Free Republic

Christian holy site in Iraq -Deir Mar Mattai on Maqloub Mountain News / Kurdistan Kurdish Peshmerga Steps in to Protect the Oldest Monastery in Iraq 27.08.2014 Shahab BotaniBasNews, Maqloub Mountain    After Islamic State (IS) militants took control of the city of Mosul in northern Iraq, various religious minorities that pepper the region came under attack as well in the wake of IS’ spread of terror. Many holy sights revered by the religious minorities have been destroyed in order to wipe their existence from history.   One of the most important Christian holy sites in Iraq is Deir Mar...

An Israeli officer in the Golan Heights was moderately injured by apparent stray fire from fighting in Syria Wednesday morning, as an al-Qaeda linked rebel group took control of the only crossing between Israel and Syria. At least six mortars fired from Syria landed in the Golan Heights over the course of the day as rebels and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad fought for control of the Quneitra crossing, near Israel’s northeastern border. The IDF said it had not completely determined whether the mortars were fired into Israel intentionally or were a spillover from fighting between rival factions...

In a video uploaded to YouTube on Saturday purportedly by the terrorist group ISIS, various scenes of jihadist propaganda flash across the screen: militants reading verses from the Quran and examining a map of northern Syria, clips of violent clashes and explosions. But this video had something else in it that previous videos released by ISIS have not: Surveillance footage apparently shot by a drone.

Just a warning. Before you watch this video, make sure you don’t have anything in your mouth. I’m thinking that when Obama referred to the “JV team” back in January he was talking about his own collection of knuckleheads. I’m amazed you don’t hear more laughing from the press corps when his spokespeople get in front of the cameras. Where did he find this group of cub scouts? And now the latest from Marie Harf — who infamously claimed that Bergdahl’s platoon mates were lying and had no idea what they were talking about. Take a gander her at comments...

Our barbaric jihadist enemies – the ones President Obama repeatedly assured us he had “decimated” and put on “the path to defeat” – are now stronger than ever. Not stronger than they have been in years, or decades – stronger than ever. They have seized a country-size swath of territory (and growing). They have just beheaded an American journalist – which is the sort of thing they do as a matter of routine but has obviously, and finally, gotten our attention. Not to worry, though: The Obama Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation. I’m sure ISIS is quaking. The...

The august Time Magazine has posted a video on its website accusing the IDF of selling 'Palestinians' organs. Yes, really. Let's go to the videotape - watch the part from about 1:14 - 1:25 (source here).

Considering the social conflict between cops and protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, the terrorist group commonly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is using the strategic moment in American history to recruit African-Americans to join the Islamic State's jihadist movement. Those fighting alongside ISIS, a globally growing terrorist group in which U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said was "as sophisticated and well-funded as any terrorist we have ever seen", have made no secret that they have vowed to bring turmoil to America. ISIS members promised to "divide America in two", while their spokesman Abu Mosa promised...

British rapper a suspect in journalist’s beheading by ISIS By Bruce Golding A British rapper whose father is awaiting trial in Manhattan for a pair of US embassy bombings is a leading suspect in the barbaric beheading of American journalist James Foley, it was revealed on Friday. Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary — who recently tweeted a photo of himself holding up a severed head — was among three Brits identified as possibly being the masked killer known as “John the Beatle.” Bary, 24, is the son of an Egyptian-born militant who is awaiting trial on terror charges tied to the deadly...

The Islamic Jihad Conquest Formula By Matthew Bracken August, 2014 Mohammed’s unchanging formula for conquest is time-proven; variations were also used in history by the invading Mongol hordes among others. Emissaries ride forward of their advancing armies, offering to spare the lives of the targeted population in return for their unconditional surrender and explicit submission to their new rulers. In the Islamic context this submission is exemplified by the fresh converts repeating the Shahada prayer before Muslim witnesses. There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his messenger. The Shahada prayer is the first of the Five Pillars of...

--- snip “For two bloody months, an armed jihadist serial killer ran loose across the country. At least four innocent men died this spring and summer as acts of “vengeance” on behalf of aggrieved Muslims, the self-confessed murderer has now proclaimed.”

