Free Republic

Israeli officials have been holding talks in Jordan with Syrian opposition officials “in advance of a possible Israeli-U.S. operation in Syria to protect the Golan Heights,” Western intelligence sources reported Tuesday, Jan. 1. There was no further information about this operation or how rebel commanders were involved in military plans “to protect the Golan Heights.” Altogether, the goings-on on the Israeli and Jordanian borders with Syria are in deep hush. But European intelligence sources, some of them French and Russian, reveal nightly clashes taking place between US, Jordanian, Israeli special forces and Syrian rebels, on the one hand, and Syrian...

U.S. Army Lieutenant General Maria Gervais, who heads up the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command posted a photo Saturday of what she thought were U.S. troops leaving Afghanistan, but it turns out they were British troops later IDed as being with the 16th Air Assault Brigade. Getting that third star apparently doesn’t take much in today’s woke military. Not noticing the British uniforms and weaponry (SA80s), Gervais tweeted Saturday morning, “This picture is worth 1000 words—thanks to these American hero’s. #Grateful” 18 minutes later Gervais acknowledged her error, “Absolutely correct— British troops— thankful to our British heroes and all who...

The British Army will punish military personnel who decline to be vaccinated against Covid-19, the Daily Mail has reported, as the media and government pile pressure on Britons to get the jab. Orders reportedly issued to the Royal Artillery and Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers state that soldiers who refuse to have the coronavirus vaccine will be “educated” by their commanders. “If they still refuse they may be deemed as unfit to soldier and dealt with accordingly as the CV-19 jab may be a requirement to deploy on operations/exercises, much like yellow fever,” according to official documents obtained by the...

The highly-controversial cut to the Harrier force – condemned last week by several former heads of the service as "perverse" and risking "national humiliation" – was decided only three days before the final announcement of the defence review, sources said. Until then, the plan had been to scrap the RAF's Tornado fleet, the oldest strike aircraft currently in service. In a tense meeting, Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, the First Sea Lord, told Mr Cameron that he "could not endorse as his military advice" the decision to axe the Harriers and considered it a "political, not military decision."

We knew it was only a matter of time until people started talking about the contested Falkland Islands in the wake of Britain’s decision last month to retire its Harrier jump jets, a move that will leave the United Kingdom with no carrier-borne strike fighters for roughly a decade. Now a group of former British admirals have written an open letter to U.K. defense officials, published in The Times newspaper, urging them to reverse their move to retire the Harriers. For the next 10 years at least, Argentina is practically invited to attempt to inflict on us a national humiliation...

As the Xinhua news agency reports, a top British military official met on Wednesday with visiting Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Ma Xiaotian, pledging to strengthen bilateral military ties. Jock Stirrup, Chief of the Defence Staff, said during the meeting that the British military "attaches great importance to the friendly relationship" with the Chinese military and expects more efforts to be made to improve mutual understanding and trust and to step up pragmatic cooperation. Ma suggested that both sides should maintain high level exchange visits, steadily promote the communication and cooperation of professional personnel,...

Troubling revelation: Did our British allies sit on their hands in Iraq? Scandal over Britain's military echoes critique of murdered journalist Steven VincentBy David PaulinThree years ago this month, American freelance journalist Steven Vincent was kidnapped and murdered in Basra, Iraq, a port city then under British military control. His murder occurred as Britain's military – as Vincent had earlier reported -- was turning a blind eye to the rise of menacing Shiite religious groups, including those of bellicose rebel cleric Moktada al-Sadr.Now, three years later, the ineptitude of British forces in Basra has boiled over into a full-fledged scandal...