Free Republic

Raith Al-Tamimi, an Iraqi living in the UK, is one of those rare people willing to state the obvious truth: While the Arab world demands that the rest of the world defend it, Benjamin Netanyahu defends his country and, most especially, his country’s women.The funniest part of the video is watching the female host who, I presume, also lives in the UK, try to defend Muslim nations’ sorry record with their women, only to be overridden by the impassioned Al-Tamimi.Here’s the video and a transcript based on the subtitles:https://x.com/nick_matau/status/2105106820574650791

US forces leave country where 4,500 of them died in worst US war of 21st century BAGHDAD, Sept 29 (Reuters) - US forces are set to pull out from their last bases in Iraq by Wednesday, a departure celebrated as a victory by Iran and its allies ​who now have deep influence in the country where 4,500 Americans died during more than two decades of war. Iraqi security experts say the withdrawal — agreed in 2024 under President Joe Biden and carried ‌out by Donald Trump's administration even as it wages war against Iran — could give Tehran and its...

“Turkish journalist İbrahim Karagül, who is close to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has published columns since the start of the Iran War envisioning the destruction of Israel at the hands of Turkey. In a March 13, 2026 column titled "If it makes that 'fatal mistake,' Turkey will invade Israel! It will burn and destroy Tel Aviv and liberate Jerusalem. You have not understood the turn of history! Our silence is dangerous! They cannot invade Iran. There will no longer be Arab-Persian wars or a sectarian war either. The 'Middle Eastern order' has collapsed. Israel is a one-day state."

Iraq's government was racing Saturday to contain the fallout after local Iran-backed militias were accused of attacking and shuttering a key Saudi pipeline. Though an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias in Iraq denied their involvement, Iraq's government confirmed the attacks had originated from its territory. The government pledged to investigate and dismissed a military commander. The country is under mounting pressure to prevent local militias from aiding other Iran proxy groups across the region. The Iraqi government has set a Sept. 30 deadline for non-state groups to disarm, but several of the most powerful militias have said they will not...

US President Donald Trump has been weighing the possibility of declaring victory against Iran without achieving a nuclear deal, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing US officials. According to the officials, Trump privately floated the idea to his senior aides. If the US can keep Iran's nuclear program in check and traffic resumes in the Strait of Hormuz, then Trump would be more likely to extend the ceasefire "indefinitely," the officials told WSJ. In recent weeks, the president told senior aides privately that Tehran is "likely unable to revive its nuclear work," after Operation Midnight Hammer caused heavy...

President Donald Trump vowed to hit back hard at Iran after it attacked US bases in Jordan on Wednesday, as the Middle East war reignited and once again drew in the Islamic republic's proxies.The warning came after a short lull in the fighting that had spurred hopes of a return to negotiations appeared to draw to an end, sending oil prices jumping five percent over fears of disruptions to global supplies.On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia and the United States announced strikes on militant bases in Iraq, while US ally Israel accused Iran-backed Hezbollah of a truce violation.- 'War by other means'...

US-Saudi airstrikes targeting the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq killed 20 people, including several Iranian military advisers, according to sources within the Iran-aligned alliance and Iranian media. Two sources within the Popular Mobilization Forces, or PMF, told AFP that five Iranian advisers were among those killed in a strike in the central province of Diyala. AFP journalists reported seeing coffins draped in Iranian flags during funerals organized by the PMF in Baghdad. Iran’s Hamshahri newspaper separately reported that four military advisers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in the overnight strikes. Iranian authorities had not officially confirmed the...

The U.S. and Saudi militaries launched airstrikes late Tuesday on Iranian-backed groups in Iraq, U.S. Central Command said, after Iran and its proxies allegedly targeted American forces over the last few days. The strikes could pose a challenge to a five-day lull in U.S. attacks on Iran, as President Trump says he wants to give diplomacy a chance. It's unclear when — or whether — strikes on Iran could resume. The U.S. also said Tuesday it prevented an Iranian "surprise attack." The U.S.-Saudi operation was aimed at "terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq," CENTCOM said in a statement...

Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Iraq reported drone attacks in their territory Monday amid a lull in US air strikes against Iran, after nearly two weeks of fighting between both sides. The Israel Defense Forces said Monday morning that it shot down two drones over the Jordan border, near the Dead Sea, adding that the drones did not cross into Israeli territory. Their origin was under investigation, the army said. Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry, meanwhile, said it shot down drones aimed at petroleum targets, some in its eastern province and others in the capital Riyadh. It said the drones had...

The US delegation walked out of a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, in protest at comments made by France that compared Washington's voting on human rights to that of authoritarian states. The diplomatic row was initially sparked last week, when the US joined North Korea and Russia in voting against extending Volker Turk's term as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. After the vote on Friday, France's UN mission criticised the US and compared it to North Korea and Russia. "The US used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore," it posted on X. In response, US...

