Free Republic

Uproar in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has relieved Gen. Qassem Soleimani,the Al Qods Brigades chief and supreme commander of Iranian Middle East forces, of his Syria command after a series of war debacles. He was left in charge of Iran’s military and intelligence operations in Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon. This is revealed by exclusive Iranian intelligence sources. Since Soleimani last visited Damascus on June 2, in the aftershock of the historic town of Palmyra’s fall to the Islamic State, the situation of President Bashar Assad and his army has gone from bad to worse. The Iranian general’s...

REMEMBER when you were taught that Australia was discovered by James Cook in 1770 who promptly declared it "terra nullius" and claimed it for the British throne? Turns out that could be completely and utterly wrong. Five copper coins and a nearly 70-year-old map with an "X" might lead to a discovery that could rewrite Australia's history. Australian scientist Ian McIntosh, currently Professor of Anthropology at Indiana University in the US, is planning an expedition in July that has stirred up the archaeological community. The scientist wants to revisit the location where five coins were found in the Northern Territory...

Six Yemenis held for more than a decade at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo have been flown to Oman for resettlement.

Russia is gradually turning its back on Syrian President Bashar Assad, evacuating some 100 expert advisers and their families from Syria and refusing to repair regime fighter jets, an Arab daily reported on Sunday. “Senior sources in the Gulf” told pro-opposition London-based daily a-Sharq al-Awsat that the change in Russia’s position toward the Assad regime stems from diplomatic pressure exerted by Arab Gulf states. It also comes as part of Moscow’s efforts to shake international sanctions imposed on it following a military confrontation with Ukraine, the sources said. Meanwhile, Syrian opposition sources told the newspaper that 100 of Russia’s top...

Belarus's recent leaning towards pro-Western nations in the Middle East follows fast on the heels of rapprochement with the West. On 6-7 May, Joint Belarus-Saudi Committee on Cooperation will meet in Riyadh. On 15 April, Belarus opened an embassy in Qatar. Establishing closer links with the very centres of conservative Arab bloc allied with the West is a milestone in Belarusian foreign policy. In the past, Minsk enjoyed amicable relations primarily with the so-called radical republican regimes in the Middle East. Saddam's Iraq, Qadhafi's Libya, Assad's Syria, as well as Ahmadinejad's Iran figured among Belarus's main partners. The shift towards...

President Obama’s Camp David summit with the Gulf Arab states on Thursday will seek to boost arms sales to the Gulf neighbors but the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has been taken off their wish list. White House officials on Monday sought to tamp down speculation that King Salman of Saudi Arabia canceled his attendance at Camp David when the U.S. made clear that his country would not be permitted to buy F-35s. “We do not and never anticipated this to be a summit that only focused on one capability, like the F-35, for instance,” said Ben Rhodes, the deputy National...

King Salman of Saudi Arabia has withdrawn from a carefully orchestrated summit with the US that President Barack Obama hoped would assuage Gulf anxieties about the conclusion of a nuclear agreement with Iran. Until Sunday the monarch had been expected to join other heads of state from the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries at an unprecedented meeting at the White House and a day of talks at the presidential retreat at Camp David. Now the only leaders attending will be the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait. The summit, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, follows months of tension and intensive...

TEL AVIV – In an extraordinary move that could mean billions lost to the American economy, Gulf monarchs meeting Tuesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, took a closed-door decision to potentially withhold investments from U.S. military firms if the terms of any final agreement with Iran causes significant harm to the Sunni Arab states. The meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council brought together leaders from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. All of those countries, aside from Oman, participated in the Saudi-led strikes targeting Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen. According to a source who took part...

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - The Vicariate Apostolic of Southern Arabia, which serves the more than 2 million Catholics in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen, last week celebrated the 50th anniversary of its cathedral parish. On March 19, Bishop Paul Hinder, Vicar Apostolic of Southern Arabia, said a Mass of thanksgiving to mark the anniversary of the founding of St. Joseph's Cathedral, located in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. St. Joseph's is the oldest Catholic church in the emirates. Bishop Hinder was joined by more than 30 priests, nuns, and over 5,000 laity for...

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Mar 23, 2015 / 05:33 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vicariate Apostolic of Southern Arabia, which serves the more than 2 million Catholics in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen, last week celebrated the 50th anniversary of its cathedral parish. On March 19, Bishop Paul Hinder, Vicar Apostolic of Southern Arabia, said a Mass of thanksgiving to mark the anniversary of the founding of St. Joseph's Cathedral, located in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. St. Joseph's is the oldest Catholic church in the emirates. Bishop Hinder was joined by more than 30...

VIENNA, March 5 (KUNA) --- Israel must be made to join the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT) and its nuclear facilities must be subjected to international inspection said the Arab Group in Vienna on Thursday. ...

