Free Republic

As tens of thousands marched in the streets of Tehran on Wednesday in support of the regime, the head of the Revolutionary Guard Corps assured Iranians the "sedition" had been defeated. Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari is whistling past the graveyard. The protests that broke out a week ago and spread and became riots are a fire bell in the night for the Islamic Republic. The protesters denounced President Hassan Rouhani, re-elected last year with 57 percent of the vote, for failing to curb inflation or deliver the benefits he promised when Iran signed the nuclear deal. Supreme Leader Ayatollah...

The Ministry of Defense confirmed that the Russian airbase Khemeymim in Syria before the New Year was subjected to mortar shelling. The saboteurs attacked from the de-escalation zone, and the air defense system could not protect the airmen. Mortar shelling On Thursday, January 4, the Ministry of Defense reported the death of two Russian servicemen during the shelling of the military base of Khmeimim near the New Year. "December 31, 2017 with the onset of the dark time, the airfield Khmeimim was subjected to a sudden mortar shelling of the mobile subversive group of militants. As a result of the...

The Russian airbase in Syrian Khmeimim was fired upon with the 82-millimeter automatic mortar Vasilek. About this, referring to the opinion of military experts, writes "Bulletin of Mordovia". Among its advantages is a light weight (just over 630 kilograms), which allows placing the gun, for example, in a camper van and high rate of fire (up to 120 rounds per minute). The edition specifies, that "Vasilek" is charged by cassettes and fire in bursts. One detonated ammunition can disintegrate into 600 fragments. "It should be noted that mines of a caliber of 82 millimeters are practically impossible to intercept by...

For the Kremlin, instability in Iran carries a widening range of existential threats An overhaul in Iran would impact the politics of the Middle East, the wars in Syria and Yemen, oil markets and relations between Russia and the United States. Tough words are already flying between Moscow and Washington over charges of foreign interference in Iran’s domestic troubles, with Russia accusing the United States of fostering “regime change.” Given that protesters demand a halt to Iran’s spending on foreign adventures in the region, Moscow might start to worry about its own nation-building project in Syria. Moscow brags about its...

MK Motti Yogev (Jewish Home) on Wednesday spoke with Arutz Sheva on the issue of construction in Judea and Samaria, the debate over the Supermarket Law and MK Yair Lapid’s threats to turn to the Supreme Court to thwart Knesset legislation. “Those who travel in Judea and Samaria see that there is construction, maybe not enough construction, but we are building and will continue to build,” Yogev said, adding, “We are releasing construction plans and we will release more construction plans.” “We concluded eight years of Obama’s construction freeze, which were eight difficult years. The prime minister was required to...

A Large number of citizens will return soon to their homes in the city of Deir al-Zour, and the southeastern countryside of Aleppo, and the countryside of the capital Damascus. As of October 2016, Lebanon hosted 1.5 million Syrian refugees.. along with 31,502 Palestine Refugees from Syria, according to estimates from the Lebanese government. Haidar visited areas of Syrian refugees in south Lebanon, calling on the refugees from Aleppo and Hama provinces to return to their home as those areas have become stable

A skeletal portrait of the Sterling, Va., man federal authorities have accused of obstructing a terrorism investigation began to come into focus on Monday — that of a directionless youth who converted to Islam at the end of high school, married a significantly older Muslim woman, had a child who died as an infant, and became increasingly religious until an arrest Friday that allegedly included him destroying a computer thumb drive that authorities suspect may have contained evidence of terrorism-related activity. In the months before that arrest, court filings allege, Sean Andrew Duncan, 21, who will appear in federal court...

Newspaper says Washington and Jerusalem have overcome the differences that saw Americans tipping off Tehran about Israeli attempt to kill Qassem Soleimani 3 years ago. US intelligence agencies have given Israel the green light to assassinate the senior Iranian responsible for coordinating military activity on behalf of the Islamic Republic in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, according to the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Jarida. For the past 20 years or so, Qassem Soleimani has commanded the Quds Force — the branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards responsible for military and clandestine operations outside of the Islamic Republic.

Assad replaces top Syrian brass after losing military base to US- and al-Qaeda-backed fighters PUBLISHED : Monday, 01 January, 2018, 11:01pm UPDATED : Tuesday, 02 January, 2018, 4:20am President Bashar al-Assad reshuffled his government on Monday by replacing the ministers of defence, information and industry, while heavy fighting erupted between the military and insurgents near the capital of Damascus. State news agency SANA did not give a reason for the government reshuffle, which comes after two years of gaining ground with the help of Iran-backed fighters under the cover of Russian air strikes.

