Free Republic

When Donald Trump announced that his first trip abroad as president would take him to Saudi Arabia and to Israel, it was a signal that the new administration had returned America’s traditional alliances in the Middle East to their privileged status. For the prior eight years, the Obama White House had, in contrast, prioritized relations with these countries’ regional adversary in Iran and embraced the Islamic Republic’s regional allies, Turkey and Qatar, as key interlocutors and partners. The Obama administration also supported Islamist movements in the Middle East, principally the Muslim Brotherhood, that threated to topple regimes and instigate more...

Jamal Khashoggi’s op-eds published in the very influential Washington Post certainly qualify as attempts to change U.S. policy against Saudi Arabia and in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Washington Post has caused itself a major scandal since it has come to light they and their martyred “reformer” Jamal Khashoggi were publishing anti-Saudi propaganda for Qatar. They tried to bury this in a pre-Christmas Saturday news dump, but that can’t stop the damage this will do to their reputation.“Text messages between Khashoggi and an executive at Qatar Foundation International show that the executive, Maggie Mitchell Salem, at times shaped the...

On its face, Trump’s announcement that he is pulling US forces out of Syria seems like an unfriendly act toward Israel. But it isn’t. On its face, President Donald Trump’s announcement that he is pulling US forces out of Syria seems like an unfriendly act towards Israel. But it isn’t. Trump’s decision to pull US forces out of Syria is of a piece with outgoing US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley’s address on Tuesday to the UN Security Council regarding the Palestinian conflict with Israel. Both statements reflect the depths of the administration’s friendship and support for the State...

US forces are reportedly evacuating their military base near al-Hasakah; The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) still press their operation against ISIS in the Hajin pocket.

On September 30th 2016 the New York Times quietly released a leaked audio recording of Secretary John Kerry meeting with multiple factions associated within Syria.The 40-minute discussion took place on the sidelines of a United Nations General Assembly in New York. The meeting took place at the Dutch Mission to the United Nations on Sept. 22nd 2016: […] Kerry’s off-record conversation was apparently with two dozen ‘Syrian civilians’, all from US backed opposition-linked NGO’s in education and medical groups supposedly working in ‘rebel-held’ (aka terrorist-held) areas in Syria.This opposition conclave also included ‘rescue workers’ which can only be ambassadors from...

On January 3, 2014, ISIS, then a growing force mostly ignored by the Obama administration, took the Iraqi city of Fallujah; liberated years later by our Marines, at great cost, from the predecessors of ISIS then called al-Qa’ida in Iraq (Ansar al-Sunni, Ansar al-Islam). “A rejuvenated al-Qaeda-affiliated force asserted control over the western Iraqi city of Fallujah on Friday, raising its flag over government buildings and declaring an Islamic state in one of the most crucial areas that U.S. troops fought to pacify before withdrawing from Iraq two years ago…. The upheaval also affirmed the soaring capabilities of the Islamic...

While the Left was spinning conspiracy theories about conservatives and Russian trolls on social media, its own social feeds were filled with Iranian and Qatari propaganda showing a Pallywood production of "starving children" in Yemen caused by the Saudi campaign against Iran's Houthi Jihadis. The Iranian-Qatari propaganda has been so successful that even a number of Republicans voted for a Qatari Senate resolution targeting the Saudis and backing Qatar, and by extension, Iran. But the media has been the greatest vector for propaganda on behalf of the Iranian terror campaign in Yemen. Take the latest Washington Post report on the...

Ambassador John Bolton, the President's national security adviser, unveiled the strategy in remarks delivered at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C. "Under our new Africa strategy, we will target U.S. funding toward key countries and particular strategic objectives," Bolton said. "We will make certain that all aid to the region—whether for security, humanitarian, or development needs—advances U.S. interests," Bolton said. Currently, the U.S. sends more than $8 billion annually to African countries, though Bolton, citing a "longstanding pattern of aid without effect," indicated that amount may soon be slashed. "Unfortunately, billions upon billions of U.S. taxpayer...

For the past two years we have seen the emergence of a coherent Trump doctrine in both words and deeds. (Weekend Long Read) There is a remarkable consistency throughout all of President Trump’s speeches, formal documents (such as the National Security Strategy) and actions of the administration To understand the Trump doctrine, we must begin with candidate Trump’s first major speech on foreign policy on April 27, 2016 (thus even before the Indiana primary) to the Center for the National Interest at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. All the elements of the Trump doctrine are revealed in this maiden...

