Free Republic

What will the Middle East region look like when, one day, Iran loses its steep foothold in Syria? Israel’s strategy over the last several years has been to prevent Iranian entrenchment in Syria. This has come to be known as the “campaign between the wars” or “war between the wars.” The concept is that Iran’s tentacles in Syria, which have grown rapidly in the last decade, can be cut off one by one and Tehran may eventually stop regrowing them. But there are questions about what the overall effect of this will be when the next conflict emerges. While Israel...

Isn’t great that America is back and the adults are back in charge? America is back, all right: all the way back to 1979, the last time we had a president so weak that enemies of the United States stormed one of our embassies and took hostages. On Thursday, the Yemeni media outlet Al-Masdar Online reported that Houthi jihadis in Yemen, which are backed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, stormed our embassy in Sana’a, seizing “large quantities of equipment and materials.” Just days before that, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), they “kidnapped three Yemeni nationals...

Houthi rebels have stormed the American embassy in Yemen and taken hostages, the Washington Free Beacon reported Thursday. State Department officials told the Free Beacon that “the majority of the detained have been released, but the Houthis continue to detain additional Yemeni employees of the embassy.” Houthi fighters reportedly took the compound on Wednesday, demanding “large quantities of equipment and materials,” per the Middle East Media Research Institute. Yemen has been embroiled in a brutal civil war between the Houthi rebels — who are backed, financed, and armed by the Iranian government —and the standing Yemeni government, which has the...

The State Department is working to secure the release of several hostages taken by Iran-backed terrorists after they stormed the U.S. embassy facility in Sana'a, Yemen, U.S. officials told the Washington Free Beacon early Thursday. A group of Houthi rebels reportedly stormed the U.S. compound on Wednesday seeking "large quantities of equipment and materials," according to regional reports translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute. The raid comes just five days after the Houthis kidnapped Yemeni nationals who work for the U.S. embassy. The State Department confirmed to the Free Beacon that the Yemeni staffers are being held hostage...

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has said he escaped unhurt after a drone attack on his home inside Baghdad's high-security Green Zone. A drone laden with explosives struck the building, injuring six of his bodyguards in an apparent assassination attempt, officials said. Mr Kadhimi called for "calm and restraint from everyone". The attack, which comes after violent unrest over recent election results, was condemned by both the US and Iran. Security sources say three drones were used in the attack, launched from near Republic Bridge on the River Tigris, but two were shot down. No-one has said they carried out...

Interview with Col. (Ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah, former deputy head of assesment, Israel Military Intelligence.Iran is trying to avenge the November 2020 assassination of scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.Israel's Mossad - intelligence agency - foiled several Iranian terrorist attacks against Israeli targets in Africa, Channel 12 reported.The terrorists, from the Iranian Quds Force, have reportedly been trying for months to target Israeli businessmen in Senegal and Ghana, as well as in Tanzania, where Israelis are used to going on safari.

Local "resistance committees" and the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), which led demonstrations in the uprising that toppled then-president Omar al-Bashir in April 2019, are organizing a campaign of protests to try to reverse the military takeover. Internet services have been badly disrupted since the October 25 coup, and phone coverage remains patchy. Although daily life came to a near standstill, shops, roads, and some banks have since reopened. On Sunday, the commander in chief of the military, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, met an Arab League delegation, which stressed the importance of dialog and the democratic transition, his office said in a...

When Khomeini made his triumphant return to Iran in 1979, the population of ‎the country was 36 million.‎ In the 42 years that have followed, Iran's population has grown to more ‎than 85 million. At that time, in 1979, due to incompetence and corruption of ‎the monarchy, there were no reliable statistics on poverty in Iran, but ‎according to a research article by Javad Salehi Esfahani, an Iranian economist ‎at Virginia Tech University, titled "Revolution and Wealth Distribution in ‎Iran" which had been published on the World Bank website: In 1977, two ‎years before the revolution, 48% of Iranians were...

The regional interest in rehabilitating Syria is largely a counter to Iranian influence in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and other parts of the Arab world The Turkish government has been accused of seeking to change the demographic reality on the ground in the northern Kurdish-inhabited Syria by resettling tens of thousands of Arab Syrians in the region. ...... also....Threatened by Iranian-led forces on its northern borders, Israel shares the Arab world’s desire to push Iran out of Syria. A key goal for the Israeli government has been to prevent Iran from transferring game-changing weapons to the powerful terrorist proxy Hezbollah that...

A former top aide to Colin Powell says his involvement in the former secretary of state's presentation to the United Nations on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was "the lowest point" in his life. "I wish I had not been involved in it," says Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, a longtime Powell adviser who served as his chief of staff from 2002 through 2005. "I look back on it, and I still say it was the lowest point in my life." Wilkerson is one of several insiders interviewed for the CNN Presents documentary "Dead Wrong -- Inside an Intelligence Meltdown." The program,...

