Free Republic

As an Evangelical Christian, Pompeo can easily see the historic damage that was done by Mr. Obama’s speech made during what was later dubbed his “apology tour.” The man who, in my estimation, holds the title of one of the greatest secretaries of state ever, made a trip to the Middle East earlier this month. Mike Pompeo stopped in Cairo to speak to the students and faculty at the American University in Cairo. He said, and I quote, “America is a force for good in the Middle East.” This was unlike president Barack Obama who stood before a group in...

The Israeli Defence Forces on Sunday confirmed that its missiles are “currently targeting Iranian Quds in Syrian territory” just before midnight local time as reports from the Syrian News Agency confirms massive explosions in capital Damascus. “We warn the Syrian Armed Forces against attempting to harm Israeli forces or territory,” the statement released by the IDF said. It marks the first time Israel has confirmed they are striking Iranian targets in Syria and that it is happening in real time. There have been unconfirmed reports since that Syrian forces are engaging with their weaponry by the Golan Heights — a...

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkish prosecutors demand aggravated life imprisonment for a local US Consulate employee, Metin Topuz, who they charge with espionage for a foreign nation, membership in a terrorist organization, and participation in conspiracies to overthrow the government of Turkey.Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Parliament Speaker Binali Yildirim, former ministers Ali Babacan, Muammer Guler, and Zafer Caglayan – the last two themselves targets of a high-level corruption investigation in 2013 – and former Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag are among 30 officials who claimed victimhood and are plaintiffs in an indictment released this weekend against Topuz.The Turkish national who...

Anti-Semites are violating federal law by boycotting Israel and Israeli companies and institutions. Activists in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, one of the highest-profile global projects of the left, are subject to criminal and financial penalties, including jail time of five years and fines up to $50,000. A U.S. exporter can lose the right to export any products to any country. So why isn’t the U.S. Department of Justice enforcing the anti-boycott laws? President Donald Trump should order the Office of Antiboycott Compliance to come out of cryogenic stasis and get back to work, and order DOJ to...

On Tuesday, Islamist terrorists affiliated with the Somali group al-Shabaab attacked an upscale hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, killing at least 21. It wasnÂ’t the groupÂ’s first attack in Kenya. The radical group, which at one point was affiliated with al Qaeda, has used KenyaÂ’s heavy Somali refugee presence as cover for a number of attacks in Kenya and against Kenyans, most famously at the Westgate Mall in 2013. That Kenya remains a contributor of both soldiers and police to AMISOM, the African Union Mission in Somalia which seeks to defend the country against al-Shaabab, only puts it further in the...

The Al-Shabaab terrorist group said on Wednesday it carried out the deadly attack on a Nairobi hotel and office complex in retaliation for US President Donald Trump's declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's capital last December, AFP reported. The group said in a statement picked up by the SITE monitoring group that its fighters stormed the DusitD2 complex on instructions by Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. "It is a response to the witless remarks of the US president, Donald Trump, and his declaration of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) as the capital of Israel," said Al-Shabaab. The assault with guns and explosives claimed the lives...

Taking charge of Group of 77, which encompasses 134 developing countries, Abbas slams Israel’s ‘occupation of the state of Palestine,’ condemns ‘terrorism in all its forms’ Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas assumed the chairmanship of the largest bloc of countries at the United Nations on behalf of “the State of Palestine” on Tuesday in New York City. The Palestinians are slated to serve as the leader of the bloc, known as the Group of 77, for the next year. In a speech at the UN headquarters, Abbas called the task of leading the Group of 77 “a great responsibility.” "I...

MSNBC continues to maintain its red wall of silence on Joy Reid. But the ugliness just keeps rising. The old blog posts by the progressive personality reek of every bigotry that the left claims to condemn. And, as Bre Payton at the Federalist notes, there's even a call to ethnically cleanse Jews from Israel. Iran's pres strikes again Says "move Israel to Europe" "You believe the Jews were oppressed, why should the Palestinian Muslims have to pay the price? You oppressed them, so give a part of Europe to the Zionist regime so they can establish any government they want....

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Michigan Democrat, was called out Monday after Palestinian activist Abbas Hamideh, a staunch defender of the terrorist group Hezbollah, posted photos of the two of them posing at her swearing-in ceremony in Detroit. Mr. Hamideh tweeted a photo of himself Saturday with Ms. Tlaib along with the caption, “I was honored to be at Congresswoman @RashidaTlaib swearing in ceremony in #Detroit and private dinner afterward with the entire family, friends and activists across the country.” Critics were quick to point out that Mr. Hamideh, a co-founder of the pro-Palestinian group Al-Awda, which means “right of return,” has...

