Free Republic

The same resolve the US, Britain and France showed in standing up to Syrian President Bashar Assad's use of chemical weapons in Syria needs to be shown in preventing terrorist states and organizations from getting nuclear capabilities, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a phone conversation Saturday night with British Prime Minister Theresa May. Netanyahu, who was referring to Iran, spoke about this conversation at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. US President Donald Trump has given the European powers – France, Britain and Germany – until May 12 to fix the Iranian nuclear agreement signed in 2015. If...

Round one occurred on Feb. 10, when an Iranian drone launched by a Revolutionary Guards Quds Force unit operating out of Syria’s T4 air base, east of Homs in central Syria, was shot down with a missile from an Israeli Apache helicopter that was following it after it penetrated Israeli airspace. “This is the first time we saw Iran do something against Israel — not by proxy,” a senior Israeli military source told me. “This opened a new period.” It certainly helps to explain why Israeli jets launched a predawn missile raid on the Iranian drone’s T4 home base last...

BREAKING: IDF sources said to confirm Iran has established air forces in Syria and are planning retaliatory attacks in Israel.

Iranian-backed militants are operating across the United States mostly unfettered, raising concerns in Congress and among regional experts that these "sleeper cell" agents are poised to launch a large-scale attack on the American homeland, according to testimony before lawmakers. Iranian agents tied to the terror group Hezbollah have already been discovered in the United States plotting attacks, giving rise to fears that Tehran could order a strike inside America should tensions between the Trump administration and Islamic Republic reach a boiling point. Intelligence officials and former White House officials confirmed to Congress on Tuesday that such an attack is not...

"Erdoğan has cynically referred to these students as 'terrorists,' vowed to expel them from Boğaziçi University, and to deny them the right to study at any other university. We have heard this kind of verbal attack from Erdoğan before and it was followed by the detention of thousands of academics, journalists, artists, and human rights advocates." Ankara does nothing to prevent ISIS from selling Yazidi women and children in Turkey; allows unspecified numbers of people to use Turkish territory as a point of entrance into Syria and Iraq to join ISIS or other jihadist groups; hosts and aids Hamas,...

The Turkish government is using Pastor Brunson's detention as a bargaining chip. In exchange for his freedom, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had demanded the return to Turkey from the United States of self-exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen, a political opponent, whom Erdogan claims was behind the failed coup against him in the summer of 2016. "They are treating the U.S. government with contempt and paying no price for it." — Pastor Andrew Brunson, March 17, 2018. Turkey -- a NATO member holding an American political prisoner hostage -- has so far faced no consequences. An American Pastor, Andrew Brunson,...

Who Was Tamerlane? Timur was a 14th Century Turko-Mongol military leader who conquered most of the Muslim world, central Asia, and parts of India. His Timurid Empire rivaled the size and power of the Mongolian domain forged by Genghis Khan a century earlier.Known by his nickname, Tamerlane, it's unclear why many people in the Western world have never heard of this brutal and ingenious warlord. To rectify this neglect, the following is a list of interesting facts about Tamerlane. The list includes notable events in his life; analyzes his acerbic personality, and remarks on current impressions of this fascinating...

Jordan's decision should be a no-brainer The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO)—refusing to bow to pressure by President Trump to cease payments to terrorists and their families currently exceeding US$400 million annually—is looming as a potential threat to end 96 years of unbroken Hashemite rule in Jordan. PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas - addressing the ninth annual Islamic Beit al-Maqdes International Conference in Ramallah last week—has sent a veiled message of the PLO’s intention to challenge Jordan’s ruling Hashemite family if PLO demands for a State in the West Bank with Jerusalem as its capital are not met.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan welcomed U.S., British and French forces’ airstrikes on Syria, saying that the operation sent a message to Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad. “With the joint operation by U.S., U.K. and France on Saturday, the Syrian regime received the message that its massacres wouldn’t be left unanswered,” Erdogan told his ruling AK Party supporters in an Istanbul meeting. “The innocent Syrian people should have been defended long ago,” Erdogan added.