A family of Christian refugees in Iraq who are taking shelter at the Syriac Catholic Mrtshmony Shrine in Erbil. Credit: Aid to the Church in Need-USA. Erbil, Iraq, Aug 22, 2014 / 04:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Iraqi Christians' faith is not diminished, even as they face exile from their homes and profound suffering, an official with a Catholic pastoral charity has said after visiting Kurdistan, where many have taken refuge. “The faith is the reason for their lives. And despite the persecution, children wear rosaries around their necks and the people do not hide their tattoos of crosses or their...

World NATO says Russian convoy move 'only deepens crisis' BRUSSELS: NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen sharply criticised the Russian decision to advance a "so-called" aid convoy into Ukraine on Friday (Aug 22) as a "blatant breach" of international commitments that "only deepens the crisis". "This is a blatant breach of Russia's international commitments... and a further violation of Ukraine's sovereignty by Russia," Rasmussen said in a statement. "It can only deepen the crisis in the region, which Russia itself has created and has continued to fuel," he said. Rasmussen poured doubt on Moscow's claim that the convoy, which had been...

Assisted by US airstrikes, forces of the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan have retaken the historically Christian towns of Tel Isqof (or Telskuf) and Batnaya from the Sunni jihadist forces. Christian residents who returned to Tel Isqof were “shocked” by the level of destruction committed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the Assyrian International News Agency reported. They restored crosses to their churches before beginning the task of cleaning up their town. Additional sources for this storySome links will take you to other sites, in a new window. Interactive Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Los Angeles...

There are at least three American hostages still being held by the Islamic terrorists who executed journalist James Foley, sources say, along with a small number of others -- perhaps a dozen. But a rescue mission would be very difficult after Wednesday's revelation that the U.S. military made a failed rescue attempt earlier this summer, CBS News Homeland Security correspondent Bob Orr reports.

Deputy State Department spokesperson Marie Harf on Wednesday condemned the beheading of American journalist James Foley by Islamic terrorists, but she also stated that the ISIS threat “is not about the United States and what we do.” Harf spoke after President Obama told the nation that “governments and peoples across the Middle East” should come together in a “common effort to extract this cancer, so that it does not spread.” He then went golfing. "I think ISIL wants to make this about the United States and our actions. And I think what the President was trying to say was that...

The man accused of gunning down a Livingston [NJ]teenager in his car earlier this summer told investigators the murder was an act of retribution for U.S. military action against Muslims in the Middle East. . . .[Ali Muhammad]Brown, 29, also confessed to killing the other men, all of whom, like Tevlin, were shot multiple times in isolated areas late at night. He described the murder as a “just kill” – carried out against an adult male who was not in the company of any women, children or elderly persons, court papers said. . . .

A U.S. District judge ruled on Wednesday that the Department of Justice must turn over a privilege log of documents withheld by the agency on Operation Fast and Furious. Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled that the Justice Department must provide the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee with a list of documents — but not the documents themselves — withheld on the gunrunning operation.

The New York Post prompted outrage Wednesday after publishing a front page photograph of slain photojournalist James Foley seconds before he was beheaded by a Islamic State militant. –snip Individuals turned to Twitter to blast the tabloid New York newspaper, calling the cover “disrespectful” and “disgraceful.”

<p>Journalist James Foley's captors threatened to kill him a week before his execution in a letter that both Global Post President Philip Balboni and the White House were aware of.</p> <p>Foley was killed Tuesday in Syria after being held there for almost two years. The 40-year-old journalist was freelancing for the Global Post and Agence France-Presse when he was captured. In a news conference Wednesday, Balboni confirmed that both he and the White House were aware of the threat to kill Foley one week prior to his execution. He went on to say that the threat was different than previous communications they'd had with the captors. They demanded a lot on the past, but this letter was filled with rage, according to Balboni. Still, he wanted to believe the threat was empty, and learned it wasn't Tuesday when the video of Foley's killing was released on YouTube.</p>

James Foley was one of a new breed of activists calling themselves journalists. He didn’t travel to report on a story, but to promote an agenda. And the agenda was obvious from his Twitter feed. [snip] Foley came to Syria to support the Sunni Islamist rebels against the Syrian government. He cheered on the Sunni Muslim terrorists fighting to ethnically cleanse the Christians of Aleppo. In the conflict between Israel and Hamas, his tweets and retweets were chock full of pro-terrorist propaganda. link