TEHRAN, Jan. 01 (MNA) – Sergey Nikolayevich Baburin, the former Vice Speaker of the Russian State Duma, said in an interview on Monday that Iran and Russia should keep continuing their cooperation. “The continuation of Iran-Russia cooperation is important for strengthening the peace and tranquility of the Middle East and the Caspian Sea Region, and this cooperation has always been peace-making,” said Sergey Nikolayevich Baburin, the former Vice Speaker of the Russian State Duma. The Russian politician made the remarks on Monday in an interview with Iran’s state-owned news agency IRNA. “Iran and Russia are playing bold roles in countering...

Commander of the People's Protection Units (YPG) Sipan Hemo welcomed the statement delivered by the US Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, saying that Washington will defend the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces against any attack waged by the Syrian government and prompted by Iran. According to Hemo, the phase following the defeat of ISIS in east Syria is a transition from military victories to political recognition from the US-led coalition and Russia. During his visit to Moscow, Hemo was informed by some Russian officers that the Kurdish self-administrations will call for a Syrian national dialogue congress in Sochi, which will gradually...

A soaring number of Muslims, many of them refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, are converting to Christianity, breathing new life into Europe’s once floundering Christian churches. The Muslims are flocking to various Christian denominations, experts said, including becoming Protestants, evangelical or Catholic. As many parts of Europe are becoming more secular and houses of worship are seeing congregants leave in droves, it is Muslim converts who are reviving struggling Christian churches. "European churches have struggled for decades to share the gospel with modern secular Europeans,” Matthew Kaemingk, a professor at the Fuller Theological Seminary in Seattle, told Fox News....

In 2005...Putin famously remarked that the collapse of the Soviet Union marked the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century.” The years since have seen Putin pursue a foreign policy centered in large part on recreating a modified version of the old Soviet sphere of influence. In military terms, this has meant creating or supporting security blocs, such as the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, that are tethered to the Kremlin and are designed to further Russian strategic priorities in the Eurasian theater. On the economic front, Putin has put forth an alternative to the EU,...

Incessant political squabbles again remind us how fragile the political process in Syria can be. But Russia, despite all bottlenecks hampering a settlement, continues with its efforts. Unless the congress is delayed again, it will take place Jan. 29-30. Meanwhile, Russia searches for ways to have the Kurds represented without breaking its promise to Iran and Turkey to jointly agree on invitees. By doing so, Moscow gives the impression that it respects Ankara’s red lines but isn't hesitating to display its relations with the Kurds. The latest such display was to invite Sipan Hemo, general commander of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG),...

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian riot police dispersed protesters shouting anti-government slogans in the western city of Kermanshah on Friday, a day after similar protests in the country's northeast, the semi-official news agency Fars reported. The outbreak of regional unrest reflects growing discontent over rising prices and alleged corruption, as well as concern over the Islamic Republic's costly involvement in regional conflicts such as Syria and Iraq. About 300 demonstrators gathered after what Fars called a "call by the anti-revolution" and shouted "political prisoners should be freed" and "freedom or death", while destroying some public property. Fars did not name any...

Protests held in the cities of Yazd, Mashhad, Shahrood, Kashmar numbering in the thousands. They are demonstrating against high prices, unemployment, and the gov't spending money & lives in their involvement in Lebanon & Syria. None of the protests were in Tehran. This video is a compilation of protests. "Protesters were heard chanting 'Death to Rouhani' and 'Death to the dictator'"

Videos posted on social media show demonstrators chanting 'death to Rouhani'.

Cotton Statement on Iranian Protests December 28, 2017 Washington, D.C. - Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today released the following statement on the protests against the Iranian regime in the city of Mashhad: "Even after the billions in sanctions relief they secured through the nuclear deal, the ayatollahs still can't provide for the basic needs of their own people-perhaps because they've funneled so much of that money into their campaign of regional aggression in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen. The protests in Mashhad show that a regime driven by such a hateful ideology cannot maintain broad popular support forever, and we...

Barack Obama will no doubt be chronicled, among other things, as the first anti-American president. No wonder; he’s the product of an educational system that has become increasingly radical and anti-American with each passing decade, and his mother was a stereotypical leftist anthropologist with a passion for the Third World. The pattern is unmistakable. As Luis Fleischman notes, Obama wanted to make deals with our enemies, Iran being the most dramatic example. But just look at Latin America: The Obama Administration tried to avoid confrontations with anyone it wanted to make a “historic deal” with. Most of these “historic deals”...

© Courtesy WhiteHouse.gov U.S. and Israeli officials reached a closed-door cooperation agreement on how to deal with Iran, according to Israel's Channel 10 News. The agreement, which was reportedly signed on Dec. 12 at the White House, aims to counter Iran's missile and nuclear programs. According to Channel 10, the agreement would translate President Trump 's Oct. 13 speech decertifying the Iran deal into "steps on the ground." The two countries have reportedly decided to set up joint teams to combat Iran in the region. One joint team would grapple with Iran's ties to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah,...