A senior U.S. official has confirmed to Fox News that images aired by Iranian state television do in fact show the secret U.S. drone that went down last week in eastern Iran. "Yep, that's it," the official told Fox News. "And it's intact." U.S. officials had been expecting the video to appear. The footage, which shows the aircraft intact, confirms the Iranians have custody of the drone but appears to refute Iranian claims that it shot down the RQ-170 drone. With early knowledge that the aircraft had likely remained intact, the senior U.S. official also told Fox News that President...

This week, President Donald Trump launched a global round of teeth gnashing when he ordered the killing of the greatest terrorist leader in the modern Middle East, Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani. Soleimani was unquestionably responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans in Iraq and thousands of others throughout the Middle East -- mostly Muslim. His global terror network ran from South America to Europe to Africa to Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq. Soleimani was an unparalleled organizer and a pitiless murderer. His death was richly earned. But for many in the media and on the domestic and international...

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi addresses the nation following a drone strike that targeted his residence in Baghdad on November 7. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi addresses the nation following a drone strike that targeted his residence in Baghdad on November 7. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi survived an attack by an armed drone on his residence on November 7 amid escalating tensions over the refusal of Iran-backed militias to accept last month's parliamentary election results. The Baghdad residence inside the city's fortified Green Zone was hit by a rocket attack early on November 7, the prime minister’s office said...

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN)Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi escaped an assassination attempt on Sunday after an explosive-laden drone targeted his residence, the country's military said. Al-Kadhimi went on to Twitter moments after the attack and called for "calm and restraint from everyone.".. ..A source close to the Iraqi leader said Sunday that Al-Kadhimi was returning from overseeing security forces engaged in a stand-off with protesters at the southern gate of the Green Zone, the heavily fortified area of Baghdad where the the Prime Minister's residence and other government and diplomatic buildings are located, around the time of the drone attack. As...

A delegation led by the mayor of Banibangou was ambushed on Tuesday about 50 km (30 miles) from the town, near the border with Mali. The area is overrun by militants associated with a local affiliate of Islamic State that has killed hundreds of civilians in rural communities this year. A poverty-stricken, arid zone of west Africa encompassing the borderlands of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso has been racked by violence in recent years as armed groups, some linked with al-Qaeda, have sought to establish control over communities and rid the region of local and international military forces. Thousands of...

On Thursday, October 28, supporters of the People's Mujahidin ‎Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and the National Council of ‎Resistance of Iran (NCRI) held a large conference in Washington ‎DC. The conference, titled, "2021 Free Iran Summit: Holding ‎Ebrahim Raisi Accountable for Crimes Against Humanity, ‎Genocide, Regional Meddling, and Nuclear Defiance," ‎ This conference, however, was significantly different from similar ‎meetings that were previously held in the United States. In this ‎ever-important gathering, in addition to distinguished American ‎personalities such as Senator Joe Lieberman, US Vice President ‎candidate (2000), Senator Torricelli, U.S. Senator (1997-2003), ‎Honorable Judge Michael Mukasey, 81st U.S. Attorney...

“I don’t believe that the Iranians only have peaceful intentions with their nuclear program,” said David Lega, a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament. Lega was responding to recent protestations of the Iranian regime that it has only “civilian purposes” in mind with its progress toward nuclear capability. Speaking exclusively to Israel Hayom from his residence in Sweden, Lega said that, “We haven’t yet come to a decision regarding Iran; we are monitoring the situation closely, using great caution. I don’t want to speak on behalf of the Committee as we haven’t debated this issue...

Iran agreed Wednesday to resume talks with world powers on reviving a nuclear deal on November 29 after a five-month gap, with the United States urging a quick resolution. Advertising The indirect negotiations in Vienna come amid mounting pressure on Iran, with Western nations warning that the clerical state's nuclear work is advancing to dangerous levels and Israel threatening to attack. EU envoy Enrique Mora, who led six rounds of talks earlier this year and recently flew to Tehran to seek progress, will again chair the November 29 meeting, the European Union announced. President Joe Biden took office hoping to...

<p>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran seized a Vietnamese-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman last month and still holds the vessel off Bandar Abbas, two U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.</p><p>One of the officials said paramilitary Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops took control of the MV Southys on Oct. 24 at gunpoint. U.S. forces had monitored the seizure, but ultimately didn't take action as the vessel went into Iranian waters.</p>

Iran is hosting a meeting of... the foreign ministers of Iran, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Russia holding talks in the Iranian capital Tehran on Afghanistan's political future and the formation of a new government...Iran's population is majority Shiite but Sunni minorities live predominantly in the areas near the border with Afghanistan. The Sunnis have long complained about discrimination by Iranian authorities.Due to dilapidated infrastructure and a lack of health and educational facilities, the areas near the Afghan border are the poorest and least developed in Iran...But Fatemeh Aman, an Iran expert at the Washington-based Middle East Institute (MEI),...