Free Republic

Syrian army advances in northwest Syria are putting Turkish troops in the firing line and threaten Ankara's hopes of preventing a new wave of refugees on its southern border. The offensive around Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold in Syria, has already forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee towards Turkey. It has also cut off a Turkish military post deep inside Syria as the deal to limit fighting in the region, which the Turkish troops were supposed to be monitoring, collapses. The breakdown of that deal would be a significant blow to President Tayyip Erdogan, who has steered...

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxVPCjbKuEQ Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said in an address at the Jalazun Refugee Camp near Ramallah that the "Palestinians" cannot be removed from their homeland and that every building built by the Zionist occupation will be destroyed and thrown in the garbage bin of history, reports the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). ..... In the video, uploaded to to Abbas' Facebook page on August 10, he claimed that the "Palestinians" are the Canaanites who have lived in Palestine for 5,000 years, and he rejected the conferences in Warsaw and Manama as unacceptable to the "Palestinian people". He...

The United States has removed nearly 2.7 million barrels (per day) of Iranian oil from global markets as a result of Washington’s decision to reimpose sanctions on all purchases of Iran’s crude, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday. In an interview with MSNBC, Pompeo said the US government was confident it could continue with its strategy. “We have managed to take almost 2.7 million barrels of crude oil off of the market, denying Iran the wealth to create their terror campaign around the world, and we have managed to keep the oil markets fully supplied,” Pompeo said....

Iran's president sent a bill to parliament Wednesday that would cut four zeroes from the value of the Islamic Republic's sanctions-battered currency, the rial, as tensions remain high between Tehran and Washington. By sending the bill to lawmakers, President Hassan Rouhani's government shows it is serious about an idea discussed for some time in Iran, where people discuss monetary transactions in both rials and informally, but more commonly, in tomans. A toman is worth 10 rials. If passed by parliament and approved by lawmakers, Iran's Central Bank would in effect devalue the rial and rename it as toman. The bank...

The report isn’t a policy document. It’s heavily redacted and there are ambiguities in the language. But the implications are clear enough. A year into the Syrian rebellion, the US and its allies weren’t only supporting and arming an opposition they knew to be dominated by extreme sectarian groups; they were prepared to countenance the creation of some sort of “Islamic state” – despite the “grave danger” to Iraq’s unity – as a Sunni buffer to weaken Syria.

Leader Of Jihadi Military Contractor Malhama Tactical (MT) Killed In Syria; August 20, 2019 The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here. On August 16, 2019, jihadi military contractor Malhama Tactical (MT) posted a Russian-language statement on Telegram announcing that the group's leader, Abu Salman Al-Belarusi, had been killed at the front south of Idlib, and was succeeded by Chechen jihadi 'Ali Al-Shishani. MT operates in Syria and has worked with Jabhat Fath Al-Sham (formerly Jabhat Al-Nusra, the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria), as well as Ahrar...

Iran Releases Four Women Arrested For Trying To Watch Men's Soccer August 17, 2019 08:22 GMT UPDATED August 17, 2019 19:45 GMT By RFE/RL Iranian women sometimes receive special permission to attend men's football matches. Authorities in Tehran have released four Iranian women from a detention center after they were arrested for allegedly dressing as men to circumvent a ban against women attending soccer matches in the Islamic republic, a Human Rights Watch researcher (HRW) says. The researcher, Tara Sepehrui Far, said on Twitter on August 17 that the four women were freed on bail after reportedly being charged with...

Wait, so instead of saving ISIS fighters with a bullet to the head, Israel is treating wounded ISIS? So US shoots them and Israel saves them? Under cover of darkness, an Israeli armoured car advances down the potholed road that leads to Syria. As it crests a small hill, the driver picks up the radio handset and tells his commanding officer that the border is in sight. He kills the engine. Ten heavily-armed commandos jump out and take cover, watching for signs of ambush. Then five of them move up to the 12ft chainlink fence that marks the limit of...

At least 10 Republican members of Congress are supporting Israel's decision to block Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from entering the country after Trump specifically requested it. On Thursday, Trump tweeted that it would be a sign of "great weakness" if Israel allowed the two congresswomen, who have been outspoken critics of Trump, to enter the country. Later that day, Israel officially blocked their entrance. "Israel’s denial of entry to Congresswomen Tlaib and Omar is a sign of weakness, and beneath the dignity of the great State of Israel," Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. Most...

In the midst of the hot takes offered up by the 2020 Democrat candidates when the two anti-Semitic U.S. congresswomen were denied entry into Israel, the guy at the front of the pack was quickly reminded that former President Obama’s administration made a similar decision. Joe Biden posted a tweet meant to criticize the Israeli government’s decision. He said he is a supporter of Israel but no one should be denied entry into a democratic state over “ideas”. “No democracy should deny entry to visitors based on the content of their ideas”, he said. Joe Biden: I have always been...

