Free Republic

CLEVELAND — Officials say a man has been arrested for an alleged plan to attack downtown Cleveland on July 4. FBI agents said Monday they began investigating the suspect, identified as Demetrius Nathaniel Pitts, back in 2017. Investigators say they received tips that Pitts, also known as Abdur Raheem Rahfeeq, had made statements in support of Al-Qaeda. Pitts, an American citizen with an extensive criminal background, also expressed a disdain for the U.S. military. Officials say Pitts spoke to undercover agents about the impact an explosion would have on Cleveland's upcoming July 4th parade. Anderson says the Pitts was arrested...

@mrubin1971Two news stories from recent weeks, if true, should raise a red flag in the United States that Iran is preparing to use Hezbollah to strike at U.S. interests in Latin America, if not in the United States itself.First, this story from the Lebanese news portal Naharnet and sourced in part to Israeli radio. The Naharnet story was taken down shortly after it appeared: Hezbollah is using a training base established by Iran in northern Nicaragua near the border with Honduras, the Israeli radio reported on Thursday [September 6]. “The area is cordoned off and there are around 30 members...

Italy jails two over attack plot An Italian court has jailed two North Africans convicted of being part of a cell plotting attacks in Italy. Moroccan imam Mohamed Rafik received four years and eight months, while Kamel Hamroui was sentenced to three years and four months. The court in Brescia also jailed Najib Rouass for 16 months on lesser charges. They are the first convictions in Italy under international terrorism laws that were introduced after the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US. Spanish news agency Efe said Rafik had been linked by the Moroccan authorities to the Casablanca...

It was a busy day in Beirut, Damascus, and Tehran today. Some Lebanese buried a former prime minister in Beirut. Simultaneously in Damascus and Tehran, the capitals of the two countries most likely responsible for killing former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, dictators announced they would support each other in the war against democracy. In today’s events we find – above all – grave contradictions, but also truths, lies, and deep sadness. But something good is developing out of the sadness, lies, truths, and contradictions. The day started with “breaking news” from Iranian state television. The network claimed that an...

ROME - Anti-terrorism police arrested the Algerian cleric of a mosque and four Tunisians Sunday in a crackdown authorities said was aimed at preventing an al-Qaida-linked cell from sending suicide attackers to Iraq (news - web sites). The suspects were seized in pre-dawn raids in three cities in the northern Tuscany region, Genoa's Police Chief Oscar Fiorolli said. Genoa, a northern port city, began the investigations that led to the arrests. The suspects allegedly belonged to a cell of Ansar al-Islam, an organization based in northern Iraq with links to al-Qaida, Fiorolli told the Associated Press in Rome in a...