Free Republic

Threatened by al-Qaeda-affiliated extremists, community in northern city of Raqqa chooses ‘dhimmitude’ over conversion or death

Western sources: Israel Air Force hits SS-21 batteries, first attack in Syrian war on nuclear-capable missiles Western military and intelligence sources report that Israeli Air Force strikes in Lebanon and Syria overnight Monday, Feb. 24 came on the heels of the first use in the three-year Syrian war of a Russian-made nuclear-capable Tochka (Point) surface missile - NATO-coded SS-21 Scarab - which carries a 480-kilo warhead with a range of 70 km. These missiles were fired earlier Monday in the Syrian-Hizballah battle for Yabroud. There was no information about the effect of the Israeli strikes.

OSLO: Norway's intelligence agency on Monday said that it fears an increased "terrorist threat" to its country due to dozens of Norwegian nationals fighting in the Syrian conflict. At least 40 or 50 people with links to Norway have fought, or are currently fighting, with forces opposed to the Bashar al-Assad regime and run the risk of returning as seasoned radical fighters, the Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS) wrote in its annual threat assessment report. "We conclude that the threat has already increased and will continue to increase throughout 2014," the head of NIS General Kjell Grandhagen said, adding that these...

Abu Khalid al Suri, whose real name is Mohamed Bahaiah, has been reportedly killed in a suicide attack in Aleppo. Al Suri's death has been confirmed on several Twitter feeds managed by Ahrar al Sham and the Islamic Front. Al Suri, a longtime al Qaeda operative, was a founding member of Ahrar al Sham and a senior leader in the organization at the time of his death. Ahrar al Sham is arguably the most powerful rebel organization within the Islamic Front, a coalition of rebel groups that was formed late last year. Hassan Abboud, a top official in Ahrar al...

Syrian state TV says government forces have captured two rebel-held areas on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The report, citing a military official, says troops and pro-government gunmen captured Saturday the areas of Rasm al-Hour and Rasm al-Sad, south of the town of Quneitra. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory For Human Rights confirmed troops were on the offensive, adding that the air force was taking part in the attack. …

eadlines across the mainstream press early this morning reported on the sad story of a four year old Syrian boy found alone in the desert, fleeing to Jordan. Mirror.co.uk for example, published the following: A four-year-old boy separated from his family while fleeing Syria has been found crossing the desert alone. Clutching a plastic bag containing his possessions, Marwan makes his way across the border into Jordan. The brave youngster was helped by United Nations staff who managed to reunite him with his worried family. Skeptical of the emotional shot, I posted a link to the story on Facebook, with...

Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain suggested Saturday that efforts to end Syria’s roughly 3-year-long civil war are on the brink of failure and the crisis is worsening, following a second round of stalled talks. “The second round of Syria peace talks ended today with no progress toward a negotiated political settlement to the conflict and UN Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi recognizing that failure is looming,” McCain said this weekend. “After three weeks of talks, we are moving further and further away from a peaceful political solution.” McCain argues the regime of Syrian President Bashar al Assad has in fact accelerated...

During Wednesday’s White House press briefing, ABC News’ Chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl probed Press Sec. Jay Carney over the progress of President Barack Obama’s policy aimed at addressing the threat posed by the Syrian civil war. Karl pointedly asked Carney whether it was time to acknowledge that Obama’s Syria policy has been an “absolute failure.” “Isn’t it time to acknowledge that, when it comes to easing the humanitarian crisis in Syria, that the president’s policy has been an absolute failure?” Karl asked. “I mean, you had the Director of National Intelligence tell Congress that the situation on the...

The U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army — those are the “moderates,” you know. How moderate? This moderate: in July 2013, Free Syrian Army fighters entered the Christian village of Oum Sharshouh and began burning down houses and terrorizing the population, forcing 250 Christian families to flee the area. Worthy News reported that just two days later, Free Syrian Army rebels “targeted the residents of al-Duwayr/Douar, a Christian village close to the city of Homs and near Syria’s border with Lebanon….Around 350 armed militants forcefully entered the homes of Christian families who were all rounded-up in the main square of the village...

