Free Republic

They died in their own beds. Hossein Salami and Ali Shamkhani—Iran’s most senior military officers and the stewards of Iran’s nuclear weapons program—had spent years threatening Israel with destruction. They issued taunts, organized terrorist attacks, and orchestrated, since October 7, the encirclement of the Jewish state in a ring of fire of their terror proxies. And they knew—without the slightest illusion—that Israel had the capability and resolve to kill them. This cohort saw the Israeli air force bury Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah in his bunker, hundreds of meters beneath the streets of Beirut. They saw Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh vaporized in...

BEHIND THE LINES: The US administration appears to fail to notice the broader alliance taking shape behind these forces, and the interconnectedness of the current assault on the West. The statement by US President Donald Trump that Iran would be held responsible for continued attacks by the Yemeni Houthi movement on shipping in the Red Sea sharply raises the temperature in the ongoing escalation between US forces and the Yemeni Shi’ite Islamist movement in that area. “Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared South Africa's ambassador to the United States, Ebrahim Rasool, persona non grata and ordered him expelled from the United States. This immediately deprived him of diplomatic immunity and required him to leave the US in just a matter of days.Using X as his medium to announce the defenestration of Rasool, Rubio was blunt.South Africa's Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country. Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS. We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA.The...

Israel will begin targeting leaders of Yemen’s Houthi rebel group, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday, vowing that Israel will not allow missile and drone fire on Israel to continue unchecked. Firing at Houthi leaders would seem to mark an escalation by Israel, which has so far targeted port infrastructure and military sites in a handful of sorties in response to repeated launches of drones and ballistic missiles from Yemen. A missile fired early Tuesday was shot down, but sirens in the Tel Aviv area caused widespread panic and a rush to shelter left one woman seriously injured. It was...

A year ago, it was unthinkable for Israel and Iran to be directly attacking each other’s territory. The two countries have carried on a shadow war for years, with Israel targeting Iranian nuclear scientists, Iranian supply convoys in Syria and the like, while Iran sponsored proxy attacks on Israel by Hamas and Hezbollah, among other militant groups. But the two countries refrained from directly bombing each other. Now, what was unthinkable has, alas, become routine.Iran crossed a red line on April 13 when it launched some 300 drones and missiles at Israel in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike in Damascus...

Iranian leaders, including Khameni are going into hiding. Their attack on Israel failed. Civilians are panic buying. Link to transcript below video.

Ibrahim Aqil joins Fuad Shukr, Muhammad Nasser, Taleb Abdullah on list of eliminated Hezbollah military brass, along with Deif, Haniyeh and al-Arouri from Hamas By Jana Choukeir. 20 September 2024, 10:29 pm Clockwise from top left: Ibrahim Aqil (US State Department), Fuad Shukr (Hezbollah media office), Muhammad Nasser (Hezbollah media office), Ismail Haniyeh (AP), Muhammad Deif (IDF), Taleb Abdullah (Hezbollah media office). Clockwise from top left: Ibrahim Aqil (US State Department), Fuad Shukr (Hezbollah media office), Muhammad Nasser (Hezbollah media office), Ismail Haniyeh (AP), Muhammad Deif (IDF), Taleb Abdullah (Hezbollah media office). Reuters — Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander...

For Immediate Release Defendants Are Senior Leaders of Hamas Responsible for Planning, Supporting, and Perpetrating Hamas’s October 7 Terrorist Attacks in Israel Resulting in the Brutal Murders of More Than a Thousand Innocent Civilians, Including Over 40 American CitizensNote: The complaint was unsealed on Sept. 3 and can be viewed here. The Justice Department announced today the unsealing of terrorism, murder conspiracy, and sanctions-evasion charges against six senior leaders of Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization. The charges relate to the defendants’ central roles in planning, supporting, and perpetrating the terrorist atrocities that Hamas committed in Israel on Oct....

Six leaders of Hamas, including the militant group's political head Yahya Sinwar, were charged with terrorism and other crimes in connection with the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, the U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday. Other members of the group charged in the indictment include Ismail Haniyeh; Mohammad al-Masri; Marwan Issa; Khaled Meshaal; and Ali Baraka. They were charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization resulting in death, conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals and other alleged crimes. In an affidavit included in the complaint, an FBI agent identified the defendants as leaders of the militant group.

Yahya Sinwar, now Hamas’s overall leader, has “dressed as a woman” while hiding among Gaza’s populace outside the terror group’s tunnel network in the Gaza Strip, the UK’s Daily Express reported on Sunday, citing Israeli intelligence sources. The New York Times on Sunday, citing American and Israeli officials, reported that Sinwar may have left tunnels in which he had been hiding on a number of occasions over the last year. Sinwar has reportedly been moving from place to place in the Gaza Strip to stay ahead of Israeli efforts to hunt him down. Since his appointment to head Hamas’s political...

