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...

An Islamic State (ISIS) fanatic who plotted to kill British Prime Minister Theresa May in a suicide attack planned to “take her head off”, a court heard Tuesday, according to the Press Association. Naa’imur Zakariyah Rahman, 20, allegedly wanted to make “big news” by storming 10 Downing Street with explosives and a knife as May talked to the press outside. He was encouraged by an uncle who joined ISIS in Syria and was killed in a drone strike, the Old Bailey heard. Rahman’s intentions were foiled after he revealed his plans to MI5 agents, posing as ISIS operatives in Telegram...

"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,...

The Pentagon has quietly empowered the United States Cyber Command to take a far more aggressive approach to defending the nation against cyberattacks, a shift in strategy that could increase the risk of conflict with the foreign states that sponsor malicious hacking groups. The U.S. Cyber Command was created partly in response to a Russian hacking attack that long predated the 2016 election. In the fall of 2008, Russian intelligence agencies penetrated SIPRNet, the Pentagon’s secret internal network; that led to a rush to consolidate several cyberprograms into a command. The Chinese, meanwhile, were stealing weapons designs, including blueprints for...

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 –...

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...

A British Muslim of Pakistani origin, known as a "master bomb maker" for the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group, triggered the US laptop ban on flights last year, a former MI6 spy has revealed in a new autobiography. According to 'The Sunday Times', Aimen Dean a former al Qaeda explosives expert recruited by MI6 to infiltrate UK Islamist extremist circles writes in 'Nine Lives' that he first met 41-year-old Hamayun Tariq from the West Midlands region of England as an undercover agent in 2004. Tariq, who used the alias 'Abu Muslim', evaded the UK authorities twice to travel abroad where...

US-backed Syrian Defense Forces (SDF) reportedly killed the Islamic State executioner Talip Akkurt, known by his nom de guerre Abu Talha al Turki, who burned two Turkish soldiers alive in Syria in 2017. Al Turki was reported dead following a June 7 SDF attack in Deir Ezzor’s Hajin town. Since Feb. 2018, al Turki was on the Turkish police’s Blue List of wanted fugitives with a bounty of 1.5 million Turkish lira ($320,000) on his head. The Turkish government’s failure to track al Turki, and the SDF’s putative success in eliminating him, could be an awkward development for Ankara. Turkey...

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...

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...

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama love statists, Islamists, and dictators. Barack Obama routinely gave away the store to thugs for nothing in return. Most of the world is either Socialist or Communist and it’s nearly impossible to negotiate and maintain peace unless it’s with someone in those groups. Some are far worse than others. The Castro brothers, the Mullahs, many African dictators, Maduro, and Kim Jong-un are among the worst. The media raved over Obama’s and Hillary’s efforts to deal with, some would say cater to, the thugs of other nations, but not so with President Trump.

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

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...

Heavy fighting in Yemen between pro-government forces and Shiite rebels has killed more than 600 people on both sides in recent days, security officials said Monday. A charity said meanwhile that an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition had destroyed a new cholera clinic in the country's north. Government forces, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, have been advancing along the western coast in recent weeks as they battle the Iran-allied rebels, known as Houthis. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. Witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals,...

“Keep calm and carry on.” In the wake of a disastrous G7 summit where US president Donald Trump all but broke off the Western alliance, the EU should stay cool and prepare to take over global leadership. That is the message on Monday (11 June) by a former member of the EU leaders club, Helle Thorning-Schmidt. “The US is leaving a vacuum. And who should step in? For me, it is completely obvious, it is Europe’s time to step in,” the former Danish prime minister said at an event in Brussels. “That’s where our new next opportunity is,” she said,...

Israeli Military Industries Systems, or IMI Systems, in cooperation with Israel Aerospace Industries, abbreviated IAI, is close to finishing development of a new air-launched, precision-guided, high-speed weapon called Rampage that can hit targets more than 90 miles away. The announcement comes as Israel steps up its cross-border campaign against Iran and its interests in neighboring Syria, which has seen an increasing emphasis on stand-off capabilities given the complex air defense environment in that country, but the weapon could also be especially attractive to a number of foreign military forces. The two Israeli state-run companies officially unveiled the new weapon in...

Prince William will sit down for talks with the Israeli prime minister and the Palestinian president during his historic visit to the Middle East. William will also visit Jordan, and the capital Amman where his wife the Duchess of Cambridge lived from May 1984 until September 1986. 'The non-political nature of His Royal Highness's role – in common with all Royal visits overseas –allows a spotlight to be brought to bear on the people of the region: their cultures, their young people, their aspirations, and their experiences.' The palace said his 'goal' is to meet as 'many people from as...