Free Republic

Top UN officials have separately described the Syrian regime's brutal offensive against areas of the besieged northern city of Aleppo as "barbaric." Following the collapse of a short-lived, US-and Russia-brokered ceasefire, Syrian forces pounded rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Sunday, killing at least 85 people and wounding more than 300 others, an activist group reported.

Russia has been directly and repeatedly accused of war crimes at the UN security council in an unusually blunt session, as hopes of any form of ceasefire were flattened by the scale and ferocity of the Syrian regime’s assault on eastern Aleppo. The war crimes accusations centred on the widespread use of bunker-busting and incendiary bombs on the 275,000 civilians living in the rebel-held east of the city, weapons that Moscow’s accusers say were dropped by Russian aircraft.

Everyone is waiting for a way out of Aleppo, says 28-year-old Monther Etaky, a graphic designer who lives there. "The city is now a ghost city," the father of a two-month-old boy tells CNN. "There are only ambulances and fire trucks around and over the past three days the shelling has been horrible. "Usually I get used to the barrel bombs and I could sleep normally -- but now I can't -- the new missiles are so loud and horrifying."

After the United States and "Coalition" aircraft attacked Syrian Army positions "by mistake" – which killed 62 and injured over 100 Syrian Soldiers – Russia says the next mistake will be the pilot's last, as new Rules of Engagement are now in effect. Two days ago, on 17 September, US-led coalition jets bombed Syrian government forces’ positions near the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor, killing 62 troops and "paving the way" for Islamic State militants, the Syrian Army General Command told the state television. The bombing took place on al-Tharda Mountain in the region of Deir ez-Zor and caused casualties...

TEHRAN (FNA)- The US has deployed its special forces in at least 7 bases in Northern Syria which are located in Qamishli, Ain Issa, Kobane, Hasaka and Tal Abyadh regions. The Pentagon admitted last week that it has stationed its forces in Northern Syria but didn’t reveal any details. Based on information obtained by FNA from media outlets and field sources, the 7 bases in which the US forces are deployed are: 1.The US forces are seeking to turn Rmeilan airfield in Syria's Northern province of Hasakah into their new operations room and build helipads in there. 2. Mabrouka village...

Speaking to the US Senate, the Pentagon’s leaders blamed Russia for the Aleppo aid convoy attack, but admitted they “had no facts.” Only US coalition planes should be allowed over Syria, they said, though that would require war against both Syria and Russia. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, faced the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday to report on the ongoing military operations and “national security challenges” faced by the US. They also asked the senators for more reliable funding, saying the uncertainty was hurting the defense industry. “Not only...

Pastor J.D. shares the three main reasons Isaiah 17 and Ezekiel 38 are about to be fulfilled and why it’s important to understand their significance.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations urged world powers on Sunday to work harder to end Syria's civil war. The conflict has taken half a million lives and created an international refugee problem since it started in March of 2011. Addressing an emergency session of the Security Council, Ban asked, "What excuse is there for anything less than determined action to stop the mayhem? How much longer will all those with influence allow such cruelty to continue? I urge all involved to work harder...

While Russian Su-24M/M2/SVP-24s are usually armed with only four bombs, Assadist Su-24MK2s carry much heftier loads of eight to 10 FAB-250M-62s or FAB-250–270s or five FAB-500M-62s. Photo via Y. A. In 1988, Syria placed an order for 48 Sukhoi Su-24MK fighter-bombers and expressed interest in obtaining additional examples. While 24 of these were delivered in 1990 and 1991, Moscow suspended further arms deliveries because Damascus began refusing to pay some old debts. The Su-24 thus entered service with № 819 Squadron of the Syrian Arab Air Force based at Tiyas Air Base, or T-4, while the planned second unit was...

Five years after President Obama announced that "the time has come for President Assad to step aside," Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that he does not expect the Syrian president to leave power any time soon. Meanwhile, U.S. efforts to arrange a pause in Syria's civil war fell apart, even as Dunford and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter addressed the committee. According to the Associated Press, the bombing campaign in rebel-held districts of Syria's Aleppo city intensified Friday, as the government announced a new offensive in the area. At Thursday's hearing, Sen....

"As his presidency comes to a close, the fact is that Obama has little to show the world on Syria. With an estimated half a million deaths, the Middle East in flames and European allies destabilised by the impact of refugee flows, he will pass on a festering crisis to his successor."