FULL TITLE: Trump touts 'long overdue' Syria pullout, says US 'will devastate Turkey economically' if they attack Kurds President Donald Trump on Sunday tweeted that the "long overdue pullout from Syria" is starting, and threatened that the U.S. will "devastate Turkey economically" if they attack Kurdish forces in the war-torn country. Trump said the removal of troops, which he announced via Twitter in December, is happening "while hitting the little remaining ISIS territorial caliphate hard, and from many directions." The president also vowed that the U.S. "Will attack [ISIS] again from existing nearby base if it reforms." Trump promised the...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday launched an astonishing rebuke of former President Barack Obama’s foreign policy at the site of Obama’s famous speech to the Muslim world -- declaring that “the age of self-inflicted American shame is over.” Pompeo delivered his remarks in Cairo, where Obama famously spoke in 2009 and promised a new beginning with Muslim and Arab countries. He was criticized by conservatives for placing too much blame on the U.S. for strife in the region. Pompeo, while not mentioning Obama by name, said that “it was here, in this city, another American stood before you”...

The Egyptian President, accompanied by religious, military and international dignitaries, witnesses ceremony to inaugurate the Nativity of Christ Cathedral and Al-Fattah El-Alim17:43 US President Donald Trump tweeted, "Excited to see our friends in Egypt opening the biggest Cathedral in the Middle East. President El-Sisi is moving his country to a more inclusive future!" 17:40 In a short video message aired before the attendees, Pope Francis, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, congratulated the Egyptian people, government and president on the inauguration of the new cathedral.17:30 Following the moment of silence, the celebration on stage started with a live performance of Islamic chants and Christian hymns...

US forces are reportedly evacuating their military base near al-Hasakah; The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) still press their operation against ISIS in the Hajin pocket.

A loud explosion was heard near the pyramids of Giza, as a blast hit tourist bus. Two dead and 12 injured, according to Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

Two Vietnamese tourists were killed and 10 injured on Friday evening when an improvised explosive device detonated as a bus carrying 14 Vietnamese tourists traveled on El-Maryoutiya Street in Haram district in Giza, a statement by Egypt's Interior Ministry said... The explosion also injured the bus driver and representative of the tourism company, both Egyptians. The security services immediately moved to the site of the explosion to carry out investigations. More to follow

..."Saudi Arabia and the UAE have sent military forces to areas controlled by the Kurdish YPG group in north-east Syria, Turkey’s Yenisafak newspaper reported. The paper said the forces will be stationed with US-led coalition troops and will support its tasks with huge military enforcements as well as heavy and light weapons. Quoting the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the newspaper reported that a convoy of troops belonging to an Arab Gulf state recently arrived in the contact area between the Kurdish PKK/YPG and Daesh in the Deir Ez-Zor countryside. This comes at a time when Ankara is preparing to...

BEIRUT (AP) — Turkey is massing troops near a town in northern Syria held by a U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led force, a war monitor and Turkish media said Sunday. The buildup comes even though Turkey said it would delay a promised offensive in eastern Syria in the wake of U.S. decisions to withdraw its troops.

DURING Friday prayers the congregation of Muhammad Yousef, a young puritanical preacher in the Egyptian town of Mansoura, once spilled out into the alleys surrounding his mosque. Now Sheikh Muhammad counts it a good week if he fills half the place. In Cairo, 110km (68 miles) to the south, unveiled women sit in street cafés, traditionally a male preserve, smoking water-pipes. Some of the establishments serve alcohol, which Islam prohibits. “We’re in religious decline,” moans Sheikh Muhammad, whose despair is shared by clerics in many parts of the Arab world. According to Arab Barometer, a pollster, much of the region...

BRUSSELS (AFP-Jiji) — The European Union’s foreign policy chief on Saturday asked Turkey to forgo any unilateral military action in Syria, where Ankara has threatened a fresh offensive against a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia. “The statements of a possible Turkish military operation in northeast Syria are a source of concern,” Federica Mogherini said in a statement. “We share the goal of ending violence, defeating terrorism and promoting stability in Syria and the wider region. We expect the Turkish authorities therefore to refrain from any unilateral action likely to undermine the efforts of the Counter-Daesh Coalition or to risk further instability in...

Full Title: 'If you go to another country, you must abide by its culture. If not, don't go': Egypt's president decries migrants heading to Europe and refusing to integrate instead of fixing their own countries. Egypt's President has told his people they should not expect the West to 'open their doors' to migrants who refuse to integrate. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said that 'every country has the right to protect its people and their interests.' Speaking at a World Youth Forum in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, the country's leader told guests they had to 'completely abide by the laws, customs, traditions and culture'...