Free Republic

Lebanon’s Hezbollah is on the verge of launching an offensive against Syrian rebel groups in the mountainous Qalamoun region straddling the Syria-Lebanon border, north of Damascus. But what was once seen as a relatively minor engagement in the broader Syrian conflict has taken on new significance. After military setbacks in the north and south of the country in the past six weeks, the regime of President Bashar al-Assad is desperate for a victory and is depending on his Shia Hezbollah allies to deliver it. Assad and his Iranian and Hezbollah allies badly need to defeat — and to be seen...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) is the only major Republican likely 2016 presidential candidate who hasn't weighed in on the controversy over Indiana's "religious freedom" law that erupted this week — and his explanation for avoiding the issue is questionable.

Is Iran’s Lebanese client losing its grip? Last week Hezbollah buried one of its princes, Jihad Mughniyeh, the 22-year-old son of the late Imad Mughniyeh, a legendary Hezbollah commander implicated in such infamous operations as the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut. The assassination of the elder Mughniyeh in Damascus in 2008, typically attributed to Israel, is regarded as one of the organization’s most traumatic blows. However, some in the Shiite community here say that Israel’s January 18 strike on a three-car convoy in the Golan Heights near the Syrian town of Quneitra—which killed the younger Mughniyeh...

The large-scale offensive the Syrian army launched in southern Syria Sunday, Feb. 8 – the broadest in that region in the nearly-four year conflict – heralded Act III of the Iranian-Hizballah drive for a position on Israel’s Golan border, DEBKAfile’s military sources report. Israel curtailed Act I on Jan 18 with an air strike which killed a dozen Iranian and Hizballah officers scooping out the Golan town of Quneitra for their new base. Among them were the commander of Iranian forces in Syria, Revolutionary Guards general Mohamad Ali Allah Dadi and a senior Hizballah officer Ali al-Tabtabani. This cut short...

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report – Parts 1 and II on the morning after an terrorist bombing rampage at three idyllic Sinai desert resorts – with two dozen known dead and scores still missing – the first clues have been found to the identities of the hands behind the massacre and their targets. DEBKAfile’s intelligence and counter-terror sources report that the explosives used to tear away the entire frontage of the Taba Hilton and hit the Nueiba oasis campside further south on the Red Sea coast were of Iranian manufacture; the same make as the bombs used in the 1996 Khobar Towers...

The leader of Lebanese Shia group Hizbullah described the radical Islamist movement that has seized territory in Iraq and Syria as a growing “monster” that could threaten Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Gulf states. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, whose group has been helping Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad fight a Sunni Islamist-dominated insurgency, said Islamic State could easily recruit in other areas where its hardline ideology exists. “Wherever there are followers of the ideology there is ground for [Islamic State], and this exists in Jordan, in Saudi Arabia, in Kuwait, and the Gulf states,” Nasrallah said in an interview with the...

<p>Los Angeles gang members have joined the fray in Syria. The gang-bangers are reportedly fighting alongside the regime forces.</p> <p>MEMRI posted the transcript.</p> <p>A video-clip recently posted on the Internet shows two Armenian Power gang members from Los Angeles fighting in Syria. One of them, Wino Ayee Peeyakan, also posted a picture of himself in Hizbullah garb on his Facebook page.</p>

Joint Subcommittee Hearing: Iran’s Support for Terrorism Worldwide Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa 2172 House Rayburn Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Mar 4, 2014 10:00am

Snippet: "Iran and its terrorist proxy groups’ influence in Latin America remains a troubling security threat to the region and world, experts said at a congressional hearing on Tuesday."

Reuters this evening published photos taken earlier today showing “Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif… lay[ing] a wreath at the grave of assassinated Hezbollah military commander” Imad Mughniyeh, a terrorist who was killed in 2008 after having spent literally decades killing Americans and others on behalf of his paymasters in Tehran. Celebrating a mass-murdering terrorist is a bad choice for any Foreign Minister, but the decision by Tehran’s top diplomat to so brazenly honor a terrorist like Mughniyeh, who killed hundreds of Americans, within hours of inking an agreement with the US and members of the P5+1 sends a very...

