Free Republic

With Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain signing a historic treaty at the White House on Tuesday, the Washington Free Beacon looks back on predictions of Middle East turmoil when the Trump administration recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2018. Although critics such as former secretary of state John Kerry proclaimed at the time that the rejection of Palestinian claims to the city would stymie peace efforts in the Middle East or lead to violence, the UAE and Bahrain announced they would formally recognize Israel and establish diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. President Donald Trump and Israeli prime...

Mahatma Gandhi’s statue outside the Indian Embassy in Washington DC desecrated by unruly elements of #BlackLivesMatter protesters. Sources tell ANI that United States Park Police have launched an investigation, more details awaited.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said on Wednesday he would keep the US embassy in Israel in Jerusalem, despite the fact that he objects to the conditions under which President Donald Trump decided to move it. “The move shouldn’t have happened in the context as it did, it should happen in the context of a larger deal to help us achieve important concessions for peace in the process. But now that is done, I would not move the embassy back to Tel Aviv,” Biden said in response to a supporter’s question during a virtual fundraiser with donors from the...

A U.S. citizen diagnosed with the new coronavirus died in Wuhan, China on Thursday, the U.S. embassy said in a statement. “We can confirm a 60-year old U.S. citizen diagnosed with coronavirus died at Jinyintian Hospital in Wuhan, China on February 6. We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss. Out of the respect for the family’s privacy, we have no further comment,” the embassy said.

The U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad was hit by multiple rockets on Sunday, two U.S. officials told ABC News. This is the first time the compound has been hit directly in years and comes just weeks after pro-Iranian militia members and their supporters assaulted the compound in Iraq. Rocket attacks on the Green Zone are very common. Last week three rockets were fired into Baghdad's Green Zone, the heavily fortified area of the capital that houses the embassy, government buildings and U.S. service members. Iraqi officials said Monday that there were no injuries. Both U.S. officials told ABC News that...

The US Embassy Warns of Serious Consequences in the Event of Getting Close to it Thursday 23 , January 2020 Baghdad (NINA) - The American Embassy warned of grave consequences in the event of getting close to it. The Embassy wrote on the walls of the external checkpoints warnings of approaching them without official approval, threatening serious consequences if they crossed them. The warning came with the launch of a million demonstration on Friday to expel foreign forces from the country. / End

Three rockets were fired at the US embassy in Baghdad overnight as security services continued firing live ammunition at anti-government protesters in the city. The rockets were fired from a makeshift launcher in Zafaraniya, on the outskirts of the Iraqi capital, and landed inside the fortified Green Zone - but failed to cause significant damage and did not kill anyone. Meanwhile three anti-government protesters were killed overnight protesting in Tahrir Square after security forces opened fire with live ammunition. The clashes prompted authorities to close key streets and thoroughfares leading to the Iraqi capital's centre. The violence was the latest...

Reports of new rocket fire surfaced late on Wednesday afternoon, landing in Iraq’s Green Zone, home to the US Embassy and other foreign missions, just hours after US President Donald Trump announced that Iran was standing down after a series of escalations in the region.

It is hard to understand Iran Supreme Leader Khamenei’s blunder in attacking the US Embassy in Baghdad. He either believed Trump was weakened by his impeachment, as western liberal Media breathlessly and continuously reported, or he might have been misled by John Kerry’s incompetent advice (apparently Kerry met again with Khamenei’s emissaries in Paris just few weeks ago). Whatever the reasons, his goal of triggering a limited war with America to rally his people around the regime has failed miserably. (my emphasis.)

Falih al-Fayyadh, chairman of al-Hashd al-Sha’bi (the Popular Mobiliazation units), the official umbrella organization that knits together the pro-Iranian Shiite militias visited the Obama White House 12/12/2011, Barack and Hillary hosting. Kimmitt: US embassy protest leaders part of govt, Iraqis should pull them back (Falih al-Fayyadh)Talking about the Iraqi government in an interview with Al Arabiya, Kimmitt said: “They need to sit down and pull in the leaders of the protests, who are part of the Iraqi government - I’m referring to Hadi al-Amiri, Falih al-Fayyadh, I’m talking about the leaders of Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq - they need to sit...