The international reaction to Monday night’s devastating attack on an aid convoy in the Syrian town of Urem al-Kubra has been swift and furious. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in an unusually forthright speech at the General Assembly, described the attack as “savage and apparently deliberate.” He concluded by saying the fate of Syria could not depend on the “future of one man,” namely Bashar al-Assad. According to a statement released Wednesday by the Free Syrian Army, 31 people in total died—19 civilians and 12 aid workers. The director of the local branch of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), Omar...

Russia furious as US blames it for Syria aid strike (P) AFP•September 20, 2016(p) A damaged truck carrying aid is seen on the side of the road in the town of Orum al-Kubra on the western outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on September 20, 2016View photos A damaged truck carrying aid is seen on the side of the road in the town of Orum al-Kubra on the western outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on September 20, 2016 (AFP Photo/Omar Haj Kadour)(p) Moscow (AFP) - Moscow reacted furiously Tuesday to "unsubstantiated" accusations from the United...

Stone Mountain, Georgia — a city with just over 6,000 residents and a poverty rate well above the national average — has resettled more Syrian refugees than Los Angeles and New York City combined. Since October 1 (the start of the fiscal year), 72 Syrian refugees have been placed in Stone Mountain, State Department data shows. Los Angeles has resettled just 45 Syrian refugees, while NYC has only resettled nine. Syrians aren’t the only refugees placed in Stone Mountain this year. Since October 1, 299 refugees have been resettled in the Georgia town. That’s roughly five percent of Stone Mountain’s...

Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday that it would be a bad idea to share intelligence with Russia on the conflict in Syria. “The U.S. military role will not include intelligence sharing with the Russians,” Dunford told lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee at a hearing on U.S. national security challenges and ongoing military operations. “I do not believe it would be a good idea to share intelligence with the Russians.” The comments by the highest-ranking military officer Thursday morning are out of step with the Obama administration’s latest efforts to solve...

Advocates of admitting Syrian refugees to the U.S. often try to liken the situation to that of European Jews from the 1930s. This event saw the U.S. turn back a passenger ship, the MS St. Louis, filled with Jewish refugees. Subsequently, many of its passengers perished in Nazi Germany and numerous death camps. Not surprisingly, most who make this ignorant comparison cannot name the ship. The 1939 incident occurred in peace time, and its passengers sought refuge because they were subject to discriminatory laws solely based on their ethnic and/or religious background (being Jewish is widely accepted as both an...

The following are excerpts from the televised confessions of Muayed Al-Nasseri, who commanded Saddam Hussein's "Army of Muhammad" throughout 2004. The confessions were aired by an Iraqi TV channel that operates from the UAE, Al-Fayhaa TV, and were monitored and translated by the MEMRI TV Project. The following are excerpts; to view the clip, visit http://memritv.org/Search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=492: [1] 'The Army of Muhammad was Founded by Saddam Hussein After the Fall of the Regime' Interrogator: "What is your name?" Muayed Al-Nasseri: "Colonel Muayed Yassin 'Aziz 'Abd Al-Razaq Al-Nasseri, commander of the Army of Muhammad, one of the resistance factions in Iraq. The...

Texas, which has taken in more refugees than any state in the nation over the past year, is threatening to leave the federal refugee program if the Obama administration does not meet its security demands. The dispute comes as the Obama administration has announced a new goal of resettling 110,000 refugees in the United States in the coming year, including an unspecified increase in the number from Syria. In a letter Wednesday to Robert Carey, director of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission said that unless Washington "unconditionally" approves the state's new plan...

30 Israeli, Foreign Intelligence Officers Killed in Russia's Caliber Missile Attack in Aleppo http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950631000607 Wed Sep 21, 2016 12:12 30 Israeli, Foreign Intelligence Officers Killed in Russia's Caliber Missile Attack in Aleppo TEHRAN (FNA)- The Russian warships stationed in Syria's coastal waters targeted and destroyed a foreign military operations room, killing over two dozen Israeli and western intelligence officers. "The Russian warships fired three Caliber missiles at the foreign officers' coordination operations room in Dar Ezza region in the Western part of Aleppo near Sam'an mountain, killing 30 Israeli and western officers," the Arabic-language service of Russia's Sputnik news agency...

