Free Republic

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Chanting ``death to Israel'' and ``death to America,'' tens of thousands of Lebanese marched Friday through the streets of Beirut in support of Palestinians' third year of uprising. Smaller anti-Israel demonstrations were held in other Arab capitals, too, with speakers condemning the United States' backing of Israel and for leading attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq as part of the war on terrorism. ``No matter how much the world changes after Sept. 11, 'death to America' will remain our echoing slogan,'' the leader of the militant Hezbollah group, sheik Hassan Nasrallah, said in his fiery address in...

Baghdad (AFP) - Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the enigmatic self-proclaimed "caliph" of a state straddling Iraq and Syria, is increasingly seen as more powerful than Al-Qaeda's chief. The leader of the powerful Islamic State (IS) militant group was on June 29 declared "caliph" in an attempt to revive a system of rule that ended nearly 100 years ago with the fall of the Ottoman Empire. In a video posted online on Saturday, purportedly the first known footage of Baghdadi, he ordered Muslims to obey him during a Ramadan sermon delivered at a mosque in the northern militant-held Iraqi city of Mosul.

Explosions Echo Throughout Najaf 42 minutes ago By ABDUL HUSSEIN AL-OBEIDI, Associated Press Writer NAJAF, Iraq - Explosions and gunfire rattled through the city of Najaf as U.S. troops in armored vehicles and tanks rolled back into the streets here Sunday, a day after the collapse of talks — and with them a temporary cease-fire — intended to end the fighting in this holy city. Much of the renewed violence Sunday afternoon appeared to come from the city's vast cemetery, where Shiite militants have been hiding out and fighting running gunbattles with U.S. forces amid the tombs since the violence...