Free Republic

Non-profit humanitarian agency World Vision United States improperly transacted with the Islamic Relief Agency (ISRA) in 2014 with approval from the Obama administration, sending government funds to an organization that had been sanctioned over its ties to terrorism, according to a new report.Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) recently released a report detailing the findings of an investigation his staff began in February 2019 into the relationship between World Vision and ISRA.The probe found that World Vision was not aware that ISRA had been sanctioned by the U.S. since 2004 after funneling roughly $5 million to Maktab al-Khidamat,...

Israeli agents assassinated Al Qaeda's No. 2 official in a shooting in Tehran three months ago, eliminating a mastermind behind the deadly 1998 attacks on American embassies in Africa. Intelligence officials confirmed to The New York Times that two Israeli agents were acting at the behest of the U.S. when they shot Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah from a motorcycle on Aug. 7, the anniversary of the embassy bombings. His daughter Miriam, the widow of Osama bin Laden's son Hamza bin Laden, was also killed.

U.S. Army Private Ethan Melzer Sent Sensitive U.S. Military Information to Members of a Neo-Nazi Group in an Attempt to Facilitate a “Mass Casualty” Attack on Melzer’s Army Unit The Department of Justice announced today the unsealing of an indictment charging Ethan Melzer, 22, of Louisville, Kentucky, for allegedly planning an attack on his U.S. Army unit by sending sensitive details about the unit – including information about its location, movements, and security – to members of an extremist organization named Order of the Nine Angles (O9A), an occult-based neo-Nazi and white supremacist group.   Melzer is charged with conspiring and...

The FBI has established a firm link between Al-Qaeda and Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, the Saudi aviation student who killed three U.S. service members and injured eight other Americans during a terrorist attack at the Pensacola naval airbase in Florida in December 2019. The FBI found that Alshamrani, who was killed in the attack, had “significant ties” to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and frequently contacted operatives in the terrorist organization, even on the night before the attack, the leaders of the Justice Department (DOJ) and the FBI announced Monday.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that the U.S. at his direction has conducted a counter-terrorism operation in Yemen that killed Qassim al-Rimi, an al-Qaida leader who claimed responsibility for last year's deadly shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola, where a Saudi aviation trainee killed three American sailors. Al-Rimi is a founder of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. The affiliate has long been considered the global network’s most dangerous branch for its attempts to carry out attacks on the U.S. mainland. Trump said the U.S. and its allies are safer as a result of his death. “We will continue to protect...

 NATIONAL SECURITY & DEFENSE    Issued on: February 6, 2020   At the direction of President Donald J. Trump, the United States conducted a counterterrorism operation in Yemen that successfully eliminated Qasim al-Rimi, a founder and the leader of al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and a deputy to al-Qa’ida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.  Rimi joined al-Qa’ida in the 1990s, working in Afghanistan for Osama bin Laden.  Under Rimi, AQAP committed unconscionable violence against civilians in Yemen and sought to conduct and inspire numerous attacks against the United States and our forces.  His death further degrades AQAP and the global al-Qa’ida...

On April 18, just days after a U.S.-led coalition wrapped up the first round of renewed nuclear negotiations with Iran, the Republic of Azerbaijan made an announcement. In a statement released online, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of National Security said it had “conducted large-scale special operations” to disband a terrorist cell of about 20 al Qaeda-linked operatives. The alleged terrorists reportedly had plans to attack “shrines, mosques, and prayer houses” in addition to “law-enforcement agencies.” Their intent, according to Azerbaijani officials, was “to create [an] atmosphere of .  .  . confusion and horror among the population.” Al Qaeda has operated in Azerbai-jan since the...

Despite the reported death of the son and heir apparent of al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials warn the global terror group remains a significant threat to the United States.

Osama bin Laden’s son, Hamza, who was trying to lead an al-Qaida resurgence, is believed dead, according to US reports. NBC News reported the US had received intelligence that he had died, citing three American officials. The New York Times, quoting two unnamed officials, also reported Hamza bin Laden had been killed sometime over the past two years, and it had taken time to confirm the death. The report said the US had a hand in the death of the al-Qaida heir, thought to have been aged about 30. Hamza bin Laden had been seeking to stage attacks on western...

