Free Republic

A former high-ranking Iranian government official, Brig. Gen. Alireza Asghari, 63, has defected to the United States, Iranian exiles and other sources told Newsmax today. Asghari had access to highly-classified intelligence information and "defected to the Americans with lots of secrets," respected Iranian journalist Alireza Nourizadeh told Newsmax from London. The disappearance of the former Revolutionary Guards General has created a panic in Tehran. Gen. Asghari left Iran on an officially-sanctioned trip to Damascus, Syria, then went missing during a stop-over in Istanbul, Turkey on February 7, according to statements by Iranian government officials in Tehran. Nourizadeh believes he had...

Missing Iranian general’s family suspects Israel Family of Ali Reza Asgari, Iran’s former deputy defense minister who disappeared from Turkey last month, visits Turkish embassy in Tehran demanding information on his whereabouts. Asgari’s wife rejects reports he defected to West, smuggled family out of Iran: ‘We are here, those are our enemies lies’ The family of Ali Reza Asgari , the Iranian general and former deputy defense minister who disappeared from Turkey last month, snubbed recent newspaper reports claiming he defected to the West and insisted instead that he was kidnapped by foreign agents. His wife Ziba Asgari, 46, contended...

The disappearance and possible defection of former Iranian deputy defense minister Ali Reza Asgari has the Iranian government deeply worried — and for good reason. Meir Javedanfar, an expert on Iran and co-author of an upcoming book on Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, reports. UPDATE: A senior U.S. official (has confirmed) that Asgari left his country voluntarily and is cooperating with Western intelligence agencies, providing information on Hezbollah and Iran’s ties to the organization. (Washington Post) The recent disappearance of Ali Reza Asgari, Iran’s former deputy defense minister who was on a visit to Istanbul has been a mystery for the...

As the sun sets on a Friday evening, preparations for Shabbat are in full swing in South Brooklyn... Inside one of the few grocery stores still open, a man who left Damascus in the 1990s greets one of his regular customers in Syrian Arabic as a Hebrew song plays in the background. The pair part ways with a “Shabbat Shalom.” These Brooklyn streets—home to the largest Syrian Jewish community outside of Israel, with an estimated 75,000 members—echo the spirit of the once-bustling centers of Jewish life in Damascus and Aleppo. Today, Syria’s historic Jewish quarters are a dimmer scene. Only...

The Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate has announced the cancellation of all public Easter celebrations in Syria for 2026, citing ongoing security concerns and unstable conditions across the country. In an official directive addressed to clergy in the Patriarchal Archdiocese of Damascus, the Patriarchate confirmed that this year’s observances will be significantly scaled back, with services limited strictly to prayers held inside churches. “As we stand at the threshold of Holy Week, and in light of the current unfavorable circumstances, we have decided, in coordination and agreement with the other Churches, that this year’s Easter celebrations (2026) will be limited to...

At a press conference held by Tom Barrack and Ahmed al-Sharaa (al-Jolani) at the Tishrin Palace in Damascus, it was stated that SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi was ready to attend the meeting but was unable to do so due to adverse weather conditions. In his brief remarks, al-Jolani said: “We have reached a comprehensive ceasefire and full integration between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and a ceasefire order has been issued.” Al-Jolani added that he would meet with Mazloum Abdi at a later date to discuss the details and mechanisms for implementing the agreement. Responding...

The first members of what would later become Iran’s fearsome revolutionary guards were trained in a quiet village outside Paris. Those close to the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who was in exile in Neauphle-le-Château, secretly began recruiting Iranian revolutionaries in the West to establish a “people’s army”. One of the group’s founders, Mohsen Sazegara, has told The Telegraph that the aim in 1978 was to gather loyalists prepared to confront the Shah’s regime head-on in Iran. The recruits first studied the theory of guerrilla warfare before being dispatched to Beirut and Damascus for military training. There, they learnt...

Built to rival the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, the great mosque in Damascus has always been claimed by rival faiths Sometime in the mid 1990s, I was standing in the marble courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus when two nuns asked me where they could find the head of John the Baptist. I pointed them towards the grand transept facade, gleaming with green and gold mosaics evoking a fertile paradise. Beyond lay the shrine to John or Yahya ibn Zakariyya, as he is known in Arabic, one of the few shared sites of Muslim-Christian pilgrimage. In 2001,...

Intelligence officer, allegedly speaking with PA chief’s ousted rival Dahlan, laments state of Palestinian leadership, says Abbas ‘has nothing to offer’ A top Egyptian intelligence official is heard mocking Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in a newly leaked phone call with a chief rival of the PA leader, characterizing him as old and stupid and saying the Fatah party is “screwed” under his leadership. According to the Middle East Eye, the comments were made by Major General Wael el-Safty, an officer in Egypt’s General Intelligence Directorate in charge of Palestinian affairs, during a conversation with Fatah’s Mohammad Dahlan. In excerpts...