Why does the U.S. media not see an equivalence? Some Japanese PM's, unlike Abe, wouldn't go near that Yasakuni "Tojo" shrine. Which of the two "shrines" is more reprehensible? Didn't the Hezbollah leader kill American's? Didn't Tojo, a war criminal, also kill Americans? Boycott both "shrines" IMHO...

A report in a Kuwaiti newspaper Thursday said that Hezbollah terrorists are traveling the world freely, seeking opportunities to carry out terror attacks against Israelis and Jews—using passports issued in Australia, Canada, and a variety of European countries. Quoting a Western intelligence source, the report said that Hezbollah has already used these passports to try and carry out terror attacks in places like Azerbaijan, Jordan, Egypt, Cyprus, and Greece. …

...It is said that wherever Iran goes, Hezbollah is not far behind.”...Iran continues to actively cultivate ties among its allies in Latin America, including Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia, a policy that some have warned could bring terrorism closer to U.S. borders. Iranian media has been filled with reports over the past week touting the ten-day visit to Latin America by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for European and American Affairs Majid Takht Ravanchi. In Havana on Thursday, senior Cuban officials praised Iran and expressed interest in further strengthening ties with the Islamic Republic. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parilla said his...

1) Man arrives with suitcase full of American toys and dismantles doll in pink dress. (AP) 2) Man carries dismantled doll, minnie mouse and teletubbie for placing in dramatic poses. (Reuters) 3) Fauxtographer takes pictures when props are in position.(Reuters)

A Lebanese army sniper killed an Israeli soldier near the border fence near Rosh Hanikra on Sunday night. An initial IDF assessment, based on data from lookout positions on the border, found shots were fired by a soldier from the Lebanese Armed Forces who apparently was acting alone. Six to seven shots were fired at the IDF soldier who was standing on a road adjacent to the electronic border fence with Lebanon.

President Barack Obama, in a bid to reconcile with the Teheran regime, has blocked legislation that would hold Iran accountable for the Hizbullah bombing that killed 241 U.S. Marines in 1983.

“The supersonic and long-range anti-ship Yakhont missiles of the Syrian army and the Lebanese Hezbollah (resistance movement) are serious deterrents to a US naval attack by its warships in the Mediterranean Sea,” Dr. Mostafa Zahra, a military analyst and strategic studies expert, told FNA on Monday. He said that Syria’s Iskandar high-precision ballistic missiles and its anti-ship Scud missiles will also target the US warships in case of a US naval invasion of Syria, reminding that the American military vessels are not equipped with any weapons system to intercept or divert the Syrian anti-ship missiles. The P-800 Oniks, also known...

Olmert: Syrian peace overtures not genuine PM Olmert says Israel is for making peace with all its neighbors, describes Assad's peace overtures as false pretenses Ronny Sofer Latest Update: 12.20.06, 15:16 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert renewed his opposition to peace talks with Syria , describing recent peace overtures by Syrian President Bashar Assad as false pretenses. "Syria continues to support terror in Iraq, is collaborating with the Iranian President and is sparing no effort to topple the government of (Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad) Siniora," Olmert said during a joint press conference with his Norwegian counterpart Jens Stoltenberg in Jerusalem. "We...

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah emerged from hiding on Friday to deliver his first major speech in years, addressing a rally in his southern Beirut stronghold in support of the Palestinian conflict against Israel. "Israel poses a danger on all people of this region...including Lebanon, and removing it is a Lebanese national interest," Nasrallah told hundreds of supporters in his half-hour speech. The charismatic Shi'ite cleric has lived mainly in the shadows, fearing assassination, since Hezbollah fought an inconclusive month-long war with Israel in 2006... Hezbollah emerged in the 1980s as the most prominent Lebanese faction fighting Israel's occupation of...

Bookmark and Share Text Size July 24, 2013 Special Dispatch No.5374 Senior Hizbullah Officials And Associates: There Is No Distinction Between Hizbullah's Political And Military Arms Following the July 22, 2013 decision by the foreign ministers of the European Union to include Hizbullah's military arm on the E.U.'s list of terrorist organizations, Hizbullah released a communiqué condemning the decision and attacking E.U. policy. The communiqué stated: "This is an aggressive and oppressive decision that is base neither on justifications nor on evidence. The E.U. countries' submission to American and Zionist pressures, and their complete obedience to the White House's dictates...