Major General Salami: "You Will Hear Good News About Revenge" The Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responded to the puIsrael, saying, "You will hear good news about revenge, God willing." However, Khamenei knows that due to the explosive situation in society, the bankrupt economy, internal divisions, and the failure in the presidential election, he would lose if he takes direct action.so it is sacrificing its proxy forces to create chaos in the region. on Sunday Morning Hezbollah of Lebanon Announced That It Fired 320 Missiles at Israeli Military Positions in the Northern Part of the Country Israel carried...

Khamenei never expected to be in such a difficult position during his rule. History shows that dictators, drunk on power, often think they can stay in control forever through repression, war, and creating crises. A tired IRGC spokesperson, using the Arbaeen observance (The Shia religious observance In Islam) as an excuse, promised revenge but hinted that it might take time. He said, “When it comes to revenge, time is on our side, and the wait might be longer than expected. Brave and wise commanders do not act rashly.” Khamenei is at an impasse due to: 1.A discontented society on the...

When the Jewish State has to go it alone. The New York Times insists that if Israel rejects the Bidenites’ advice to pull out of Gaza, it does so at its peril: “NYT admits US officials were wrong about the IDF in October, and wrong about Rafah, but thinks they are right now,” Elder of Ziyon, August 15, 2024:So these officials were completely wrong in October. They were also wrong about Israel’s taking Rafah, which they now admit is exactly what destroyed Hamas’ supply lines from Egypt – and cost far fewer casualties thna they had confidently predicted.By ignoring warnings...

The challenge for Iran in retaliation was trying to go beyond its April attack on Israel. Iran now wants to message about how it reserves the right to at some later date. Almost three weeks after the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, the Iranian regime is trying to step down from its early claims it would carry out an attack on Israel in retaliation. The regime in Tehran has built up a lot of expectations regarding how it would attack Israel. Now it is trying to shift messaging. The challenge for Iran in retaliation was trying to...

Iran is in no position to fight a long-term war with Israel and even asked the US to intervene to prevent a possible large-scale Israeli retaliation to any Iranian attack, according to Mohsen Sazegara, founder of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in an exclusive interview with The Jerusalem Post. The IRGC was founded shortly after the 1979 revolution in Iran to protect the Islamic Republic’s religious control over the country, and to act as a counterbalance to the regular Iranian Army, many of whose officers were still loyal to the Shah of Iran, and therefore could not be trusted...

Iran reserves the right to carry out a “legitimate response” against Israel for the assassination in Tehran of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Iran’s acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani told his Egyptian counterpart, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). Israel has not taken responsibility for the killing, but it has been widely presumed to have carried it out.

Iran’s “supreme leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned his underlings in a meeting on Wednesday that making a “nontactical retreat” would meet the “divine wrath” of Allah as the world awaits a highly touted attack by Tehran on neighboring Israel. Iranian officials have been boasting that they would attack Israel for all of August following the elimination of Hamas “political” chief Ismail Haniyeh on July 31. Haniyeh was killed by a yet-unexplained explosion in his lodgings in Tehran, which he was visiting to attend the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian. Iran is believed to be one of the top funders and...

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani urged Iran to hold off on an attack on Israel to avoid harming the ongoing Doha hostage talks in a phone call with Iran's leadership, The Washington Post reported on Friday citing two diplomats familiar with a phone call had between the two leaders. Iran vowed to attack Israel following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month. Despite anticipation in Israel and around the world, the attack has yet to come. Al Thani warned Iran that an attack may further risk the current Gaza ceasefire discussions, which Hamas...

Tehran is reconsidering its approach to retaliation against Israel following Ismail Haniyeh's assassination, Professor Uzi Rabi, head of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, explained to Nissim Mashal and Liat Ron in an interview on 103FM on Thursday morning. "There is ongoing deliberation in Tehran. If we go back to the day after Haniyeh was eliminated, they spoke of revenge at the highest level. However, as days pass, it seems that Iran is having second thoughts, mainly due to the American buildup in the Middle East," Rabi said. "Currently, Iran even sees...

The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and other banks were targeted on Wednesday as part of a significant cyber attack that led to widespread disruptions in the country's banking system, Iran International reported. #BREAKING A major cyberattack has targeted the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and several other banks, leading to widespread disruptions in the country’s banking system, @IranIntl has learned. Initial assessments indicate this could be one of the largest cyberattacks ever against… pic.twitter.com/6TiuNrxosL — Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) August 14, 2024 According to reports, all the computer systems of the banks in Iran were paralyzed following the cyber...