Free Republic

Rebels including al-Qaeda-linked fighters gained control of a Christian village northeast of the capital Damascus, Syrian activists said Sunday. Government media provided a dramatically different account of the battle suggesting regime forces were winning. Independent information has been nearly impossible to come by in the 2.5-year-old conflict in Syria. Maaloula, a scenic mountain community, is known for being one of the few places in the world where residents still speak the ancient Middle Eastern language of Aramaic. The rebel advance into the area this week was spearheaded by the Jabhat al-Nusra, or Nusra Front, exacerbating fears among Syrians and religious...

Eyewitness: "The aim of the militants was to kill as many as possible Christian inhabitants" On September 5th the Syrian opposition armed groups attempted to capture Maalula, the town populated mostly by Christians, located 60 km from Damascus. The correspondent of "Voice of Russia" got in touch with the eyewitness to the events, which was in town during the assault, Vail Malas. Maalula town is best known for the fact that its inhabitants speak a dialect of Aramaic, which is close to the language of Jesus Christ. Government troops repulsed the attack, but the militants related to "Dzhabhat en-Nusra" and...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will give interviews on Monday to the three network news anchors, as well as to anchors from PBS, CNN, and Fox, more evidence of a "full court press" strategy ahead of pivotal congressional votes on military strikes in Syria.

Retired Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, former CIA director under President Barack Obama, called strongly Saturday for Congress to back the White House on Syria, declaring that military action against the regime is “necessary” to deter “Iran, North Korea and other would-be aggressors.” “Failure of Congress to approve the president’s request would have serious ramifications not just in the Mideast but around the world,” Petraeus said in a four-sentence statement provided to POLITICO.

resident Obama, speaking at the G-20 meeting in St. Petersburg on Friday, reminded me of an investment banker trying to sell a deal he doesn't believe in. And the customer knows it. Halting. Hesitant. Uncertain. Uncomfortable. That's what Obama's statement and body language had to say. On the verge of a potentially huge defeat on the Syrian question in Congress, President Obama is in a box. He's looking for a way out, but he can't find one. He's losing supporters in the legislature at home, and he didn't gain any at the G-20 summit abroad. When Obama speaks to the...

September 6, 2013 If Obama Wants to Bomb Someone, How About the Syrian Terror Training Camps of the Benghazi Attackers? Daniel Greenfield If Obama really wants to bomb someone, how about bombing them? Instead Obama sent the FBI to Benghazi on a failed mission after the killers of Americans who still walk free, but wants to send cruise missiles to Damascus.Maybe he couldn’t spare a drone the night of the attack, but he certainly should be able to dig one up now. Or a cruise missile or two. U.S. intelligence agencies earlier this month uncovered new evidence that al Qaeda-linked...

There was a moment Friday when the leader of the free world explained the awe and sympathy his job provokes among colleagues. At the end of a Group of 20 summit in Russia, President Obama recounted a recent conversation he had had with another head of state, as the question of whether the United States would soon attack Syria loomed over the gathering. “I’m a small country, and nobody expects me to do anything about chemical weapons around the world,” Obama quoted his fellow leader as saying. “They know I have no capacity to do something, and it’s tough because...

It is now coming out that the U.S. Central Command has a plan to secure the VX and sarin in Syria and that plan will require 75,000 American troops in Syria. The plan was devised more than eighteen months ago, long before Bashar al-Assad allegedly used chemical weapons against the rebels. A Department of Defense official told the U.K.’s MailOnline that, “The report exists, and it was prepared at the request of the National Security Advisor’s staff.” You can read the MailOnline’s complete article here. At the same time this plan is seeing the light of day, Secretary of State...

Republican leaders in Washington, including Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), and Senators McCain (R-AZ), Graham (R-SC), and Corker (R-TN), are supporting President Obama's call for an American attack on Syria, but Tea Party groups around the country are united in their opposition to such military action. Tea Party activists appear to be virtually unanimous in their support for the position taken by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who said on Tuesday the United States "should not serve as Al-Qaeda's Air Force."

UNITED NATIONS - The United States on Thursday accused Russia of holding the UN Security Council "hostage" over the Syria chemical weapons crisis. With the White House pushing Congress to approve military strikes on Syria, US ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said she could see no way to seek Security Council approval for action against President Bashar al-Assad because of Russia's blocking. Amid mounting tensions between Washington and Moscow, Power said Russia's protection of Assad has put the whole Security Council system of handling international crises under strain. "Even in the wake of the flagrant shattering of the...

