Free Republic

... There will never be peace between the Arabs and Israel. Why not? Because, as noted, the Arabs don't want peace with Israel; they don't want Israel, and will look for any excuse to avoid any kind of peace agreement. As Netanyahu once observed regarding the prospects for peace in the area: "If the Arabs put down their weapons today there would be no more violence; if the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel." Or, as Golda Meir before him observed: "Peace will come when Arabs will love their children more than they hate...

The mysterious flight between the two nations had many asking "Whodunnit?" A privately owned, unidentified Challenger 604 jet departed from Ben-Gurion International Airport, landing first in the Jordanian capital of Amman and then in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh on Tuesday evening, causing many to question which Israeli decided to pay the Saudis a visit. The plane in question departed from Israel and flew to an airport in Amman, where it remained on the ground for about two minutes before taking off again and landing in the Saudi capital. After a little less than an hour, the plane, privately...

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey’s offensive into northeast Syria will end if Kurdish fighters in the region drop their weapons and withdraw from a planned “safe zone”, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, but warned that no power could stop it until then. Erdogan said the quickest solution was for militants to drop their weapons and pull back from the area by Wednesday evening. The operation will end when the “safe zone” is established, he said, and Turkey was not open to negotiating this.

Roughly 1,800 U.S. service members, as well as several dozen fighter jets and other air defense implements, will be sent to Saudi Arabia to help protect the Kingdom amid heightened tensions with Iran, the Pentagon announced Friday. Officials said the U.S. is set to ship two F-15 squadrons, two Patriot missile batteries, one anti-missile defense system known as THADD and other planes. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said he informed Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman earlier Friday about the additional troops “to ensure and enhance the defense of Saudi Arabia.” "Saudi Arabia is a longstanding security partner in the...

Donald Trump came into office promising to not start any new wars and to get us out of the old ones our feckless elite had dragged us into, and now that he’s doing it in Syria the usual suspects are outraged. How dare he actually deliver on his promise not to have anymore of our precious warriors shipped home in boxes after getting killed on battlefields we can’t even pronounce, while refereeing conflicts that began long before America was a thing, in campaigns without any kind of coherent objective? Conservatives like me still think of ourselves as hawks, but...

Turkish jets struck a Kurdish base near the Iraq-Syria border late Monday night, the first grim fruits of President Trump’s decision to order US forces out of the way — a decision we fear Trump will come to regret. We’ll grant that the president is delivering on a campaign promise here: Like most Americans, he doesn’t want this nation serving as the world’s policeman; other countries should share more of the burden when it comes to both troops and money. Or, as he tweeted Monday, “it is time for us to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars.” He has...

Turkey is set to invade Syria, as the country had been threatening in recent months, with the U.S. saying it will remove all of its forces from the "immediate area," according to the White House. The news came late Sunday after President Donald Trump spoke to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by phone earlier in the day.

Trump knocks 'ridiculous Endless Wars' amid US troop pullout from Syria 10/07/19 08:42 AM EDT Just In... Republicans urges Trump to reverse course on Syria withdrawal 2020 Democrats hit Trump's planned Syria withdrawal President Trump on Monday said it is time to remove the United States from “ridiculous Endless Wars" after he decided to pull back American troops from northern Syria amid an impending Turkish military operation there. “The Kurds fought with us, but were paid massive amounts of money and equipment to do so. They have been fighting Turkey for decades. I held off this fight for … almost...

Graham said that he and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., plan to introduce “veto-proof” bipartisan sanctions that will call for Turkey’s suspension from NATO if it invades Syria and attacks Kurdish forces. “This decision to abandon our Kurdish allies and turn Syria over to Russia, Iran, & Turkey will put every radical Islamist on steroids,” Graham added. “Shot in the arm to the bad guys. Devastating for the good guys.” Nikki Haley, Trump’s former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was unequivocal in her criticism. We must always have the backs of our allies, if we expect them to have...

