Free Republic

Venezuela’s Tarek El-Aissami The Americas Report | Oct 03, 2008  By Nicole Ferrand [...] Mr. El - Aissami is a Venezuelan national of Syrian descent who, before becoming Minster of Interior and Justice, occupied the position of Deputy Interior Minister for Public Security. His father, Carlos Aissami, is the head of the Venezuelan branch of the Iraqi Baath political party. Before the invasion of Iraq, he held a press conference in which he described himself as a Taliban and called Osama Bin Laden, "the great Mujahedeen, Sheik Osama bin Laden." Tarek's great-uncle Shibli el-Aissami was a prominent ideologist and...

The outgoing Biden-Harris administration gave Iran $10 billion in sanctions relief just days after Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, despite Iran’s ongoing attacks against Israel and support for terrorist organizations. The Washington Free Beacon reported: Secretary of State Antony Blinken determined on November 8 that “it is in the national security interest of the United States” to waive mandatory economic sanctions that bar Iraq from transferring upward of $10 billion to Iran in electricity import payments. … Though the first Trump administration did green-light the same waiver—causing tension with some congressional Republicans—it narrowly tailored the waiver to restrict...

Thousands of Iraqi protesters are trying to storm the US Embassy in Baghdad, according to posts on social media, protesting Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut yesterday. Videos show protesters clashing with security forces in riot gear. Hezbollah flags and photos of Nasrallah can be seen among the large crowd, along with flags of Iran-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilization Force. VIDEO AT LINK............... Earlier, Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani condemned the strike on Nasrallah as “a crime that shows the Zionist entity has crossed all the red lines.” In a statement, he...

Several thousand angry Iraqis have been demonstrating for a second day outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad today by burning rainbow flags. This comes just days after a Koran burning stunt in Stockholm has sparked outrage across the Muslim world. Police closed off the street past the Swedish embassy in Baghdad with concrete blocks today as protesters gathered on a nearby avenue after one group of protesters managed to penetrate the embassy yesterday. They managed to stay inside for 15 minutes before leaving when security forces arrived. The demonstration was again organised by supporters of firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr,...

Baghdad — Assailants fatally shot an American aid worker Monday in a rare killing of a foreigner in the Iraqi capital in recent years, U.S. and Iraqi officials said. The man, whom the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad identified as 45-year-old Stephen Edward Troell, a native of Tennessee, was killed by unknown assailants in his car as he drove onto the street where he lived in Baghdad's central Karrada district on the east bank of the Tigris River. Police said the man's wife and child were in the car with him but were not hurt.

Militias backed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards force attacked a U.S. military base in southern Syria with drones recently and on the same day, a different base used by the U.S.-led coalition near Syria’s eastern border with Iraq came under rocket fire. U.S. officials saw the back-to-back strikes on Aug. 15 as more sophisticated than previous attacks and feared that more were coming. That set off a string of tit-for-tat attacks this week — including U.S. airstrikes on three consecutive nights against Iran-linked targets in Syria. They amplified tensions between two powerful adversaries fighting on a foreign battlefield. The Americans made...

Mossad Director Dedi Barnea countered optimistic remarks by the officials, back from Washington last week after making an urgent bid to ward off the damage contained in the nuclear accord with Iran before the US signs. It is a “bad deal,” they said, but the Biden administration may still be amenable to some adjustments. Barnea, however, harshly denigrated the deal on the table as “a strategic disaster” when he met a small group of reporters after briefing the Prime Minister and other high officials on the true state of play. Israel’s spy chief, who leads the national intelligence effort, did...

Tirana, Albania — It is the stuff of wild nightmares. Despite the passage of three decades, for Iranian dissidents residing in a sprawling Albanian compound — far from their homeland — the torture and trauma of life inside an Iranian regime prison is still raw. “I was a university student, almost seven months pregnant, when the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) came,” Kobra Jowkar, now 59, says softly. “They raided our home at midnight and were very ruthless.” That ruthlessness, she claims, included kicking her around like a soccer ball — and walking on her bulging belly. The worst would...

I feel like I've seen this before:

Is There an Evac Plan for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad? Tue Aug 30, 2022 Daniel Greenfield That sounds like a stupid question except that the attack on the Benghazi consulate netted an ambassador with no response from America. As part of that round of September 11 anniversary attacks, consulates and embassies were targeted in the region with little pushback. And the Afghanistan disaster happened in no small part because there was no evacuation plan. Biden had made it a "priority" to maintain an embassy in Kabul even after he had withdrawn the troops and the country was on the...