<p>“Nobody believes in it. You’re like, ‘Fuck this,’” a former Green Beret says of America’s covert and clandestine programs to train and arm Syrian militias. “Everyone on the ground knows they are jihadis. No one on the ground believes in this mission or this effort, and they know they are just training the next generation of jihadis, so they are sabotaging it by saying, ‘Fuck it, who cares?’”</p>

<p>“Nobody believes in it. You’re like, ‘Fuck this,’” a former Green Beret says of America’s covert and clandestine programs to train and arm Syrian militias. “Everyone on the ground knows they are jihadis. No one on the ground believes in this mission or this effort, and they know they are just training the next generation of jihadis, so they are sabotaging it by saying, ‘Fuck it, who cares?’”</p>

George Soros to invest $500 million in help for refugees http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/20/george-soros-to-invest-500-million-in-help-for-refugees-through-his-open-society-foundations.html George Soros to invest $500 million in help for refugees Nyshka Chandran | @nyshkac 9 Hours Ago CNBC.com Soros invests $500m for refugees Billionaire investor George Soros pledged on Tuesday to invest up to $500 million in programs and companies benefiting migrants and refugees fleeing life-threatening situations. Announced against the backdrop of an ongoing United Nations (U.N.) summit in New York, Soros explained that he wished to harness the power of the private sector for public good. "We will invest in startups, established companies, social impact initiatives, and businesses...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwa1pxFV9hU

A video surfaced purportedly showing US commandoes beating a humiliating retreat from US backed rebels in Syria. Heckled by anti-American chants the video shows a convoy of pick-up trucks taking US commandoes away from the town of Al-Rai near the Turkish border which had just been captured by Turkish and American backed rebel militias reportedly fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army. “Christians and Americans have no place among us” one man screamed “They want to wage a crusader war to occupy Syria.” Another yelled “The collaborators of America are dogs and pigs. They wage a crusader war...

The initial seven days of the nationwide ceasefire in Syria have run their course, the Syrian Army has declared. It did not add whether the truce will be reinstated in the near future. The Syrian Army's statement blames “terrorist groups” for jeopardizing the cessation of hostilities, Reuters reports. "It was assumed that the ceasefire will present a real chance to end the bloodshed, but terrorist groups did not adhere to any of the points of the agreement on a ceasefire, the number of violations on their part has exceeded 300," reads the statement published by SANA news. DETAILS TO FOLLOW

"I look at the last two years and I see the Islamic State fighting a two-front war," Gorka said on "Fox and Friends" this morning. "They're using violence in the region - in Iraq, in Syria, in Libya - to consolidate and expand the territory they hold ... and they are promoting attacks on the soil of the infidel." He described recent attacks in Paris, Brussels, Nice and Orlando as "guerrilla warfare." "That's exactly what we've seen in New York and in New Jersey this weekend," Gorka said, adding that a bloody knife attack at a Minnesota mall Saturday evening...

Pastor J.D. discusses seven recent developments of profound prophetic significance all of which have the common denominator of increasing wars and threats of war, with Israel as the ultimate target.

After Israel attacked the Assad regime's military positions in response to projectiles fired from Syria that exploded inside Israel, Russia called on Israel to show restraint and has allegedly given Syria permission to shoot down Israeli planes that cross into its territory. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has called on Israel to "show restraint" and to "avoid any provocations" in the Syrian Golan Heights. "There is the need to show restraint and not to allow any provocations in the Golan Heights," Lavrov said commenting on an airstrike carried out by the Israeli jets in Syria's Golan Heights on Tuesday, according...

For years the Obama administration has been accused of micromanaging the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from inside the White House. Now in an astonishing report from Fox News anchor Bret Baier, three former Obama Defense Secretaries are openly slamming him for his distrust of the military, his failure to lead and they're exposing his inexperienced and closest advisors for second guessing senior field commanders with phone calls to the battlefield. "President Obama, he's one of the youngest presidents we've ever had. One of the most inexperienced presidents we've ever had. He has a staff around him that is very...

Moscow has called an urgent UN Security Council meeting after US-led coalition airstrikes hit Syrian forces, killing 62 soldiers and wounding 100 more, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. The Foreign Ministry has also demanded full and detailed explanation from Washington over the incident in Dier al-Zor, in which 62 Syrian troops were killed and over 100 injured. Moscow stressed that it was concerned by the US airstrike targeting the Syrian army units which had been destroying the Islamic State. The ministry added that the Russian side had never been notified of US plans to carry out bombings in the Dier...

