Chow’s attorneys claim that a...

Gaza-based terrorists fired three rockets towards southern Israel on Thursday evening, all three of which exploded in Gaza. There were no sirens in the Gaza Belt area, but some locals reported hearing explosions. A similar incident occurred on Saturday night, when two rockets that were fired from Gaza exploded on the Palestinian side of the border fence. Saturday’s rocket fire came a day after Hamas called for all able-bodied Arabs to attack IDF soldiers and "settlers" as "legitimate targets" after an Arab infant was killed in an arson attack in the village of Duma in Samaria.

<p>An ex-California state senator has pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge in an organized crime and public corruption case centered in San Francisco’s Chinatown.</p> <p>Leland Yee entered the plea on Wednesday and could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in October.</p>

The Benghazi affair is beginning to shape up as a bi-partisan scandal — making Trey Gowdy’s life doubly difficult, of course. But the former prosecutor has been doing a bang-up job with his select committee, demolishing the mantra that there is “nothing new” to be learned about Benghazi and building a sober, far-reaching inquiry. Without Gowdy, recall, there would be no Clinton secret server, no Sidney Blumenthal trail, no new emails, and no upcoming testimony from Mrs. Clinton and her inner circle . On the latter, Gowdy is holding firm, saying he will not schedule testimony until all relevant emails...

Barak-8 eight-round launchers can be rapidly deployed on land to provide point defense for critical locations, and in networked groups for area defense. Following successful trials late last year, IAI’s Barak-8 medium-range surface-to-air missile is being delivered to customers, and is also now fielded with the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). The company does not discuss its customers, but acknowledges that the missile has been procured by Israel and India, plus others. Non-Israeli sources state that the Barak-8 has been adopted by the Indian Navy, which already employs the Barak-1, for service aboard its latest frigates, destroyers and aircraft carriers. Following...

Iranian army's ground force will hold a military drill to test its missile power capacities, Commander of the Army's Ground Force Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said. The military exercise dubbed "Beit ol-Moqaddas 27" will take place in Iran's central province of Esfahan on May 23-24, Pourdastan said, IRNA news agency reported. “Rocket and missile capabilities of the army's ground force are improved, the commander said, adding the capabilities will be evaluated in the two-day exercise. Tehran held a similar drill last May and tested a series of its newest domestically-made missiles. Iranian media outlets report that Iran has made...

29:00 [click on picture then click on red dot to listen]

(1 week prior to capitalist mission forever trumpeted in shallow propaganda of American running-dogs) More at Reaganite Republican

Israeli warplanes struck military targets in Syria early Saturday, according to media reports that were not confirmed by Israeli or Syrian officials. According to Arab media and pro-opposition sources in Syria, the strikes targeted several bases belonging to Syrian missile brigades in the mountainous Qalamoun region near the Syrian-Lebanese border. The targets reportedly were Syrian army brigades said to keep long-range missiles and other strategic weaponry...