Free Republic

TEV-DEM Diplomacy Committee Member Salih Muslim said the Turkish state protects ISIS and targets Kurdish gains, adding: “We will insist on the resistance to defend our gains.” Democratic Society Movement (TEV-DEM) Diplomacy Committee Member Salih Muslim spoke to ANHA about the invading Turkish state’s attacks against Kobanê and Girê Spî. “THE COALITION IS ALSO THREATENED” Muslim stressed that the Turkish state attacks against Kobanê and Girê Spî are connected to the quadruple summit in Istanbul and said: “The Turkish state is attacking Rojava to make sure their demands in the quadruple summit are met. They aim to destroy the Kurdish people...

The International Coalition spokesman said contacts are aimed at reducing tension.   International Coalition Against ISIS Spokesman, Sean Ryan, said in a statement posted on Twitter: "We are in contact with Turkey and Syria Democratic forces in an effort to reduce tension". On Wednesday, the US State Department had announced that they were in contact with the YPG and the Turkish state in an effort to ease tension. The US also stated that they were worried after receiving news of the attacks carried out by the Turkish state. Turkish state attacks against Kobanê and Girê Spî were launched after a...

Turkish and US troops began joint patrols around the northern Syrian town of Manbij on Thursday, even as Turkey continued to shell nearby positions held by Washington’s Kurdish allies. Turkish military advances into northern Syria over the past two years have put US forces directly in the path of advancing troops from Turkey, Washington's main NATO ally in the region.The two countries have been working to avert direct confrontation, even as Turkey aims to crush the Kurdish YPG militia. Considered a terrorist group by Ankara, the YPG forms the main part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that Washington backs...

A Kuwaiti paper reveals another monstrous Obama betrayal. We thought the Obama administration could stoop no lower when it was revealed that the administration transferred $1.7 billion in untraceable cash to the Islamic Republic as ransom for the release of four Americans hostages they were holding. We were wrong. In its twilight weeks, the administration gave its consent to allow the Iranians to receive 116 metric tons of natural uranium from Russia as compensation for its export of tons of reactor coolant. According to experts familiar with the transaction, the uranium could be enriched to weapons-grade sufficient for the production...

Syrian Kurdish forces around the town of Manbij will be buried in their own trenches, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar warned on Thursday, blaming the United States for failing to make them withdraw, Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency said. Tensions have risen between Turkey and the United States in recent weeks as Turkish leaders have renewed pledges to launch a new offensive against the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian Kurdish force that controls most of northeastern Syria. The Turkish government says the YPG and its political arm, the PYD, is a terrorist group linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party...

A Kurdish-led force backed by a US-led coalition on Wednesday suspended operations against the Islamic State group and said they would not resume until Turkey halts its attacks on Kurdish militia posts in northern Syria.The Syrian Democratic Forces, joint Arab-Kurdish units under Kurdish command, announced a "temporary halt" to their operation, launched in eastern Syria on September 10, and condemned Turkey's "provocations".On Wednesday, Turkish shelling of Kurdish positions in the Kobane sector of northern Syria killed four fighters, according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency.The SDF condemned what it called the "coordination" of Turkey's attacks with a fightback by jihadists...

A heavyweight right-wing financier has thrown in with a left-right coalition to end the U.S. military’s involvement in the Saudi-led war on Yemen, one of the world’s most devastating humanitarian catastrophes, The Daily Beast has learned. The Charles Koch Institute, bearing the brand of one of the most influential sources of conservative political money, is backing an effort spearheaded by progressive California Democrat Ro Khanna to demand either an end to non-counterterrorism aid to the Yemen war or a direct congressional vote authorizing it. Multiple congressional and allied sources told The Daily Beast they plan to bring their resolution to...

Explosion kills the teenager who carried it into the FSB’s regional headquarters MOSCOW—A bomb exploded Wednesday at a regional headquarters of Russia’s Federal Security Service, killing the teenager who carried it into the building and injuring three security officers in a rare terrorist attack on the country’s most powerful security agency. Authorities said a 17-year-old male local resident carried the bomb into the lobby of the FSB building, located in the northern province of Arkhangelsk. The device exploded after he took it out of a bag, Russia’s antiterrorism committee said in a statement. Investigators opened a probe into terrorism and...

Jair Bolsonaro, a 63-year-old seven-term congressman who built his campaign around pledges to crush corruption and crime, secured over 55 percent of the vote, an 11 percent lead over his far-left rival Fernando Haddad. “We cannot continue flirting with socialism, communism, populism and leftist extremism … We are going to change the destiny of Brazil,” said Bolsonaro in his late Sunday night acceptance speech broadcast from his home in Rio Highly divisive among Jewish voters, the Conservative lawmaker — whose middle name, Messias, literally means “messiah” — won the ballot after a drama-filled election that looks set to radically reforge...