EUROPEAN Union (EU) bosses have blamed Angela Merkel and her open-door policy for the migrant crisis and Islamic State (ISIS) terror attacks on the continent. Donald Tusk did not hold back about Angela Merkel's migrant policy As the remaining 27 EU leaders attempted to put on a show of unity at a summit in Bratislava, Slovakia, Donald Tusk, president of the European Council hit out at the German Chancellor. He said she created chaos in the region by welcoming 1.1million Syrian migrants last year. Mr Tusk blamed “political correctness” for delays in closing Europe’s borders in 2015 which allowed more...

U.S.-led coalition air strikes killed dozens of Syrian soldiers on Saturday, Russia and a monitoring group said, putting a U.S.-Russian brokered ceasefire in jeopardy and prompting Moscow to seek an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting. The United States military said the coalition stopped the air strike against what it had believed to be Islamic State positions in northeast Syria after Russia informed it that Syrian military personnel and vehicles may have been hit. A U.S. military official said he was "pretty sure" targets mistakenly hit in the coalition strikes were Syrian forces. Russia called for an emergency meeting of the...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's army general command said warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition bombed a Syrian army position at Jebel Tharda near Deir al-Zor airport on Saturday, paving the way for Islamic State fighters to overun it. The air strike killed Syrian soldiers and was "conclusive evidence" that the U.S. and its allies support the jihadist group, the Syrian army said in a statement, noting that the strike was "dangerous and blatant aggression". The U.S.-led coalition has been conducting air strikes against Islamic State since September 2014. In December Damascus accused the coalition of striking an army camp near Deir...

The Obama Administration is micromanaging the air campaign against ISIS. Obama’s designated Rules of Engagement require that our military avoid any civilian casualties whenever possible. In the two-year war, the pentagon has used the most sophisticated and lethal warplanes and drones to kill members of the terrorist group, but the rules of engagement put far too many targets off limits. Less than half of the combat missions over Iraq and Syria drop ordinance while the majority of the aircraft return to base with a full load. Aircrews are only permitted to deploy weapons with the approval of a General in...

Another of Secretary of State John Kerry’s “Hail Mary” diplomatic deal is well on its way to collapsing, this time in Syria. A seven-day cease-fire was supposed to start Monday across Syria, under an agreement signed last week by Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. Multiparty talks to end the war were to follow. But fire is yet to cease, though attacks have diminished in parts of the country. The lull in the half-decade-old civil war wasn’t enough, however, to launch the main task of the week. The United Nations was to start delivering humanitarian aid to civilians in...

UN says armed Syrian groups blocking Aleppo aid for 'political gain' By Raf Sanchez, Middle East correspondent 14 September 2016 • 4:22pm The UN has accused armed groups in Syria of blocking the delivery of aid to the besieged city of Aleppo for “political gain” - including rebel factions inside Aleppo itself who say they will reject aid that comes through regime territory. /snip A convoy of 20 UN trucks carrying enough aid for 40,000 people is languishing at the Turkish border as diplomats try to secure agreement from both rebels and regime forces to allow the vehicles through. /snip...

ISIS has marked Eid by hanging prisoners upside down from meat hooks and 'butchering them like sheep' in a gruesome new execution video. In one sickening scene, men accused of being US spies are filmed having their throats cut in a slaughter house in Deir ez-Zor, north-eastern Syria. The video, named 'The Making of Illusion' was released on the first day of the Muslim holy time of Eid al-Adha and, bizarrely, features short clips showing actors Simon Pegg and Tom Cruise in the 2015 movie Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.

The last time Russia’s sole aircraft carrier sailed into the Mediterranean Sea, five years ago, the U.S. Navy’s 6th Fleet kept a close eye on its progress. The concern among American officers wasn’t the ship’s contingent of fighter planes; instead, it was the very real worry it would sink and necessitate a potentially risky rescue operation. The 26-year-old Admiral Kuznetsov made it through that 2011 deployment without sinking and is now headed back to the eastern Mediterranean this fall as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s effort to use Syria as a showcase for his new model military. But the...

Faced with one of the most severe refugee crises in the world, Lebanon has been toughening up its policies towards Syrians who have fled there, leaving many in an increasingly vulnerable state. In one of the latest examples, authorities in the southern village of Kfarruman gave those who did not have a local sponsor 15 days to leave. I put it to Khalil Gebara, the interior minister's adviser for municipal affairs, that the move was illegal. "If we're going to be literal about it, yes," he told me. "But reality is one thing and the law is another," he added....

