Free Republic

Why does it seem the Pentagon is far better at spending money than actually putting together a successful operation? The failed “Operation Prosperity Guardian” and the disastrous floating Gaza pier are but two recent examples of enormously expensive initiatives that, though they no-doubt enriched military contractors, were incapable of meeting their stated goals. To great fanfare, last December the Pentagon announced the launch of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a joint US/UK military operation to halt the Yemeni Houthi disruption of Israel-linked commercial shipping through the Red Sea. The Houthis announced their policy in response to civilian deaths in Israel’s war on...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Iran and Sweden carried out a prisoner swap Saturday that saw Tehran release a European Union diplomat and another man for an Iranian convicted in Stockholm of committing war crimes over his part in 1988 mass executions in the Islamic Republic. The arrest of Hamid Nouri by Sweden in 2019 as he traveled there as a tourist likely sparked the detentions of the two Swedes, part of a long-running strategy by Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution to use those with ties abroad as chip in negotiations with the West.

The Biden administration is close to finalizing a treaty with Saudi Arabia that would commit the U.S. to help defend the Gulf nation as part of a long-shot deal to encourage diplomatic ties between Riyadh and Israel, U.S. and Saudi officials said. But the success of the diplomatic effort hinges on Israel’s commitment to a separate Palestinian state, and more immediately an end to the war in Gaza, an unlikely proposition amid months of fruitless cease-fire talks and an Israeli weekend raid to retrieve hostages from the heart of the territory. The U.S. aims to present Israeli leaders with an...

The U.S. Navy prepared for decades to potentially fight the Soviet Union, then later Russia and China, on the world's waterways. But instead of a global power, the Navy finds itself locked in combat with a shadowy, Iran-backed rebel group based in Yemen. The U.S.-led campaign against the Houthi rebels, overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, has turned into the most intense running sea battle the Navy has faced since World War II, its leaders and experts told The Associated Press. The combat pits the Navy's mission to keep international waterways open against a group whose former...

"The powerful elimination worries Hezbollah members. They now understand that the IDF knows much more about them than they know about us," says Professor Amatzia Baram. Approximately 250 rockets were launched on Wednesday towards northern Israel, disrupting the holiday calm with successive alerts. Rockets that exploded in open areas caused fires. In the city of Tiberias, a siren was activated for the first time since October. These launches come after the assassination of senior Hezbollah official Sami Taleb Abdullah, whose rank was equivalent to a brigadier general in the IDF. For the past 20 years, Abdullah had led rocket fire...

Egypt and Jordan, two countries that have peace treaties with Israel, condemned the Israeli rescue of four hostages on Saturday — as did officials from the European Union (EU) and United Nations (UN) — over Palestinian casualties. As Breitbart News reported, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israel Police, and Israel Security Agency (ISA) rescued four hostages: Noa Argamani, 25; Almog Meir Jan, 21,; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 40. The commander of the elite Israeli police anti-terror “Yamam” unit, Arnon Zamora, was wounded in the attack and later died in the hospital. Palestinian sources claimed that over 200 people...

Gunmen attacked the United States embassy building in Lebanon on Wednesday morning, according to statements from the U.S. government and the Lebanese army. “At 8:34 a.m. local time, small arms fire was reported in the vicinity of the entrance to the U.S. Embassy. Thanks to the quick reaction of the LAF [Lebanon Armed Forces], ISF [Israel Security Forces], and our Embassy security team, our facility and our team are safe. Investigations are underway and we are in close contact with host country law enforcement,” the embassy said in a statement on X. At 8:34 a.m. local time, small arms fire...

One of the most influential Arab journalists in the world, Jamal Khashoggi, went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last week. Turkish authorities have blamed the Saudis, but Riyadh has denied harming the veteran reporter.Jamal Khashoggi, 59, was born in Medina, Saudi Arabia, one of the holiest cities in Islam. Like many Saudis at the time, Khashoggi left to study abroad. He earned a business administration degree in 1983 at Indiana State University in the United States.Career in journalismKhashoggi began his career as a reporter for the English language newspaper Saudi Gazette. He went on to work for...

There is much about the war against Israel to which the mainstream media pays scant attention. That journalistic failure is discussed here: “What mainstream media isn’t reporting during the Israel-Hamas war – opinion,” by Andrea Samuels, Jerusalem Post, May 24, 2024:In general, from watching MSM [mainstream media], we have the impression that the IDF is killing innocent children, unopposed, and there is no mention of the ongoing rocket attacks on Israel apart from the Iranian attack which was portrayed as a harmless gesture,” explained Paul Martin Gurnett from Britain….The rocket attacks launched by Hamas into southern Israel, and by Hezbollah...

2024. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90) IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said Tuesday that Israel is close to making a decision regarding Hezbollah’s daily attacks on northern Israel amid the Gaza war. “We are approaching the point where a decision will have to be made, and the IDF is prepared and very ready for this decision,” Halevi said during an assessment with military officials and Fire Commissioner Eyal Caspi, at an army base in Kiryat Shmona. “We have been attacking for eight months, and Hezbollah is paying a very, very high price. It has increased its strengths in recent days...

BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli airstrikes around the Syrian city of Aleppo killed several people early on Monday, including an Iranian military adviser, the Syrian state media and Iranian news outlets reported. Israel did not immediately acknowledge the strikes. It was the first strike to kill an Iranian official since the April 1 attack on the Iranian Consulate in the Syrian capital of Damascus that killed seven people, including two Iranian generals and a member of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group. The strike triggered a first-ever direct Iranian military assault on Israel, sparking fears of a regionwide war. Syria's state-run SANA news...

A Jordanian professor figures out how the Zionists control the world. Department of Down-The-Rabbit-Hole: a Jordanian professor of Islamic law has figured out how the Jews/Zionists control the world: they control the language that we all use, and thereby twist our understanding of things. Endlessly diabolical, those Jews. A report on his remarkable insight is here: “Jordanian Professor Ahmad Nofal: The Jews Rule The World; We Have To Say ‘Zionists’ Instead Of ‘Jews’ Or Else They Cancel Us; Zionists Harvest Palestinians’ Organs,” MEMRI, April 2, 2021: Jordanian professor Ahmad Nofal said that the Jews rule the world and monitor every...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) joined an anti-Israel commentator this week in blaming the Abraham Accords peace deal and the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem for Hamas’s massive terror attack on Israel on October 7. “AOC” also agreed that Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights — which are not claimed by Palestinians, but were taken from Syria in a defensive war — was also “directly” responsible for October 7.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Joint British-U.S. airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed at least 16 people and wounded 42 others, the rebels said Friday, the highest publicly acknowledged death toll from the multiple rounds of strikes carried out over the rebels’ attacks on shipping. Three U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe a then-ongoing attack, described the strikes Thursday as hitting a wide range of underground facilities, missile launchers, command and control sites, a Houthi vessel and other facilities. They called it a response to a recent surge in attacks by the Iran-backed militia group on...

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday held an operational situation assessment and visited several command and control centers in the IDF’s Northern Command, together with Head of the Command, Maj. Gen. Uri Gordin. Upon completing the visit, Minister Gallant referred to Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah’s recent speech in which he claims that, “Israel’s Minister of Defense is inflating the numbers.” Minister Gallant presented a series of images of Hezbollah brigade commanders and emphasized that the IDF has eliminated over 300 terrorists and commanders in the terrorist organization. He explained, "I have just completed a situation assessment and tour of...

Remember that catchy NYC tourism campaign, “I loooove New Yoork!” I can almost picture President Biden croaking out the catchy tune, but with one word changed: “I loooove Iraaan!”Iran is the number one state sponsor of worldwide terrorism. They call America the ”Great Satan,” and their stated goal is to wipe Israel off the map. But don’t tell that to Joe Biden, who doesn’t want to upset the Mullahs in case it might hurt his increasingly remote reelection chances. The befuddled octogenarian president actually is demanding that European countries concerned about the Islamic Republic’s nuclear weapons program stand down and...

BERLIN—The Biden administration is pressing European allies to back off plans to rebuke Iran for advances in its nuclear program as it seeks to keep tensions with Tehran from escalating before the autumn’s U.S. presidential election, according to diplomats involved in discussions. The U.S. is arguing against an effort by Britain and France to censure Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s member state board in early June, the diplomats said. The U.S. has pressed a number of other countries to abstain in a censure vote, saying that is what Washington will do, they said. U.S. officials deny lobbying against...

The Biden administration is urging Arab states to join a "peacekeeping" force which would control Gaza once the war ends, the Financial Times reported. The initiative aims to fill the vacuum which would be created in Gaza once Hamas is toppled and until a "credible Palestinian security apparatus" could be established. Among the countries the US has been discussing its plans with are Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Morocco, all of which are "considering" the initiative. The US has also spoken to Saudi Arabia about the plan, but the Saudis are unwilling to deploy their own forces to the...

Biden administration officials are said to be offering Israel exact locations of Hamas leaders in a bid to stop the IDF invading the Gazan city of Rafah. The president has reportedly offered highly-classified information that also includes the locations of Hamas' secret tunnels to try and stave-off what he fears could be a humanitarian catastrophe. The detailed and sensitive talks serve to illustrate the stakes facing Israel and the U.S. Rafah is the last city in Gaza that has not been bombed by Israel. According to the Washington Post, the U.S. is also proposing to assist in the construction of...

Iran launched a significant drone attack on Israel on Saturday, which is expected to take hours to reach its targets, as reported by Israel's military and confirmed by Iranian state media quoting Iran's revolutionary guards. Iran's Revolutionary Guards have stated that Operation 'True Promise' is a response to Israeli actions and is part of their strategy to punish Israel for its perceived crimes. According to a report by Israel's Channel 12 TV, Iran has also launched cruise missiles at Israel, with a shorter flight time than a drone. According to two regional security sources, Jordan has positioned its air defences...