It seems the movements in Syrian skies are telling a story of an impending confrontation between the United States and Russia. Yes, the planes keeping watch over Syria belong to Russia, but Putin is Assad’s keeper. It is almost as if Assad is the child, and Putin is the father. Make no mistake about it, this looming war will be fought between the US and Russia. At this time, Iran is making decisions for Syria, as Assad is holed up in a Russian bunker. While Iran is filling Assad’s shoes, Russia is filling his skies. Russian jets have been routinely...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) has called on the Israeli government to show "restraint" amid what has now been weeks of protests by Hamas terrorists who have swarmed the Israeli border and stoked violence. "I am deeply concerned about the deaths and injuries in Gaza," Warren was quoted as saying. "As additional protests are planned for the coming days, the Israel Defense Forces should exercise restraint and respect the rights of Palestinians to peacefully protest." The quote is likely to rankle the pro-Israel community, which has become increasingly strained with the Democratic Party as lawmakers such as Warren adopt a...

WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan 24) – CIA Director Mike Pompeo strongly criticized Turkey’s assault on the Kurdish canton of Afrin, while he hailed America’s Kurdish-led partners in fighting the Islamic State (IS) in Syria. .. Sen. Robert Menendez (D, New Jersey) told Pompeo, “Turkey is supposed to be our NATO ally,” but it “is fighting the same Kurds that we have depended upon to defeat [IS].” Displaying a picture of three leaders—Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, at last week’s summit in Ankara, Menendez asked Pompeo, “What’s wrong with this picture?” The Senator...

Syrians with a German residence permit are increasingly traveling to Turkey, often with the help of smugglers, an investigative report from German broadcaster NDR reveals. The main reason for many refugees is to reunite with their families. As the refugees don’t receive visas to travel to Turkey, they often take risky routes back into the country, the report from the program Panorama explained. Using social media outlets such as Facebook, the refugees post on several online groups to gain insights into the “reverse escape” into Turkey, in which they also share information about the prices of smugglers. A journey over...

Photo: © M.L. Jacobs / MarineTraffic.com ________________________________________________________________________________________ A massive bulk carrier has crashed into an historic mansion on the shores of Istanbul's Bosphorus Strait after its steering equipment became locked, Al Jazeera reported quoting Turkish state media. The Maltese-flagged Vitaspirit, a 225-meter (740 foot) vessel en route from Russia to Saudi Arabia has been moored in the Marmara Sea for investigation, with the owners of the mansion demanding proper prosecution against those in charge of maritime traffic. Anadolu Agency said that there were no immediate reports of casualties, but footage from the crash showed extensive damage to the historic seaside...

Lebanon's civil war has been described as a house of mirrors in that "it was easier to find your way in than to find your way out," (Thomas Friedman). The longer the war dragged on the more disorienting the "house" became until the most impossible ironies emerged as Lebanon's very reality. At one point following the 1982 invasion, Israel supplied Iran with US manufactured TOW missiles in a hostage exchange agreement. Iran thereafter transferred the missiles to Hezbollah within Lebanon where they were then fired back at the Israelis occupying the south. I inspected the assortment of rocket launchers in...

Moscow will shoot down any U.S. missiles fired at Syria and retaliate against American launch sites, the Russian ambassador to Lebanon has warned. Ambassador Alexander Zasypkin made the comments on Tuesday while speaking on the Hezbollah-affiliated al-Manar TV channel, Reuters reported. President Donald Trump is currently considering military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad following Saturday’s suspected chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Douma near the capital city of Damascus. Medical relief groups say the attack killed dozens of civilians.

Isaiah 17:1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. 2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. 3 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts. 4 And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness...

Oil prices soared on Wednesday morning after U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted earlier in the day that Russia would better “get ready” for U.S. missiles in Syria. At 08:33 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, WTI Crude was above $66 and Brent—above the $71 mark. WTI Crude was up 0.92 percent to $66.12, while Brent Crude had jumped 0.87 percent at $71.66. “Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys...

Cape Town is in the unenviable situation of being the first major city in the modern era to face the threat of running out of drinking water. However, the plight of the drought-hit South African city is just one extreme example of a problem that experts have long been warning about - water scarcity. Despite covering about 70% of the Earth's surface, water, especially drinking water, is not as plentiful as one might think. Only 3% of it is fresh. Over one billion people lack access to water and another 2.7 billion find it scarce for at least one month...

The dominant narrative of modern Middle East history emphasizes European colonization and accepts as a truism that the former colonial powers prioritized the protection of their material interests—in oil, above all—above the dignity and self-determination of the region’s inhabitants. --Thus did botched decolonization result in endless instability...Thus did the region become a breeding ground for radicalism, intensified by Cold War rivalry between the superpowers, who replaced the European colonizers as the region’s meddling overlords...Then came Mikhail Gorbachev—a Westernizing reformer. At last, the Cold War was over. A new world order was at hand. What if this conventional wisdom is nonsense?...