Abraham Accord shtunk! (peaceful regional coexistence is odiferous) Free worshippen shtunk! (all unbelievers must be taught the error of their ways)...das Juden! Ohhhhhh das Juden! Snort! Shtunken shtanken shtinken shtunken sthink! (his excellency is speaking of the Jews) as the helicopters land in the Syrian Capitol to defend the Druze and Christians from the latest assaults, and Julani backs away from the Abraham Accord he was previously making kissy faces at. Lots of on-the-scene footage. Transcript linked below video.

ALBANY - The prosecutor who sent two local Muslim men ensnared in an FBI terror sting to prison is on the short list for a federal judgeship. Many in the Capital District's growing Muslim community are outraged. Members of Albany's Muslim Solidarity Committee say they will do everything in their power to ensure Glenn Suddaby doesn't receive the nomination. The activists formed their group after the arrest and conviction of Mohammad Hossain, an Albany pizza shop owner, and Yassin Aref, an Albany imam. Despite grass roots opposition, Suddaby has at least one pretty big name supporter - U.S. Sen. Charles...

Statement from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East Note: His Eminence Metropolitan Saba, the seminarians and other pilgrims in Lebanon are a great distance from this violence, praying for the souls impacted by this attack. Statement Issued by the Patriarchate of Antioch (Article in English) (المقال باللغة العربية) Damascus, June 22, 2025 On this day when our Antiochian Church commemorates All the Saints of Antioch, the treacherous hand of evil struck this evening, claiming our lives, along with the lives of our loved ones who fell today as martyrs during the evening Divine Liturgy at the...

Mass shooting, followed by suicide bombing at Damascus church, at the same time an attack in a Michigan church. Multiple videos of attrocities. MSM in denial, predictably. Transcript linked after video.

Iran's stern warning that the United States must "bear responsibility" for an Israeli airstrike on its consulate in Damascus, despite U.S. claims of non-involvement, marks a tense moment in international relations. This incident, which resulted in the deaths of senior Iranian military commanders, exacerbates already strained U.S.-Iran relations and highlights the complex geopolitical dynamics in the Middle East. Iran's vow for revenge introduces a precarious element to the situation, especially against the backdrop of concerns about sleeper terror cells within the U.S. The presence of these cells, believed by many to be a consequence of lax border security policies, poses...

Prime Minister and Defense Minister announce Israel has struck a target close to the presidential palace in Damascus: "We will not permit any threat to the Druze community." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz announced early Friday morning that Israel had struck a target close to the presidential palace in Damascus. "This is a clear message to the Syrian regime. We will not permit Syrian troops to move south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community," they said in a joint statement...

Since al-Qaeda-affiliated Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) conquered Damascus with the help of Turkey in December 2024, HTS fighters and Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) militants have committed massacres against religious minorities in the country. Social media posts show Alawite or Christian men, women, and children barbarically shot at close range. And the death toll is increasing. The Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and all the East, John X, said during a sermon on March 9th: 'The bloody events taking place on the Syrian coast left many dead and wounded. … In many cities, towns, and villages, their...

Jewish Rabbi Yusuf Hamra, who was forcibly displaced from Syria in 1992, has returned to Damascus after 33 years. Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Jews, who were expelled from the country in 1992, have begun returning. Rabbi Yusuf Hamra, along with a group of Jews, visited the Frenc and Raki churches, the Ibn Maymun Jewish School, and the Cobar Synagogue, which was largely destroyed during the civil war, in Damascus’s historic districts. Speaking to Anadolu, Rabbi Yusuf Hamra, one of the former leaders of the Jewish community in Syria, said he had returned home to Damascus after 33...

The usual suspects – plus one holier-than-thou world power – are calling on the U.S. military to repent for its treatment of Muslim chaplain James Yee (aka "Yousef" or "Yousif" Yee). Refresher: Yee's the Army captain who ministered to al-Qaida and Taliban detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Seven months ago, Yee was arrested on suspicion of espionage. He spent 76 days in solitary confinement; the case didn't materialize; he was convicted on lesser charges of adultery and downloading pornography. Last week, the Army Southern Command chief who oversees military operations at Guantanamo dismissed those convictions. What more do Yee and his...

Gee, then who might be the "problem" most vexing the new regime in Syria? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?In the immediate aftermath of the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Israel moved quickly to destroy Assad's military assets. They also seized the demilitarized zone along their Syrian border to prevent some of the Islamist rebel groups from starting a war. Those moves got condemnation from the UN and some Western countries that have nominal alliance with Israel.According to the new regime's governor in Damascus, however, it's water under the bridge. Maher Marwan spoke to NPR as a representative of the new national government...

Syria's former President Bashar al-Assad appears to say he never intended to flee to Russia - in what is purported to be his first statement since the fall of Damascus eight days ago. Assad's reported statement was put on the Telegram channel belonging to the Syrian presidency on Monday, although it is not clear who currently controls the channel. In it he says that, as the Syrian capital fell to rebels, he went to the Russian military base in his stronghold in the Latakia province "to oversee combat operations" only to see that Syrian troops had abandoned positions. The Hmeimim...