Free Republic

CHICAGO — About 300 anti-war activists crowded into the basement of the Teamsters Union’s headquarters on Saturday to hear organizers from all over the country describe their plans to disrupt the Democratic National Convention this August. Joe Biden’s backing of Israel since Hamas’s October 7 attack has turned these left-wing radicals against their own party.

US President Donald Trump personally made a number of appeals to European leaders requesting they do more to take responsibility for their ISIS-affiliated nationals... the Europeans refused to budge, arguing that having them return home would increase the risk of Islamist-inspired acts of terrorism....[snip]Ever since the US-led coalition succeeded in destroying most of ISIS in Syria, one vital issue has left been unresolved, namely: what to do with the thousands of ISIS fighters who were taken prisoner and confined to Kurdish-run detention centres. The problem is particularly acute with regard to the estimated 2,500 foreign fighters -- the majority of...

ranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been transferred to an underground bunker in Iran after senior officials in the country’s security forces assessed that concerns are growing over a possible American strike, Iran International reported Saturday. Khamenei's son, Masoud, has assumed governing authority. Meanwhile, Iran Times, a newspaper identified with the IRGC, quoted the Iranian Defense Ministry spokesperson as saying that Iran’s defensive and missile capabilities have become more effective, and are quantitatively and qualitatively superior compared to what they were during Operation Rising Lion in June 2025. At the same time, levels of preparedness and tension ahead of...

Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said on Thursday it would begin legal proceedings against Islamic State detainees transferred from Syria after the rapid collapse of Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria triggered concerns over prison security.The U.S. military said on Tuesday its forces had transferred 150 Islamic State detainees from Syria to Iraq and that the operation could eventually see up to 7,000 detainees moved out of Syria. It cited concerns over prison security after the military setbacks suffered by the Syrian Democratic Forces. An Iraqi military spokesperson confirmed that Iraq had received a first batch of 150 Islamic State detainees, including...

Syria’s army has taken control of swathes of the country’s north, dislodging Kurdish forces from territory over which they held effective autonomy for more than a decade. State media said on Saturday that the army took over the northern city of Tabqa and its adjacent dam, as well as the major Freedom dam, formerly known as the Baath, west of the Syrian city of Raqaa. It came despite US calls to halt the advance. The government appeared to be extending its grip on Kurdish-run areas after the Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, issued a decree declaring Kurdish a national language and...

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — An Iranian Kurdish separatist group in Iraq said it has launched attacks on Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in recent days in retaliation for Tehran’s violent crackdown on protests. Members of the National Army of Kurdistan, the armed wing of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, or PAK, have “played a role in the protests through both financial support and armed operations to defend protesters when needed,” Jwansher Rafati, a PAK representative, told The Associated Press on Thursday. Iranian media has previously accused the group and other Kurdish factions of attacking security forces.…. (More)

BREAKING: I have obtained military records that suggest Iran’s January 2020 ballistic missile attack on al-Asad Air Base targeted US troops with numerous toxic agents, including radiation.Six years after the attack, US service members that were involved are now battling traumatic brain injuries and emerging cancers they blame on the toxic fallout.I sat down with Retired Lieutenant Colonel Al Johnson and Retired Army JAG Al Broadbent who say a new “Agent Orange” crisis may be on our hands.

Iran is once again on fire. For the better part of the last month, Iranians have been taking to the streets in large numbers to demand change. The proximate cause for the protests was spiraling inflation, but as the crowds grew, Iranians clamored for the end of the Islamic regime. Despite the avalanche of speculation, no one knows what will happen in Iran. That is the nature of popular uprisings, they are unpredictable. To many analysts, journalists, pundits, and academics, this round of protests feels different from previous ones in 2009, 2017, 2019, and 2022—and maybe they are. Or maybe...

After more than 2,000 Druze were killed in a brutal massacre, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri says Israel’s airstrikes halted the bloodshed, condemns Syria’s rulers as jihadists and calls for an independent Druze entity in Sweida

Mentioned in the sacred texts of all three Abrahamic faiths, the ancient Mesopotamian city of Babylon, in modern-day Iraq, is today undergoing a revival. One project mitigates groundwater damage to the north retaining wall of the Ishtar Gate. The second is a restoration of the Temple of Ninmakh, dedicated to the Sumerian mother goddess. Largely funded by the US embassy in Baghdad, the restoration of the temple and the north retaining wall are part of the Future of Babylon Project, initiated 15 years ago, which aims to document, waterproof and stabilise structures throughout the 2,500-acre site. The completion of these...

Iran's Candidate: This is how Tehran seeks to shape the new Hamas leadership. Iran supports Khalil al-Hayya as a candidate for head of Hamas' political bureau due to his close ties with the military wing and the resistance axis, and its assessment is that he ensures continuity of the military line without internal division. Summary. The upcoming internal elections in Hamas for the position of chairman of the political bureau are taking place at a particularly sensitive time, against the backdrop of the war in the Gaza Strip, the fragile ceasefire, and the increasing involvement of regional players in the...

