Free Republic

In the background of the strike stands Iran's attempt to construct a network of friendly forces stretching from Iraq through Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon. In 2016, pro-western sources in Iraq warned that Iran was building just such a conduit. In December 2017, The New Arab reported that convoys of unmarked vehicle had passed into Syria from Iraq through checkpoints manned by the Hashd al-Shaabi, the mostly Shi'ite militias that are known as Popular Mobilization Units (PMU). These militias play a complex role, forming one of a patchwork of similar groups that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has enlisted to...

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports Hezbollah will not withdraw from western and southwestern borders of Homs with Lebanon as the Russians demanded. Nasrallah: 'the whole world can not remove us from Syria' Hezbollah fighters are still stationed in western and southwestern Homs in Syria, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Thursday, and are refusing to comply with a Russian demand to pull away from the Israeli border. "All that has happened is a media withdrawal," the non-government affiliated organization reported, claiming the Russian forces are deployed in a way that ensures they will not need...

A chief of Turkish intelligence in Germany, Frankfurt Consul General Ilhan Saygili, who had close ties with Turkish-German Chief Inspector removed from duty for working for MİT Döndü Yazgan, was appointed as an ambassador in Switzerland. According to a report the German intelligence prepared on the Turkish-German Chief Inspector Döndü Yazgan, who was recently removed from duty for working for the Turkish intelligence service MİT, Yazgan met with Frankfurt and Mainz consuls general. German intelligence had documented that Yazgan shared intelligence information with Turkey via these consuls. Ilhan Saygılı served as the Frankfurt Consul General between 2008 and 2012 and...

Former Energy Minister Gonen Segev was arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran, it was cleared for publication Monday. Segev was arrested by the Shin Bet and the Israel Police last month on suspicion of committing the offenses of assisting the enemy in a time of war and of spying against the State of Israel. At the end of the investigation, on June 15, 2018, the Jerusalem District Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against Segev in the Jerusalem District Court for these offenses, as well as for numerous offenses of giving information to the enemy. The indictment was approved by...

"We are hours away from the beginning of the #OpBasalt in Daraa and al-Quenitra, a military choice that God knows we were forced to pick, we gave them Ramadan and Eid to accept a peaceful solution, and they didn't, what happen from now on is their responsibility" "WithinSyriaBlog" Twitter 6/18/2018 "The United States remains committed to maintaining the stability of the southwest de-escalation zone and to the cease-fire underpinning it. We also caution the Syria regime against any actions that risk broadening the conflict or jeopardizing the cease-fire" US State Department Statement May 25th, 2018 Its being called "Operation Basalt",...

Bruce Thornton is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, when the Welsh magus Glendower boasts, “I can call spirits from the vasty deep,” the sceptic Hotspur retorts, “Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them?” For seven decades the West’s foreign policy establishment has been trying to call Middle East peace from depths of endless summits and conferences and agreements with ritualistic chants of “land for peace” and “two-state solution.” But all they’ve managed to produce is war, terrorism,...

Elham Ahmed confirmed that we are fully prepared for dialogue and starting direct negotiations with the Syrian regime if the latter is already ready to initiate such a step. Hawar news agency (ANHA) interviewed with the Co-chair of Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), Elham Ahmed about recent events that are taking place, said we are fully prepared to negotiate. Where Elham Ahmed said that the war and military option will not solve the Syrian crisis. "We from the beginning said and still say that we are ready for dialogue and start direct negotiations with the regime." Elham Ahmed said they were...

Israel will strike against Iranian efforts to entrench itself militarily throughout Syria, and not only along the Syrian-Israeli border, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Russian President Vladimir Putin and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over the weekend. Netanyahu told the weekly cabinet meeting that he spoke with both men and discussed the region, with an emphasis on Syria. The prime minister said he reiterated and made clear the principles guiding Israeli policy toward Syria. “First of all, Iran needs to withdraw from all of Syria,” he said. “Second, we will take action – and are already taking action –...

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, announced that he’s expelling Uber from Turkey, a result of pressure from Istanbul's taxi industry. Istanbul taxi drivers, numbering more than 17,000, claimed Uber was providing an illegal service and that it needs to be banned. Ever since Uber began its service in Turkey in 2014, it's caused dissension among the country's taxi drivers, not unlike what's happening elsewhere. In a speech on Friday, Erdogan said, “This thing called Uber emerged. That business is finished. That does not exist anymore. We have our taxi system.... Where does this come from? It is used...