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) late Saturday suggested that viewers should boycott comedian Bill Maher’s late-night HBO show over his vehement criticism of the international movement to boycott Israel. Tlaib, who was denied entry to Israel last week over her support of the movement, said that she was "tired of folks discrediting a form of speech that is centered on equality and freedom." “This is exactly how they tried to discredit & stop the boycott to stand up against the apartheid in S. Africa,” Tlaib added. “It didn't work then and it won't now.” **SNIP** Omar and Tlaib, who became the...

White House hopeful Joe Biden doubled down on his vow to cooperate with Republicans should he be elected president, saying he successfully worked across the aisle as vice president. “There’s an awful lot of really good Republicans out there,” he said Saturday at a Massachusetts fundraiser. “I get in trouble for saying that with Democrats, but the truth of the matter is, every time we ever got in trouble with our administration, remember who got sent up to Capitol Hill to fix it? Me. Because they know I respect the other team.” Biden acknowledged that while Republicans and Democrats appear...

Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., continue to speak out against President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the decision to bar them from visiting Israel last week, but now recent social media posts from the freshman congresswomen – part of the “Squad” that includes Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley -- include a political cartoon from an artist celebrated for his anti-Semitic imagery. Tlaib and Omar posted to their Instagram stories a cartoon which depicts Netanyahu silencing Tlaib by covering her mouth, and Trump doing the same to Omar, The Jewish Daily Forward’s Batya Ungar-Sargon...

The US justice department has issued a warrant to seize a detained Iranian oil tanker, a day after a judge in Gibraltar ordered it to be released. The Grace 1 supertanker, which is carrying 2.1m barrels of oil, was detained on 4 July on suspicion of illegally transporting oil to Syria. A last-minute legal attempt by the US to keep the tanker detained was rejected by Gibraltar on Thursday. Iran previously called the detention of Grace 1 an "illegal interception".

In listening to an interview given by Malcolm Hoenlein, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, I was surprised to hear him casually say (at 5:10): "Israel flew F-35s to Tehran and made it sort of public.  The leadership of Iran know they did, and (the F-35s) made it back to Israel (Ed: Rough transcript made from podcast)." This was news to me, so I did a Bing search that returned mixed results.  CNBC put out a piece last week that treated the issue as "old news" or maybe even "fake news":...

Regarding “Land for Peace” (August 11), in December 2016, the lame duck Obama administration allowed UNSC 2334 to pass, claiming that all of Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem (including the Old City, the Jewish Quarter, Temple Mount and Western Wall) are “occupied Palestinian territories.” Yet the Palestinian National Charter of 1964 defined Palestine as the pre-1967 territory of the State of Israel – specifically excluding the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, claiming they belonged to Jordan. When the area was part of Jordan, the Palestinians affirmed they did not want that land. In 1967, Israel ended the Jordanian occupation of...

“Building peaceful societies” is a major goal of this year’s theme, and one which we wholeheartedly condone. This past summer we traveled all across the country as interns of the Ambassadors’ Club of Israel, and met a diverse group of people. In many of our conversations, we noticed one recurring issue when discussing any hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians: youth education. As International Youth Day is being celebrated today with “Transforming Education” as its theme, and a new school year is rapidly approaching, we find it appropriate to call for a reform of the Palestinian educational system. “Building...

Infighting kills 40, wounds 260 in Yemen's Aden: UN Iran Press TV Sun Aug 11, 2019 01:28PM The United Nations (UN) says at least 40 people have been killed and 260 others wounded in Yemen's southern port city of Aden during infighting between groups of militia receiving support from either Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates (UAE). "Scores of civilians have been killed and wounded since August 8 when fighting broke out in the city of Aden. Preliminary reports indicate that as many as 40 people have been killed and 260 injured," UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen Lise Grande...

Yemeni separatists have taken control of the strategic city of Aden after days of fighting with forces backing the internationally recognized government. A spokesperson for the Southern Transitional Council (STC) told CNN the group took over the city including its presidential palace, port and airport. Aden has been the seat of the Saudi-backed government since Houthi fighters took over Sanaa in 2014. "We are not inside the presidential compound, which is on an island, but we have secured its entrances and exits," Nizar Haytham, the STC spokesperson, told CNN. CNN wasn't able to verify the claims. However, the interior minister...

The U.S. Navy officer was eager to talk. He’d seen his ship, one of the Navy’s fleet of 11 minesweepers, sidelined by repairs and maintenance for more than 20 months. Once the ship, based in Japan, returned to action, its crew was only able to conduct its most essential training — how to identify and defuse underwater mines — for fewer than 10 days the entire next year. During those training missions, the officer said, the crew found it hard to trust the ship’s faulty navigation system: It ran on Windows 2000. The officer, hoping that by speaking out he...