Russia’s Foreign Ministry says Moscow expects the Syrian government to take over the areas where the U.S. troops are currently deployed following their withdrawal. The ministry’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said at Wednesday’s briefing that the territories in eastern Syria should be handed over to the Syrian government in line with international law. She noted that Moscow is unaware of any details of the planned U.S. withdrawal from Syria, but added that the move would help peaceful settlement in Syria if implemented. U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly announced the pullout from Syria last week, surprising allies and sparking the resignation of...

As in previous reports of attacks in Syria, this attack is also connected to an Iranian plane. On Tuesday morning, the Boeing 747 of Iranian airline Fars Air Qeshm, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, took off from Tehran International Airport (THR) to Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKA). At 5:30pm, the plane took off for Damascus International Airport where it landed shortly after 7:45 pm. The plane was apparently used to transport military equipment to the Syrian army and Hezbollah.

The ministry, which did not specify which flights had been threatened, added that Syrian air defenses had destroyed 14 of 16 Israeli missiles launched by six F-16 jets against unspecified targets near Damascus on Tuesday. “Provocative acts by the Israeli Air Force endangered two passenger jets when six of their F-16s carried out airstrikes on Syria from Lebanese airspac,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement carried by the Russia Today news outlet.

The New York Times was mocked Tuesday for a piece that romanticized efforts by militant group Hezbollah to help spread holiday cheer. While Hezbollah has been described as an Iranian-backed terrorist organization, the Times' World section sent out the following tweet: “Even Hezbollah, the Shiite political movement and militia that the United States has branded a terrorist organization, has helped ring in the season in previous years, importing a Santa to Beirut’s southern suburbs to distribute gifts.” Media Research Center vice president Dan Gainor wrote that the Times “does the bidding of murderous Hezbollah cowards.” Hezbollah was formed in the...

**SNIP** Kerry, in a tweet, also said it was "pathetic" and "demoralizing to public servants everywhere," that Trump would, "defame a public servant who joined the Bush Administration and stayed on the last two years to help Iraq & defeat ISIL." Kerry worked with McGurk during his time as secretary of state for the Obama administration. As mentioned by Kerry, McGurk served in the George W. Bush White House and was appointed to his most recent anti-ISIS role in 2015 under Obama. McGurk resigned amid the fallout in Washington from Trump’s recent, abrupt decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria...

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A delegation of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has arrived in Moscow to discuss a possible plan to stop a Turkish attack as well as the future of the east of the Euphrates, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Sunday. The SOHR cited sources which said the SDF delegation and Russian authorities were expected to meet in Moscow “in the coming hours” to discuss the future of east Euphrates. According to the monitor, the Russians offered to deploy border guards from the Syrian army in the border area from the east of Euphrates...

President Donald Trump reacted Monday to critics who had rallied around former U.S. envoy Brett McGurk, noting that he was the Obama administration official responsible for sending pallets of cash to Iran for U.S. hostages. [cut] For all of the sympathizers out there of Brett McGurk remember, he was the Obama appointee who was responsible for loading up airplanes with 1.8 Billion Dollars in CASH & sending it to Iran as part of the horrific Iran Nuclear Deal (now terminated) approved by Little Bob Corker.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 24, 2018

..."Saudi Arabia and the UAE have sent military forces to areas controlled by the Kurdish YPG group in north-east Syria, Turkey’s Yenisafak newspaper reported. The paper said the forces will be stationed with US-led coalition troops and will support its tasks with huge military enforcements as well as heavy and light weapons. Quoting the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the newspaper reported that a convoy of troops belonging to an Arab Gulf state recently arrived in the contact area between the Kurdish PKK/YPG and Daesh in the Deir Ez-Zor countryside. This comes at a time when Ankara is preparing to...

BEIRUT (AP) — Turkey is massing troops near a town in northern Syria held by a U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led force, a war monitor and Turkish media said Sunday. The buildup comes even though Turkey said it would delay a promised offensive in eastern Syria in the wake of U.S. decisions to withdraw its troops.

U.N. shuttle diplomacy and Western pressure delivered a breakthrough in Yemen peace efforts when the warring parties last week agreed to cease fighting in a contested Red Sea port city and withdraw forces.

The Obama Administration not only pushed through the Iran deal in violation of federal law but also most likely tried to set up Israel and the Trump Campaign and Administration at the same time. In a recent article at the Columbia Law Review a few of the crimes of the Obama Administration were discussed – The Obama Administration’s efforts to sign and implement a nuclear agreement with Iran with limited if any congressional input, and at times in violation of federal law, is a particularly important example of Democratic constitu­tional hardball. This particular example failed to make it into books...