Although some pundits, mostly on the left, have denounced criticism of left-wing billionaire George Soros as anti-Semitic, it is important to note that Israel has officially stated that criticism of Soros is legitimate because he "continuously" seeks to undermine the Israeli government and he funds organizations "that defame the Jewish state." These same Soros-funded groups also seek to prevent Israel from defending itself, according to the Israeli government. In July 2017, Israel's ambassador to Hungary criticized a government-funded billboard campaign that showed a photo of Soros and stated, "Let's not allow Soros to have the last laugh." The campaign was...

As the fight against ISIS winds down, SyriaÂ’s minorities once again have to choose sides in the struggle for their countryÂ’s future. Syriac Christians, also known as Assyrians or Chaldeans, are one of the smallest ethnic and religious groups in Syria. But they have an important role to play in the US presence in Syria, and by extension, the politics of the entire Middle East. The Realist Review called Syriac National Council (SNC) founder Bassam Ishak to hear his perspective on US forces and the future of Syria.Before the interview, Ishak humbly warned the Realist Review that his perspective would...

In a highly unusual plea, Mohammed al-Issa, an ally of the kingdom’s reformist crown prince, says mission could help ‘provide fertile ground to find solutions’ The head of the Saudi-based Muslim World League has called for a Muslim-Christian-Jewish interfaith delegation to travel to Jerusalem to promote the cause of peace by finding common ground between religions. Dr. Mohammed bin Abdul Karim al-Issa, who is an ally of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, told Fox News in an interview Thursday: “We should send a peace convoy that is representative of all three Abrahamic religions. They should be Muslim, Christian and Jewish...

The leaders of Turkey, Russia, France, and Germany have reiterated calls for a UN-backed political process to end the war in Syria that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after a summit in Istanbul on October 27 that "the meeting demonstrated there is common determination to solve the problem."A joint solution can be achieved, not through military means, but only through political effort under the UN aegis," she added.Along with Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and French President Emmanuel Macron gathered for the talks in search of an end to...

Oman publicly called on Middle East countries to accept Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday made a historic visit to the Arab Muslim state ...Oman is relying on the United States and efforts by President Donald Trump in working towards the “deal of the century” (Middle East peace), he added. ...Communications Minister Ayoub Kara said the visit was a testament to declarations “about the good relations that are developing between the Israeli government and the Sunni countries that oppose the Iranian terror, which also threatens them.” “In the coming days and until President Trump presents his diplomatic [peace]...

"The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, exercising its sovereign rights guaranteed by the international law, and protecting national security from the dangers of terrorism and extremism, decided to sever diplomatic and consular relations with the State of Qatar," the statement read.

The American Iranian diaspora that stands against the regime in Iran last month came to New York, my city, as the international community does during the annual United Nations General Assembly meetings. For the ninth time, I had the honor of addressing them. We have an obligation to listen to what the Iranian people have been saying over the past nine months in their continuous nationwide protests. I am one of a large bipartisan group of former governors, mayors, military leaders, senior administration officials and members of Congress, who agree on one critical foreign policy, as the Iranian people do:...

Washington has intensified its moves on the Syrian file and talk about a new strategy, while the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) managed to break into an IS’ stronghold in Deir ez-Zor countryside. Erdogan's party has received a political blow after the nationalists had disbanded the alliance with it. 28 Oct 2018, Sun - 10:46 NEWS DESKThis week, the Arab newspapers discussed the American moves regarding the Syrian file and the battles of the Syrian Democratic Forces against IS mercenaries, and other topics of interest to the region.Al-Sharq al-Awsat: Bolton presents a new strategy about Syria in MoscowThe Arab press published...

The villages of Zormixar and Xirab Eto, west of Kobanî were shelled with tanks and artillery by the Turkish occupation army. KOBANÎ According to local sources, the Turkish occupation army has shelled the villages of Zormixar and Xirab Eto, west of Kobanî near the border, at 10:30 am on Wednesday morning, with several shells landing on the village of Xirab Eto and its environs and Zormixar village. The sources confirmed that the shelling did not result in casualties or injuries and limited to some damage to the houses of the parents. The source said that the shelling is still ongoing...

ISTANBUL, TURKEY — The Turkish army struck Kurdish targets in northern Syria east of the Euphrates River on Sunday. Turkey's official Anadolu news agency said that artillery strikes hit positions belonging to the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, in Zor Moghar. The village in northern Aleppo's countryside is across the Euphrates that separates Turkey-backed Syrian opposition forces and the YPG, which Turkey considers a terror organization linked to an insurgency within its own borders. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Kurdish Hawar news agency also reported the shelling, saying Turkish artillery targeted other villages east of...

The report provided numerous examples of fraudsters exploiting the food stamp program to fund terrorist activities. A grocery store owner in Chicago was imprisoned in 2006 for stealing $1.4 million through food stamp fraud and aiding the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In 2010, two Somali store owners in Michigan pleaded guilty to food stamp fraud and running an unlicensed money transfer business that sent money to “hot spots” in the Middle East and Africa. In Indianapolis, a ring of convenience stores bought food stamps from customers for 50 cents on the dollar. The ringleader was arrested on a return flight from...