Hillary Clinton Slams Trump For Not Taking A More 'Hands-Off' Approach To Embassy Attack WASHINGTON, D.C—Hillary Clinton has slammed President Trump on Twitter for not taking a more "hands-off" approach to the protests in Iraq that threatened American lives at the embassy there. After Trump quickly sent Marines to defend Americans trapped at the embassy, Clinton immediately blasted him for taking such "rash, uncalled-for" action when he could have just "waited around a while to see what happens." "If I were president, I definitely would have let things play out," she said. "Sending American troops to protect American lives seems...

The Iranian foreign ministry has issued an official statement rejecting US President Donald Trump's remarks that Iran is behind the violent riots surrounding the US embassy in Baghdad. "America has a surprising audacity to attribute to Iran the protests of the Iraqi people," said Foreign Ministry spokesman ...

Iranian militia leader Hadi al-Amiri, one of several identified as leading an attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday, reportedly visited the White House in 2011 during the presidency of Barack Obama. On Tuesday, a mob in Baghdad attacked the U.S. embassy in retaliation against last weekend’s U.S. airstrikes against the Iran-backed Shiite militia Kataib Hezbollah (KH), responsible for killing an American civilian contractor. KH is one of a number of pro-Iran militias that make up the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF/PMU), which legally became a wing of the Iraqi military after fighting the Sunni Islamic State terrorist group....

Supporters of an Iran-backed militia have attacked the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Iraq just two days after the U.S. carried out airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Kataeb Hezbollahin in retaliation for the killing of a U.S. contractor near Kirkuk, Iraq on Friday. The militia also injured four U.S. troops and two members of the Iraqi Security Forces. The protesters were shouting, "Death to America!" as they stormed the U.S. compound on Tuesday. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) shared a video of a dozen military guards at the embassy courageously remaining in place as the attack continued, and asked his followers...

On Tuesday, mourners with an Iran-backed militia stormed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad as the Iraqi government refused to intervene. Protesters lit the embassy on fire and shouted, "Death to America!" The attack followed U.S. airstrikes on Sunday against the Iran-backed militia after an American contractor was killed last week in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base."Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many. We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible," President Donald Trump tweeted on Tuesday morning. "In addition, we...

Security guards were seen retreating inside the embassy earlier on Tuesday as protesters hurled bottles and smashed security cameras outside the buildings. Flames rose from the compound as furious rioters pressed up against the bullet-proof windows within the complex, taunting the US soldiers within and spraying pro-Hezbollah graffiti over the glass. Half a dozen US marine guards fired warning shots from the rooftops, followed by tear gas and stun grenades, at rioters who set blazes and smashed up barricades on the ground. Hundreds of angry protesters, many in military fatigues, set up tents outside the embassy and set fire to...

US embassy staff and the US ambassador in Baghdad have been evacuated, according to two unnamed Iraqi Foreign Ministry officials cited by Reuters, as hundreds of Iraqi protesters swam the embassy compound. Iraqi supporters of a powerful Iranian-backed militia were attacking the outside of the fortified zone that surrounds the US embassy compound in Baghdad, protesting against American air strikes that killed 25 fighters from the group, news agencies reported.

Iraqis scaled the wall around the Iranian consulate in Karbala and raised an Iraqi flag over it. They said only the Iraqi flag should fly high in the sky and that Iranians should be ejected. Other protesters tried to burn the wall around the compound. This is the second time the consulate has been attacked in a week; it was previously targeted on October 26. Protests in Iraq have reached their crescendo after a month in which 250 demonstrators have been killed. The Iraqi Prime Minister has been pressured to resign. Protesters have targeted the political party offices of Iranian-linked...

The U.S. diplomatic corps, much of which hails from far-Left Ivy League institutions, has been the most defiant when it comes to obeying POTUS Donald Trump’s policies, as evident by the fact that several American embassies have hoisted the “gay pride” rainbow flag in defiance of the president. After the Trump administration formally denied requests from multiple United States embassies to hoist the LGBT flag in honor of “Pride Month,” several of them, along with other diplomatic missions, are doing it anyway.

Nearly one-fifth of Ukraine parliament members have co-signed a draft resolution urging their new president to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the embassy there, JTA reported Friday. Of the 450 members of the Verkhovna Rada, 86 signed on as co-authors of a bill submitted for a vote. Parliament calls on “the President of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to transfer the Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Israel to its capital, the city of Jerusalem,” reads the explanatory note to the bill. The embassy is currently in Tel Aviv. A vote has not yet been...