Vice President Biden’s national security adviser met with Iranian officials as far back as the summer of 2012, a new report reveals. Jake Sullivan secretly traveled to Oman in July 2012 to meet with Iranian officials, The Associated Press reported Tuesday. This would mark one of the earliest in-person meetings the U.S. held with Iran in recent years. Sullivan joined the State Department in 2009 and served under then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as deputy chief of staff for policy. Although he moved to the White House in February, he continued to partake in backchannel discussions with Iran. The AP...

Oman oil minister Mohammad bin Hamad al-Rumhy sharply criticised OPEC's production policy on Wednesday, saying it was creating volatility in the market without benefiting oil producers and that his country was suffering. In November, OPEC decided to keep its output unchanged despite sliding prices. Analysts believe the policy is being engineered by Saudi Arabia and other top Gulf producers to protect their market share against higher-cost suppliers outside OPEC, such as U.S. shale oil producers. Oman is a significant oil producer but it lacks the huge oil and financial reserves of its Gulf neighbours, and it is not an OPEC...

The army of Allah received some reinforcements last night, as President Obama’s plan to close the Guantánamo Bay terrorist detention center moved forward. Five Yemeni “detainees” captured in Pakistan were released, leaving 122 left in the Cuba camp. Four will go to Oman, and one will shiver in Estonia until the spring comes. Both nations are welcoming their first Gitmo alumni. Felicia Schwartz of the WSJ reports: "The Pentagon said detainee Akhmed Abdul Qadir was transferred to Estonia, while four others were transferred to Oman. They included Al Khadr Abdallah Muhammad Al Yafi, Fadel Hussein Saleh Hentif, Abd al-Rahman Abdullah...

Five Yemenis held at the Guantanamo Bay prison have been transferred overseas, the Department of Defense announced late Wednesday. Al Khadr Abdallah Muhammad Al Yafi, Fadel Hussein Saleh Hentif, Abd Al-Rahman Abdullah Au Shabati and Mohammed Ahmed Salam were handed over to Oman and Akhmed Abdul Qadir was transferred to Estonia, it said in a statement marking the first movement of detainees so far in 2015. The move leaves 122 prisoners remaining at the Cuba facility. "The United States is grateful to the government of Oman for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing U.S. efforts to close the...

All politics are local, except for oil politics. The Russians think these low oil prices are an American-Saudi conspiracy. American commentators believe that the Saudis have driven down prices to punish North Dakota’s shale oil revolution and drive its high-cost producers out of the game. In Canada, the paranoia in Calgary is that the Saudis and other Gulf oil producers want to drive the oil sands out of business. But what are the Saudis up to and are they powerful enough to control prices? This week the Saudi minister blamed low prices on oversupply from North America. But that is...

A top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may join talks in Oman between the United States and Iran in the coming days, in a sign that a breakthrough may be imminent in reaching a nuclear deal, Al-Monitor has learned. Ali Akbar Velayati, longtime foreign policy adviser to Khamenei and a former Iranian foreign minister, may join the talks between US Secretary of State John Kerry, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union negotiator Catherine Ashton, in a signal that the Supreme Leader may be preparing to sign off on a deal, sources told Al-Monitor on...

Geologists from GUtech, in cooperation with archeologists from the Ministry of Heritage and Culture, have dug up evidence of a tsunami or severe storm that hit Ras Al Hadd about 4,500 years ago...The fact that there were two settlement phases, the first of which was marked by buildings made of sand brick, and the second by mud brick, suggests the village was destroyed at one point and rebuilt. The remains date back to between 3,100 and 2,700 BC, and the evidence suggests they were built one after the other, meaning the people didn't leave the area despite having their homes...

CAIRO — The Arab League warned Sunday that Israel has reached a “red line” after fresh clashes in Jerusalem, urging international pressure to stop what it branded “violations” in the holy city. Clashes around the flashpoint Temple Mount and the al-Aqsa Mosque compound — the third holiest site in Islam and Judaism’s holiest — prompted Israel on Thursday to close the site for a day. The Temple Mount and adjacent neighborhoods have seen months of violence, with the mosque compound a rallying point for Palestinian resistance to perceived Jewish attempts to take control of it...

The collapse in oil prices is already a major cause of concern for countries heavily reliant on exports of the commodity. For some, it could be a matter of avoiding a severe recession. Here's why: For governments in oil-exporting countries to meet their spending commitments they need oil to remain above a certain price. With oil prices under $87 a barrel, countries that rely on high oil prices, including Venezuela, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, may have a reason to be concerned. This chart shows the price per barrel that the six most exposed countries need to meet their national budgets....