A trainee barrister who was allegedly caught driving a car bomb towards Northern Ireland in a suspected New IRA operation spent time in Syria, her lawyer said. Isobella Perrie Sullivan, 25, was arrested after Irish police said they made an 'extremely significant seizure' of a device on Wednesday. The force said the device, which was made from military-grade plastic, could have caused significant damage. It is understood to be the most sophisticated bomb seized by police since the Troubles. A man in his 40s was also arrested in the major investigation, with Irish news outlets reporting that the man was...

It was Iran that broke the 60-day “comprehensive cease-fire” established by the Memorandum of Understanding by attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz, period. Before the ink was dry on the MOU, which guaranteed open passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard asserted Tehran’s control and ownership of the waterway and warned that merchant ships must obtain its OK to transit; then it started firing on vessels that didn’t comply. Blocking sea lanes reopened the war, and Israel had nothing to do with it. It’s also preposterous to charge that Jerusalem wants the war to drag on...

The Turkey of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is no longer the secular state founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Under Erdogan’s leadership, Ankara has become a center of political support for the Hamas terrorist organization. Over the years, it has hosted senior Hamas officials and repeatedly used inflammatory rhetoric against Israel. At the same time, Turkey seeks to present itself as a strategic ally of the United States. It continues to benefit from its membership in NATO and from the presence of the United States Air Force at Incirlik Air Base, one of Washington’s most important strategic assets in the region....

All remaining US military forces will be out of Iraq by the end of September, the nation’s new prime minister Ali al-Zaidi said during a Tuesday visit to the White House. “On the 30th of September, the US forces will be out of Iraq, while these companies will be inside Iraq,” al-Zaidi said through a translator when speaking to reporters alongside President Trump in the Oval Office. About 2,000 US troops currently are stationed in Iraq, mostly at the Harir Air Base in Erbil in the northern Kurdistan region. Washington and Baghdad agreed in September 2024 to a phased withdrawal...

The unexplained attacks have added a dangerous new layer of uncertainty to an already volatile conflict, raising concerns that additional countries may now be conducting military operations against Iran without publicly acknowledging their involvement.New Airstrikes Came After U.S. Said Its Campaign Had EndedThe U.S. military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Thursday morning that it had completed a coordinated operation striking approximately 90 targets inside Iran.Yet only hours later, Iranian state media reported another wave of explosions and airstrikes across the southern provinces of Bushehr and Sistan and Baluchestan.Those attacks occurred after the United States had publicly stated its operation was complete.CENTCOM...

President Donald Trump said Iran “called a little while ago” and “wants a deal so badly” after the United States launched a second consecutive night of strikes against Iranian targets, but questioned whether Tehran is “worthy” of an agreement while warning that any future attacks would be met with overwhelming force. Speaking aboard Air Force One while returning to Washington from the NATO summit in Ankara on Wednesday night, Trump said Tehran had reached out after the latest round of U.S. strikes, which reportedly marked the first American attacks on Iranian infrastructure since the April 8 ceasefire and followed Iran’s...

France's President Emmanuel Macron escaped what may have been an attempted assassination Tuesday during a visit to Syria's capital. The French presidential palace, the Elysee, said in a statement that Macron was safe and would continue his visit to Damascus after two bombs exploded outside the hotel where he spent the night. Macron had left the hotel when the explosions took place Tuesday, and he was in the Syrian presidential palace for a meeting with his counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa and their respective delegations, according to the French presidency. State media cited an unnamed security official as saying the blasts were...

The Iran war exposed a long-simmering feud within the world’s most powerful oil cartel, boiling over this spring when it contended with the biggest oil supply shock in history. Now OPEC faces a fight for its existence. The Strait of Hormuz has started to reopen, and some OPEC nations are clamoring to ramp up oil production The ultimate decider will be Saudi Arabia Unlike Iraq and Kuwait, the Saudis don’t need production to ramp up . The country was able to keep its oil business afloat by bypassing the strait with pipelines that shipped oil to a port in Yanbu...

US-Saudi relations have significantly deteriorated in recent months amid anger in Riyadh over Washington’s decision to launch a war against Iran that has caused massive blowback for the rest of the region, a Middle Eastern intelligence official tells The Times of Israel, confirming a Wall Street Journal report. Saudi Arabia refused to allow the US to use its bases in order to conduct Project Freedom, which was aimed at breaking Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz by escorting stuck ships out of the channel. Saudi bases and airspace were critical to the operation and Riyadh’s refusal to cooperate forced...

ISIS is bigger, badder, richer, and better organized than any jihadi threat the United States has faced thus far. Its rise represents a foreign policy disaster of the first order. A group more radical than al-Qaeda, better organized, better financed, commanding the loyalty of thousands of dedicated fanatics including many with Western and even U.S. passports? And this group now controls some of the most strategic territory at the heart of the Middle East? Welcome to President Obama’s brave new world. [....] One wishes we had a Republican President right now if only because when a Republican is in the...