French carmaker Renault will maintain its presence in Iran while taking measures to avoid the risk of penalties for breaching renewed US sanctions, CEO Carlos Ghosn said Friday. “We will not abandon it, even if we have to downsize very strongly,” he said at the annual shareholders’ meeting in Paris. “When the market reopens, the fact of having stayed will certainly give us an advantage,” he predicted. […] Renault’s rival PSA, which produces the Peugeot and Citroën brands, has also announced it will quit Iran to abide by the US sanctions. But Ghosn signaled that Renault, which counted 160,000 cars...

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said he needs the assistance of Iranian and Hizballah forces in Syria and they will stay for as long as they deem necessary. "Hizballah is a basic element in this war. The battle is long, and the need for these military forces will continue for a long time," Assad told Al-Alam. Assad stressed that he invited the allied fighters into his country and he would never ask them to leave, as the United States and Israel are demanding, even as part of any peace settlement. Israel sees Tehran as a mortal foe and has pressed...

GENEVA (Reuters) - Talks with the United States over how to reform the main U.N. rights body have failed to meet Washington’s demands, activists and diplomats say, suggesting that the Trump administration will quit the Geneva forum whose session opens on Monday. A U.S. source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the withdrawal appeared to be “imminent” but had no details. Diplomatic sources said it was not a question of if but of when the United States retreats from the Human Rights Council, which is holding a three-week session through July 6. A separate U.S. official in Geneva had...

Conservative Senators had previously brought forward similar legislation and it was defeated last month by Justin Trudeau-appointed Senators. So everyone figured they knew how Tuesday’s vote would go down: Conservatives in favour, Liberals mostly against. Even Speaker Geoff Regan must have thought this. Because after he’d finished tallying the “yeas” from the Conservative side he then called to register the “nay” votes, as if he assumed the “yeas” were done. Then there were rumblings. Regan realized that maybe there were a few more “yeas” kicking around on other benches and reopened the count. There were. And the first one to...

For the umpteenth time, the United Nations General Assembly has voted to condemn Israel for defending itself. By a tally of 120 to 8, the members declared that Israel was guilty of “excessive use of force” against Palestinians who were protesting the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. The resolution also requested recommendations to protect Palestinians. For 10 weeks now, the two sides have clashed at the border, resulting in 120 Palestinian deaths. Israeli Defense Forces warned protesters not to approach the Israeli-Gaza border on May 14, the day of the embassy opening. They did anyway - some armed...

Yemen government forces — backed by the Arab coalition — launched on Wednesday morning an offensive on the rebel-held port city of Al Hodeidah.

Recent developments indicate a possible turnaround of events in the hotly contested Syrian war zones because of rethinking process of how best to achieve the aim of containing Iran. This seems to be imminent because of apparent cracks in the Russia-Iran alliance that has been shoring up Al Assad’s regime for the last three years at least. Two other players, namely Turkey and the US, have apparently reached what seems to be a workable level of understanding to coordinate their activities in the heavily Kurdish populated parts of Syria, particularly in Manbij area. Recent reports suggest that the US and...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Donald Trump’s Mideast negotiating team will visit the region 'next week' as it finalizes its as-yet unveiled Israeli-Palestinian peace plan and will hold talks on deteriorating conditions in the Gaza Strip. The trip comes as officials say the Trump administration is near completion of the plan with an eye on a possible release this summer. The National Security Council said Wednesday that senior adviser Jared Kushner and special representative for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt would travel to Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. It said they would discuss “the next stages of the...

The oil-rich Gulf States - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates - are not known for easily parting with their petro-dollars. But this miserly instinct dissipates when the Sheikhdoms perceive a direct threat to the stability of their respective governments. On Sunday, the three nations led by Riyadh pledged to provide Jordan with a cash infusion of $2.5 billion to help the arid kingdom prop up its free-falling economy. Separately, the European Union announced that it would provide Jordan with $23.5 million. The hefty Gulf State bailout is testament to how seriously they view the problem. Jordan has...

A spokesman for the Iranian government on Tuesday warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that U.S. President Donald Trump could nullify any nuclear deal with North Korea, reported The Associated Press. The semi-official Fars news agency quoted Mohammad Bagher Nobakht as saying, "We are facing a man who revokes his signature while abroad." Nobakht's remarks came following the historic summit in Singapore between Trump and Kim. Even before the summit began, Iran urged North Korea to be cautious, with a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry saying Pyongyang should enter the gathering with “awareness” because the United States has a...

Inland lake where Christians believe Jesus walked on water has reached its lowest level in a century The shrinking Sea of Galilee, the inland lake where Christians believe Jesus walked on water, is to be topped up with desalinated seawater. A plan given Israeli cabinet approval will pump 100 million cubic metres of water annually by 2022 into the lake in the Galilee region, said Yechezkel Lifshitz, from the country’s energy and water ministry. In 2017 Israel’s water authority said the sea, hit by years of drought, had reached its lowest level in a century. Situated 200 metres (656ft) below...