For the second time in a week, the nation´s top intelligence chiefs Tuesday issued a scathing assessment of the global threats facing the United States, warning that Syria is becoming a base from which extremist, Al Qaeda-linked groups could attack the U.S. “We are concerned about the use of Syrian territory by the Al Qaeda organization to recruit individuals and develop the capability to be able not just to carry out attacks inside of Syria, but also to use Syria as a launching pad,” said CIA Director John Brennan at a hearing before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

The stories told by five top Syrian Christian leaders about the horrors their churches are experiencing at the hands of Islamist extremists are biblical in their brutality. But they are emerging as part of a concerted push by Syrian Christians to get the U.S. to stop its support for rebel groups fighting Syrian president Bashar al Assad. “The US must change its politics and must choose the way of diplomacy and dialogue, not supporting rebels and calling them freedom fighters,” says Nalbandian. Given the United States’ increased support for non-terrorist rebel groups in the wake of the Assad regime’s use...

Josh Rogin gets this bombshell from two of the Senators in the closed-door meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry, who briefed them and thirteen other members of Congress on progress in Syria. In short, it doesn’t exist. The chemical-weapons inspection regime set up by Russia to protect Bashar al-Assad is nothing short of a joke, and the peace talks are going exactly where everyone else knew they would … nowhere. Kerry told his former colleagues that he has lost faith in Obama’s policies, and now the US must intervene to stop Syria from being taken over by radical Sunni...

The diplomatic solution to the ongoing Syrian civil war made baby steps last week while the government and opposition have at least managed to hold face-to-face talks last week and agreed to discuss the so-called Geneva Communique - a blueprint for a transition period and eventually for peace in the country. While the Syrian government’s acknowledgement of the U.N.-backed Geneva Communique would count as “success” for a negotiated solution, hopes are slim that the two sides would make significant progress in the second round of talks. Even if they would, its effect on the ground is highly doubtful, since the...

For months, anti-regime activist claims that the Syrian government has cultivated a beneficial relationship with al-Qaeda groups in order to undermine the opposition have fallen on deaf ears. After all, the idea that Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has staked his leadership platform on a campaign against “terrorists”—his term for all anti-government fighters and supporters—would engage with the most radical of all rebel groups, reeks of conspiracy theories. Yet an emerging consensus among analysts and Western diplomats reveals that there might be some truth to the accusations after all. The opposition is now hoping that a shift in the current...

English Translation of @Wikibaghdady Collected by Yousef Bin Tashfin @abounour2006 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is a real person who has a fake nickname and title. This is also the case with everyone around him and there isn’t a member of Al-Baghdadi’s inner circle with a real name. Every person in Al-Baghdadi’s inner circle is 100% Iraqi and he doesn’t accept any other nationality because he does not trust anyone. The number of members in the Al-Baghdadi’s military council is about 8 to 13 people. The Military Council is headed by three people from Saddam's army who also belonged to the former...

Light arms supplied by the United States are flowing to "moderate" Syrian rebel factions in the south of the country and U.S. funding for months of further deliveries has been approved by Congress, according U.S. and European security officials. The weapons, most of which are moving to non-Islamist Syrian rebels via Jordan, include a variety of small arms, as well as some more powerful weapons, such as anti-tank rockets. The deliveries do not include weapons such as shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles, known as MANPADs, which could shoot down military or civilian aircraft, the officials said. (Snip)

As has become standard in this Twilight-Zone-episode-of-a-presidency, you've got to look to the foreign press -UK, Australia, Canada, or Germany (ironically)- to get the full story these days... same as volk seeking the truth were forced to in Nazi Germany... This is due of course to the de facto takeover of the American MSM we've been forced to witness over the last five years. Most of these hacks have bet the farm on this administration and are still showing no signs of shame- so expect them to protect him to the bitter end.  And it's not just petty scandals or bizarre nominees/appointees they're hiding anymore- since...

LONDON (Reuters) - In recent weeks Russia has stepped up supplies of military gear to Syria, including armored vehicles, drones and guided bombs, boosting President Bashar al-Assad just as rebel infighting has weakened the insurgency against him, sources with knowledge of the deliveries say. Moscow, which is trying to raise its diplomatic and economic influence in the Middle East, has been a major provider of conventional weapons to Syria, giving Assad crucial support during the three-year civil war and blocking wider Western attempts to punish him with sanctions for the use of force against civilians. The new Russian supplies come...

 Hmmm.... What will happen if the Arabs start thinking for themselves? Labels: Arab backwardness, Arab world, flotilla, Gaza, Syria

Islamist rebels have captured the headquarters of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) in the Syrian city of Aleppo. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was not clear what had happened to the jihadists who had been at the hospital in the Qadi Askar district. Inside, the rebels found dozens of prisoners and the bodies of several men who appeared to have been executed. Recent days have seen fierce fighting between ISIS and other rebel groups.