…Amid seismic changes in the Middle East, where new alliances are forming and old powers waning, Iraqi leaders face a daunting task: navigating relations with US-blacklisted pro-Iranian factions. The US has held significant sway over Iraqi politics since leading the 2003 invasion that ousted long-time ruler Saddam Hussein. But another spectre also haunts Iraq’s halls of power: Washington’s arch-foe, Iran. Iraq has long been caught between the two, with successive governments negotiating a delicate balance… A US State Department spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “Iraqi leaders know well what is and is not compatible with a strong US-Iraq...

Bush’s second term in office ended in 2009, and he took up painting early on in his retirement, essaying his interest in portraiture with his depictions of world leaders. He then turned to his attention to war veterans. These newer portraits are thickly painted in the loose, vivid style Bush has developed since his early experiments with a more photorealistic technique. They were first shown at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas, in 2017. A book of the paintings, accompanied by the stories of the 98 men and women portrayed – their injuries, recoveries and lives afterward...

An Iranian protester told KAN Reshet Bet that many Iranians admire Netanyahu and Israeli strikes, while blaming economic collapse, repression, and inflation for the unrest. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently the most popular person in Iran, a Tehran resident told KAN Reshet Bet on Wednesday... They also told KAN that Iranians were "impressed" by Israeli strikes on Iran in June, as part of Operation Rising Lion, as the air force "focused only on regime infrastructure and did not harm civilians." ...The Iranian is an opponent of the Islamic Republic regime and has participated in demonstrations over the past 11...

American Victims Attributed to the Islamic Republic of Iran and Its ProxiesSince the 1979 Islamic RevolutionAs of January 9, 2026 — There is no single official cumulative U.S. government figure, but reliable estimates from Pentagon reports, court rulings, intelligence assessments, and think tanks (e.g., FDD) place the total number of American deaths (military & civilian) at approximately 900–1,200+, depending on the inclusion of indirect support.Iran has been held responsible by U.S. courts and intelligence for funding, training, arming, and directing attacks through proxies including Hezbollah, Kata'ib Hezbollah, Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, Hamas, and others.Major Documented Incidents1983 U.S. Embassy Bombing – Beirut,...

City after city has been reclaimed by jubilant, joyous crowds across Iran in the past few days."This is the final battle,Pahlavi will return"Tonight in Tehran, Iran's capital.pic.twitter.com/C6pyxSIB9M— 𝐍𝐢𝐨𝐡 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐠 ♛ ✡︎ (@NiohBerg) January 8, 2026The streets in the capital of Tehran are alive tonight. 🚨SE TERMINÓ DE PUDRIR EN IRÁN🚨Las calles de Teherán completamente tomadas por los manifestantes que piden derrocar al ayatola. pic.twitter.com/PYDysqhIx7— ASB (@GordoLeyes) January 8, 2026Throngs of people, who sometimes seem as if it's the entire population in the street at one time, are marching and cheering, defying the basiji thugs who would brutalize and beat them...

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled Iranian opposition figure and son of Iran’s last monarch, has issued his first public call to action since the start of the current wave of nationwide protests, urging Iranians to take part in a coordinated act of protest later this week. In a video message released on Tuesday, coinciding with the tenth day of widespread demonstrations across Iran, Pahlavi called on citizens to chant slogans simultaneously on Thursday and Friday evenings, whether in the streets or from their homes. His appeal comes amid one of the most sustained periods of civil unrest in recent years, driven...

Protests erupted across the United States on Saturday following President Donald Trump’s military attack on Venezuela late Friday. Demonstrations were held throughout the Monterey Bay region, including in Santa Cruz, Salinas and Monterey. Organized by Indivisible Pajaro Valley, protesters waved signs reading “No Blood for Oil,” “No New Wars,” and “Enough Is Enough.” The two-hour protest drew cheers and honking horns from passing motorists. Following airstrikes on civilian and government sites in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, U.S. troops detained President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and transported them to the United States to face criminal charges, according to international...

Iran’s president declared they were in a “total war” with the US, Israel and Europe, just as Tehran looks to rebuild its nuclear capabilities and strengthen ties with Hamas. Masoud Pezeshkian made the bold statement in an interview published in state media Saturday, Barron’s reported. “In my opinion, we are at total war with the United States, Israel and Europe. They want to bring our country to its knees,” Pezeshkian said. “This war is worse than the one launched against us by Iraq. On closer inspection, it is far more complex and difficult,” he said, in reference to the 1980-88...

French Connection IIBy WILLIAM SAFIRE ASHINGTON — What will the world discover, after the war is over, about which countries secretly helped Saddam obtain components for terror weapons?Last week, I wrote that French brokerage was involved in the illicit transfer of the chemical HTBP, a rubbery base for a rocket propellant, from a Chinese company through Syria to Iraq. When Christiane Amanpour asked President Jacques Chirac about it on CBS's "60 Minutes," he replied: "Because The New York Times is a serious newspaper, as soon as I read this I ordered an inquiry. I can now confirm officially, after an...