Al-Qaeda linked terrorists in Syria have beheaded all 24 Syrian passengers traveling from Tartus to Ras al-Ain in northeast of Syria, among them a mother and a 40-days old infant. Gunmen from the terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and Levant stopped the bus on the road in Talkalakh and killed everyone before setting the bus on fire - See more at: http://en.alalam.ir/news/1512664#sthash.C3Y23xws.dpuf

Syrian soldiers hacked the u.s. marine web site, posting the linked message to our troops. They acknowledge fighting al Qaeda for the past three years and basically ask for help. Why is the u.s. supporting al Qaeda after they have murdered so many? why do we turn our backs on the truth?

The Obama administration pushed forward on Monday for Congressional approval of its plan to carry out a punitive strike against the Syrian government. The lobbying blitz was to continue in the afternoon, with President Obama set to meet at the White House with two key Republican lawmakers, Senator John McCain of Arizona and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who have pressed Mr. Obama to intervene more aggressively in Syria.

Syrians inside the country say the revolution began with peaceful protests from the poor seeking reforms. The movement now brims with violent terrorist operatives aligned with Al Qaeda and Al-Nasra, including extremist fighters from Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq. The mainstream media portrays a false picture of the now-compromised Free Syrian Army. The extremist elements within are not just minority-affiliates. They win the battles, they have the ammunition and the food. They have slowly filled the power vaccuum and they do not fight for a freed Syria, but to establish an ultra-fundamentalist state. American taxpayers have fueled the Syrian Civil War...

For Assad? Don't make me laugh. Make no mistake- Obama has set a trap. A cagey, crass political trap. It is a trap designed to bail his a$$ out of the corner into which he's painted himself. Obama has set the trap for the GOP. A year ago Barack Obama blurted out the now-infamous "red line" words regarding Syria. The classic Obama hubris has boxed him in. He told the world how he would teach Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad a lesson- that the US has an "obligation" to attack Syria. A war-weary United States has little appetite for another conflict...

More than a hundred people, including Syrian-Americans and pro-peace supporters, gathered on the Boston Common today to protest a possible US missile strike against Syria. Speakers standing in front of Syrian flags bearing portraits of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad decried US plans to launch a “limited” attack against the country in retaliation for an alleged chemical weapons attack on civilians last week. The ideologically diverse crowd included members of the Green-Rainbow Party and other anti-war protesters. Syrian-Americans at the event almost universally supported Assad, whom they praised as a secular leader capable of holding together Syria’s many ethnic and religious...

Friday, August 30, 2013 Friday Afternoon Roundup - For It and Against It Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog 0 Comments FOR IT AND AGAINST IT Ten years ago, James Clapper, now the Director of National Intelligence, said he was “unquestionably sure” that Saddam’s WMDs had been moved out of Iraq. Top Iraqi generals stated that the WMDs had gone to Syria. But all that fell on deaf ears. John Kerry’s senate career began with a bang when he traveled to Nicaragua to obstruct President Reagan’s policy of arming the anti-Communist Contra rebels. Now Secretary of State...

Last week Stratfor noted that Obama's Bluff would be interpreted as showing "our weakness" by the Russians and Iran...This week we see that Obama's Folly has been driven by the likes of Samantha Powell UN Ambassador who was too busy attending her husbands talk at an IRISH COMEDY FILM FESTIVAL to return to the UN debate on SYRIA...This is the way Obama plays politics....Having dumb women in National Security for political purposes is finally having the effect it deserved.. Before the House Votes on Syria it should demand all the data and info it asked for benghazi, the IRS, and...

Frustrated Obama: I won't be ‘paralyzed’ on Syria Olivier Knox, Yahoo! News 1 hour ago PoliticsBarack ObamaSyriaJohn KerryChemical weapon President Barack Obama vowed Friday to undertake a “limited, narrow” response to Syria’s alleged chemical weapons attack and warned he would not be “paralyzed” by his desire to rally elusive international support. Obama’s remarks came after Secretary of State John Kerry laid out the most detailed U.S. case yet that Bashar Assad’s regime massacred more than 1,400 people last week with chemical weapons. “We are looking at the possibility of a limited, narrow act,” the president said as he hosted Baltic...

President Barack Obama had hoped for a quick, convincing strike on Syria, but growing opposition and Great Britain’s stunning rejection of the attack has thrust him into the uncomfortable position of go-it-alone hawk. Just how Obama, whose career sprung from the ashes of George W. Bush’s Iraq policy, got to this extraordinary moment in his presidency is a tale of good intentions, seat-of-the-pants planning and, above all, how a cautious commander-in-chief became imprisoned by a promise. Obama seems likely to bull ahead with air attacks despite an impact and popularity that will be, at best, limited — an unsavory outcome...