The Obama administration plans to admit 110,00 refugees to the United States next fiscal year, Secretary of State John Kerry told Congress on Tuesday. The proposed level of admissions represents a 57 percent increase over the 70,000 refugees admitted in FY 2015 and a nearly 30 percent increase over the administration’s FY 2016 refugee admissions target of 85,000, including more then 10,000 Syrian refugees. Following Kerry’s announcement, the Senate’s most vocal critic of Obama’s immigration policies — Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions — chastised the administration for ignoring the American people’s “opposition” and the “documented link between terrorism” and individuals...

West Virginia has been near the bottom of the list of resettlement states for the last 9 years that I’ve followed the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program, but all that could change. Resettlement contractors are running out of housing and frankly ‘welcome’ where they have overloaded cities like Lancaster, PA (do you want WV schools to have to cope with this!) and Buffalo, NY so they are casting about looking for fresh territory (populated with lots of naive do-gooders!). A couple of years ago the folks in Wyoming were able to hold off a program there. Montana couldn’t quite...

The focus turns back to culture and geopolitics this week as John talks about "The Handwriting Is on the Wall". The attack on the First Amendment's guarantee of Freedom of Religion is now being waged by the Civil Rights Commission of the federal government. Churches need to be prepared to deal with this issue and stand strong. In geopolitics, the focus is on Israel, Russia, Turkey and what used to be called Syria. You will see, that, indeed, the handwriting is on the wall.

Libertarian presidential candidate and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson went on MSNBC's Morning Joe today and admitted in response to a question about Aleppo, Syria, that he had no idea what "Aleppo" was. This was a pretty big mistake for someone who is likely to get millions of votes in the upcoming presidential election, so the New York Times wrote a story about it. Except that its story misidentified Aleppo. SIS's de facto capital is Raqqa, not Aleppo. Whoops! But the paper realized its mistake pretty quickly and changed the story. From an archive site: Here's the problem: Aleppo...

A Syrian-based mullah already wanted in Germany and Italy has emerged as a leading suspect behind the Istanbul bombings that killed 61 people, including the British consul general. Damascus-based Mohammed Majid has a long history of involvement with extremist groups in Europe and is said to have financed a string of recent terror attacks across the Middle East. He has also been linked to efforts by Islamic fundamentalists to infiltrate Iraq. British and Turkish investigators believe that Majid's network of sympathisers in Syria is sheltering five figures involved in last month's attacks on the British consulate and a branch of...

<p>The US and Russia are announcing a plan aimed at ending the Syrian civil war and leading to political transition in the country.</p> <p>The plan calls for a nationwide cessation of hostilities beginning at sundown on 12 September.</p>

Russia and the US have agreed to a "cessation of hostilities" in Syria from sunset on 12 September after intensive talks in Geneva. Under the plan, the Syrian government will end combat missions in specified areas held by the opposition. Russia and the US will establish a joint centre to combat so-called Islamic State and al-Nusra fighters. The plan follows a day of talks between US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

"What is Aleppo?" It is many things, but let's hope among them that it is the turning point in a presidential campaign that has until now been dangerously dismissive of the crucial decisions the next US president will face the second they step into the Oval Office. In a campaign season where shocking moments have come all too frequently, the Aleppo question was another stunner. It happened Thursday morning, on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." It was a shocking exchange between the Libertarian presidential candidate, Gov. Gary Johnson, and one of the show's panelists, Mike Barnicle. Barnicle: "What would you do if...

Kerry working closely with Russia to work together for a ceasefire in Syria.... Sounds like what Trump was talking about only to be attacked for his remarks about Russia and Putin.

A large Hezbollah force, backed by the Syrian army and pro-Iranian Shiite militias, is building up outside Quneitra, just over a mile (2km) from Israel's Golan border. The Lebanese Shiite fighters, under the command of Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) officers, are streaming into southern Syria, armed with tanks and artillery. Hezbollah, the "party of Allah," is the terrorist organization based in Lebanon. In a manner similar to Hamas in Gaza, it has virtually taken over the government there, especially in the south where it borders with Israel. Currently, Hezbollah, a known proxy of Iran, is engaged in fighting rebel groups...

<p>I’ve made no secret that I have a lot of sympathy for the strict constructionist leanings of many Libertarians. I would argue, much to the chagrin of social conservatives, that they’re right more often than they wrong. The problem is that they simply can’t get their act together as a party. Part of that is because a good chunk of them are really just closet Democrats trying to legalize weed, and part of it is because they don’t have the organization, money, and media clout to get over the metaphorical hump.</p>