The US decision to withdraw forces from northern Syria in anticipation of Turkish assault is only the most recent betrayal Kurds have faced A popular saying goes that Kurds have "no friends but the mountains". ****snip*** The decision on Monday by US President Donald Trump to withdraw American troops from northern Syria in anticipation of a Turkish invasion is only the latest in a long line of betrayals. *****snip**** In 2016, the Turkish military and allied Syrian forces launched Operation Euphrates Shield and entered northern Syria with the express aim of defeating the so-called Islamic State (IS) group that still...

As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!).... ROTFLMAO!!!

Russia may be an adversary, but it is not our number one enemy. Neither is China, which may have over a billion people but we’re its best customer and they’ve invested too much in this nation to risk our destruction. Iranian leaders, on the other hand, have made no secret that they hate America and everything we stand for. The leading mullahs are true believers in a caliphate that will conquer the world. The 21st century has seen a broad mainstream embrace of a collective Muslim identity by young Muslims and the appeal of a caliphate as an idealized future...

On Wednesday night, Pastor David Platt of McLean Bible Church hosted a simulcast called Something Needs to Change, part of an ongoing initiative from The Gospel Coalition. In the simulcast, Platt, an author and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board, shared an interview with a missionary named Yazim. “He lives and works in a part of the Middle East where, not only is it illegal to share the Gospel, it’s life-threatening to talk about how the Gospel is advancing,” Platt shared. In the simulcast Yazim, a Middle East church planter shared with Platt and the listeners...

Canadian govt may deport refugee Muslim family who converted to Christianity and faces death upon return WELLAND, Ontario, September 18, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) ― A Christian family, who converted from Islam and are now illegal refugees in Canada, is in danger of being deported back to their native country of Nigeria where they say they face certain death for abandoning Islam for faith in Jesus Christ.  “They face a ‘fatwa’ (a pronouncement of death) against them for converting to Christianity from Islam,” Randy Lorenz of Canadian Aid to Persecuted Christians told LifeSiteNews. “They believe they face certain death if they...

The US has told at least one US ally in the Middle East, that they have intelligence showing that the launch was “likely” coming from staging grounds in Iran, but they have not shared that intelligence yet. “It is one thing to tell us, it is another thing to show us,” said a diplomat from the region. A US official separately tells CNN that the US has assessed that the attack originated from inside Iran. The official spoke on condition of anonymity. No public evidence has been shared. What countries in the region decide to do, in reaction to the...

Bomb-sniffing dogs sent from the United States to its Middle Eastern ally Jordan are falling ill and dying due to poor treatment and negligence, a federal investigation has found. A year-long evaluation by inspectors at the State Department found that at least 10 such dogs in Jordan died between 2008 and 2016 from medical problems. Even those who survive are suffering from "unhealthy conditions," such as inadequate kennels, poor sanitation, and overwork. Photos in the report, published last week, show emaciated dogs with ribs protruding from their sides. Their nails are overgrown, and their ears are home to ticks so...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday it is “not fair” to either Turkey or the United States that Washington cannot sell Ankara billions of dollars worth of F-35 fighter jets after it bought a Russian air defense system. Turkey started taking delivery of Russia’s S-400 air defense system last week in defiance of U.S. warnings that the Pentagon would kick it out of the F-35 stealth fighter program Washington’s concern is that deploying the S-400 with the F-35 would allow Russia to gain too much inside information of the stealth system. Thomas Karako, an analyst at...

Police in Minneapolis have arrested more than a dozen suspected gang members, some as young as 13, accused of preying on drunk people and robbing them of their cellphones and valuables in a series of violent attacks.

EXCLUSIVE: Iran has established a new military base in Syria and has plans to house thousands of troops at the location, according to multiple Western intelligence sources. The classified Iranian project, called the Imam Ali compound, was approved by top leadership in Tehran and is being completed by the Iranian al-Quds Forces. Using a civilian satellite company, Fox News verified the information and obtained images that show a base being constructed on the Syria-Iraq border.