There are moments within investigative research when your jaw can stand agape as you recognize the scope of what you are reading or hearing. A brutally down-played audio of Secretary John Kerry is just such an occasion.(snip) This evidence within this single story would/should forever remove any credibility toward the U.S. foreign policy under President Obama. It also destroys the credibility of a large number of well known republicans. What the recording reveals is substantive: ♦ First, only regime change, the removal of Bashir Assad, in Syria was the goal for President Obama. This is admitted and outlined by Secretary...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — High above Yemen’s rebel-held city of Hodeida, a drone controlled by Emirati forces hovered as an SUV carrying a top Shiite Houthi rebel official turned onto a small street and stopped, waiting for another vehicle in its convoy to catch up. Seconds later, the SUV exploded in flames, killing Saleh al-Samad, a top political figure. The drone that fired that missile in April was not one of the many American aircraft that have been buzzing across the skies of Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001. It was Chinese.. Across the Middle East,...

It is a terrible thing to be a people without a state or province to call its own. Just ask the Kurds, who now find themselves under the hell of Turkey's ruthless ruler, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who may as well be one of the Turkish sultans of the past. For he has unleashed a campaign of genocidal fury against people of his ever-expanding realm. And no one can say the world hasn't been given fair warning of his genocidal intentions. At latest report, his troops and some Syrian puppets under his control were driving farther and farther east, planning to...

A new bulletin from al-Qaeda released two days ago on social media and the terror group's Telegram channel tells jihadists to go forth and just kill Americans without any Islamic consultations first. Al-Qaeda's eleventh al-Nafir Bulletin unleashes fury over allegations that a U.S. airstrike struck a mosque with worshippers at evening prayers, killing up to 42 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in Britain. U.S. Central Command said in a Thursday press release that "U.S. forces conducted an airstrike on an al-Qaeda in Syria meeting location March 16 in Idlib, Syria, killing several terrorists." On Friday, defense...

The father and the younger brother of the suicide bomber who killed 22 people at a concert venue in Manchester have been arrested in Tripoli, a spokesman for a local counter-terrorism force said on Wednesday. The counter-terrorism force detained the father, Ramadan Abedi, outside his home in the Tripoli suburb of Ayn Zara on Wednesday afternoon. A witness said he was handcuffed by armed men who drove him away in two unmarked vehicles. The force, known as Rada, detained the brother Hashem Abedi, who was born in 1997, on Tuesday evening on suspicion of links to Islamic State, spokesman Ahmed...

LONDON — The father of the alleged Manchester arena bomber denies his son is linked to militants or the suicide bombing that killed 22 people. Ramadan Abedi says he spoke to his 22-year-old son, Salman Abedi, five days ago and he was getting ready to visit Saudi Arabia and sounded "normal." He said his son visited Libya a month-and-a-half ago. The father added that Salman was planning to head from Saudi Arabia to Libya to spend the holy month of Ramadan with family. ...snip.... Meanwhile, a former Libyan security official says the father was allegedly a member of a former...

LONDON The Latest on the bombing at a pop concert in Manchester that left 22 people dead (all times local): 3:00 p.m. A former Libyan security official says the father of the alleged Manchester arena bomber was allegedly member of a former al-Qaida-backed group in Libya.

A U.S. Special Operations member died of injuries suffered during a weekend raid against al-Qaida militants in Yemen, the military said Sunday. Three other American troops, members of a Navy SEAL unit, were wounded in the operation on Saturday. A defense official, said the slain service member was killed in a firefight with militants. According to a statement from U.S. Central Command (Centcom), 14 militants were killed during the operation. The raid, which took place in a remote desert area of Yemen's Shabwa governorate, aimed to obtain intelligence information, including computer material, that was thought to be linked to planning...

NEW YORK -- CBS News has learned about a potential terror threat for the day before the election. Sources told CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton that U.S. intelligence has alerted joint terrorism task forces that al Qaeda could be planning attacks in three states for Monday.

One candidate for most amazing video of the presidential race on the Net now is an anonymous 8-minute biography of Huma Abedin, former right-hand woman to American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and (until last Friday) her closest associate for twenty years. Snippets of Abedin’s biography have floated through the blogosphere for years, but this is the first coherent exposé that tempts a reasonable person to consider the current crisis surrounding Hillary Clinton and emails as part of the greatest spying operation, the greatest secret agent story, in history. Huma Abedin, though born in the States, grew up in Saudi...

NEW YORK -- CBS News has learned about a potential terror threat for the day before the election. Sources told CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton U.S. intelligence has alerted joint terrorism task forces that al Qaeda could be planning attacks in three states for Monday. It is believed New York, Texas and Virginia are all possible targets, though no specific locations are mentioned. Terrorism in the U.S. The sources stress the intelligence is still being assessed and its credibility hasn’t been confirmed, but counterterrorism officials were alerted to the threat out of abundance of caution. A senior FBI...