A PLO representative who wrote to Zehava Galon 'moved us all' - awarded a shield of honor to the mother of 6 terrorists, among them the participants in the lynching in Ramallah Ishay Fridman @IshayFridman: Aug 24, 2022 Mohammed Al Madani, the chairman of the interaction with the Israeli society, sent a congratulatory letter to the chairman of Meretz, Zehava Gal-On. Nice of him. The same Al Madani awarded a token of appreciation to "Umm Hamid" a symbol of the Palestinian mother. 6 of her children became serious terrorists. Murdered Israelis, suicide attacks, murdered Israeli soldiers, the lynching in Ramallah...

Yesterday, in an interview with the Khabar Sports newspaper, Mohammad Ali Geraei, the world wrestling champion, talked about his love for Zlatan, Muhammad Ali, the legend of boxing and Esteghlal Club, and in a part of his speech, he mentioned "Hitler" as his legend among all the people in the world. He introduced the title of someone who had "great thoughts" in his head!

In a video eerily reminiscent of both the disastrous, chaotic pullouts in Kabul and Saigon, unconfirmed footage suggests major evacuations are taking place in Iraq’s capitol city after the Green Zone was allegedly breached by gunmen. ZeroHedge was early to the story, reporting: “Days of pro-Muqtada Sadr protests and unrest have reportedly resulted in Baghdad’s high secure Green Zone being breached Monday, placing international diplomatic missions and foreign embassies under threat. AFP is reporting that an exchange of gunfire has been observed as dozens or possibly hundreds of supporters riot, with police using riot control measures like water cannons to...

BREAKING: Images show US Embassy officials evacuating from the roof via helo in Baghdad https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1564250359635537920

Archaeologists in Turkey have discovered the remains of an ancient palace that may have belonged to Hulagu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan.The site in eastern Turkey's Van province, in the Caldiran district, is currently being excavated.Hulagu Khan, a Mongol warlord who lived from about 1217 to 1265, achieved military renown for leading several expeditions, including the sack of Baghdad in 1258.After the Mongol Empire splintered in 1259, Hulagu Khan became the ruler of the Mongol Ilkhanid State in the Middle East, which at its height included territory in what is now Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Armenia, Georgia, Afghanistan,...

The following is Marine Lieutenant Colonel Strobl's account of escorting the remains of Lance Corporal Chance Phelps. It's a long and beautifully written and it deserves to be read in it's entirety. It's about Valor, Honor and Respect. Thanks to Jarhead Dad for sending it to me. 23 Apr 04 – The enclosed article was written by LtCol M.R. Strobl USMC who is assigned to MCCDC Quantico, VA and served as the officer who escorted the remains of PFC C. Phelps USMC from Dover AFB, DE to his home. PFC Phelps was assigned to 3d Bn, 11th Marines – an...

Separated by geography and language, there's not much that might seem to connect India's five dwindling Jewish communities – except praying in Hebrew, and food. ...Kolkata is home to the Baghdadi Jews, who were once abundant enough to warrant five synagogues; now there aren't enough for a minyan (minimum [10] male Jews required for liturgical purposes). Magen David and the smaller Beth El Synagogue were both classified as protected monuments and renovated by the Archaeological Survey of India in 2017. ...The story of disappearing Jewish populations finds echoes elsewhere in India. Jews are believed to have first arrived in India...

Forces at the US embassy in Baghdad are attempting to intercept what could be rockets or suicide drones with radar-controlled rapid-fire guns, according to the BBC’s Nafiseh Kohnavard. Multiple videos surfaced on Twitter around 1200 ET, one by Kohnavard of Counter rocket, artillery, and mortar (CRAM) weapons activated and firing large bursts into the night sky to combat incoming rockets and or suicide drones in the air before they hit the embassy. “US embassy’s anti-rocket system CRAM in Baghdad activated a few seconds ago. I heard explosions,” Kohnavard tweeted. Breaking US embassy’s anti rocket system C-RAM in Baghdad activated a...

ight rockets targeted the US Embassy in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone late Sunday, Iraq's military and Iraqi officials said, sparking fears of renewed unrest as next month's anniversary of the US slaying of an Iranian general draws near. An Iraqi military statement said an 'an outlawed group' launched eight rockets targeting the Green Zone, injuring one Iraqi security person manning a checkpoint and causing material damage to a residential complex and some cars. The residential complex is usually empty. The US Embassy's C-RAM defense system, which is used to destroy missiles in mid-air, was activated to deflect the attack,...

Just dropped the third single from my upcoming third album. This one's called "The Desert" and it's a spoken word piece about one of my experiences in Iraq while working there in 2006-7. Here's a link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfKTQe0LWLw The Desert