Free Republic

“I can’t breathe” were the final words uttered by Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi after he was set upon by a Saudi hit squad at the country’s consulate in Istanbul, a source briefed on the investigation into his killing told CNN on Sunday. The source, who has read a translated transcript of an audio recording of Khashoggi’s painful last moments, said it was clear that the killing on October 2 was no botched rendition attempt, but the execution of a premeditated plan to murder the journalist. During the course of the gruesome scene, the source describes Khashoggi struggling against a group...

ISTANBUL- A crackdown on political dissent in Turkey is widening to participants in a major civic unrest 5-years ago. Prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for a prominent actor, a leading journalist/civil society activists.The arrests are in connection with the 2013 protests known as Gezi. The unrest began over plans to turn Gezi Park in central Istanbul into a shopping mall. The protests quickly transformed into broader demonstrations opposing the government and, in particular, then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. At its peak, the unrest saw millions of people take to the streets across the country.For Erdogan, who is now president, the...

ISIS release pictures of their new gold coins they say will 'break capitalist enslavement' - so why are they still paying their deranged gunmen in US dollars? ISIS have released a new hour long video, showing off their latest propaganda tool - their very own coin currency. The video, which includes a dreary and distorted history of world economics, shows the smelting of gold, silver and copper coins. Dramatised by clips from Hollywood war films, the film accuses the US of 'confiscating Americans real wealth through an executive decree' with the introduction of the Gold Reserve Act in 1934. Yet...

A former senior adviser to the Joint Chiefs told me that the document was an ‘all-source’ appraisal, drawing on information from signals, satellite and human intelligence, and took a dim view of the Obama administration’s insistence on continuing to finance and arm the so-called moderate rebel groups. Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, director of the DIA between 2012 and 2014, confirmed that his agency had sent a constant stream of classified warnings to the civilian leadership about the dire consequences of toppling Assad. The jihadists, he said, were in control of the opposition. Turkey wasn’t doing enough to stop the smuggling...

Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Sunday that President Trump should not give in when it comes to the spending battle with Democrats over funding for the wall on the U.S. southern border with Mexico. “I’d want the whole five billion [dollars] because the caravan is a game-changer,” Graham, R-S.C., told “Sunday Morning Futures.” “One point six [billion dollars] is available to the president. He wants five. And after the caravan if you don't see the need for additional border security, you're just not paying much attention. So, Mr. President, dig in, do not give in when it comes to the...

CAIRO - Egypt’s Christians are optimistic following the first Coptic mass in Saudi Arabia. Dozens of Coptic Christians attended the mass at a tourist facility in Riyadh. The mass, Egypt’s Christians said, reflects the tremendous changes happening in Saudi Arabia. “It even portends more change in that great country in the future,” said Father Polis Halim, spokesman of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church. “Saudi Arabia is showing an admirable degree of tolerance that gives us a lot of hope.” The story began in May when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz visited Saint Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in...

Fighters from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have broken into Hajin, an eastern holdout of ISIS on the Iraqi border, a commander told Agence France Presse... "Heavy clashes are ongoing inside the town of Hajin, after our forces advanced inside and started to control some of its neighborhoods," Redur Khalil told AFP... In almost three months of battle, more than 820 extremists and more than 480 US-backed fighters have been killed.

International human rights attorney Amal Clooney accused President Trump of putting the lives of journalists in danger with his rhetoric in a speech at the United Nations Correspondents Association Awards this week. She said that journalists were “under attack,” in “autocratic regimes from North Korea to the Philippines to Hungary.” “The U.S. president has given such regimes a green light and labeled the press in this country the ‘enemy of the people,’” she argued. President Trump has used and tweeted the “enemy of the people” label about media he considers to be “fake news.” “And of course, two months ago,...

A U.S. attempt to get the United Nations to condemn violence by Palestinian militant group Hamas for the first time failed on Thursday because the draft resolution fell short of votes needed in the General Assembly. The resolution required two-thirds support and while Assembly resolutions are non-binding, they can carry political weight. The U.S. text received 87 votes in favor, 58 against, 32 abstentions and 16 countries did not vote. In an earlier procedural move requested by Kuwait, the 193-member body narrowly voted to require two-thirds support and not a simple majority for adoption of the draft resolution. Outgoing U.S....

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri is now disclosing the nature of his resignation, and why he left Lebanon to spend time in Saudi Arabia. It appears the Saudi and regional partners provided evidence that Iran and Hezbollah were planning an assassination targeting Hariri and his family.

ERBIL — US Special Representative for Syria Engagement James Jeffrey urged other countries to share a larger burden in facilitating the conditions for peace in Syria, while floating the idea of the United Nations enforcing a no-fly zone for parts of Syria. "Remember we were present not in northern Iraq but over northern Iraq in Operation Northern Watch for 13 years. That can be a UN force," he said on Tuesday, referring to the joint US-UK-Turkey no-fly zone in the late 1990s that protected Kurdish areas from the air force of Saddam Hussein. Jeffrey briefed reporters in Washington, D.C., after...

Russia has completed an elaborate air defense system in Syria that curbs the operational capabilities of both the United States and Israel, according to a report by the Washington- based Institute for the Study of War. The deployments throughout the conflict-ravaged country include variations of the advanced S-300 and S-400 systems in addition to other cutting-edge technologies. Moscow long ago exported such systems to Syria, however, they remained under the control of its own army. Only after the accidental downing in September by Syrian forces of a Russian reconnaissance plane, an incident the Kremlin blamed on Jerusalem which minutes earlier...

The IDF destroyed a Hezbollah tunnel that penetrated into Israeli territory south of the Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit announced in a statement Tuesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday reportedly insisted that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman include international experts as part of an ongoing investigation into the death of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi. A French official said the two leaders discussed Khashoggi’s murder during a five-minute exchange that took place on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Argentina, where they also talked about the need to find a solution to the situation in Yemen, Reuters reported. The Saudi Gazette newspaper shared a clip of the brief exchange. In one part of the clip, the crown prince can be heard telling...

The G-20 summit in Argentina was supposed to be part of the carefully choreographed diplomatic dance between two of the world’s most powerful leaders. Instead, Russia’s aggressive action against Ukraine prompted President Donald Trump to cancel a planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, leaving Putin filling his summit dance card with other partners, Newsmax reported. Putin met instead with Turkish President Recip Erdogan, who used the time to try to convince Putin to hold a summit on the situation in Syria’s Idlib province, where Russia-based Syrian forces are slowly squeezing the last pockets of resistance, Reuters reported. Putin also...

The legions of protesters demonstrating at a leaders summit here have unfurled a sea of standard-issue signs, ranging from “No to Imperialism” to “Yankees Go Home.” But a newer rallying cry also appeared on a smattering of homemade posters. “Mohammed bin Salman, Assassin!” For Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Group of 20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires has amounted to a key test: his first appearance at a major international event since the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi who was a frequent critic of the kingdom’s de facto leader.

WASHINGTON - Two police departments in the northeastern United States decided over the past week to cancel their participation in a program that involves visiting Israel and meeting Israeli police officers, due to public pressure by a coalition of progressive organisations, including a number of groups affiliated with the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment movement (BDS).

A number of pro-Iranian militia bases and Iranian weapons caches in southern Syria were targeted by Israeli airstrikes on Thursday night, according to the Al-Arabiya news site. Explosions were also reported in and around the Syrian capital of Damascus, near its international airport, which Israel claims has been used by Iran to supply terror groups with advanced weaponry...The Israel Defense Forces refused to comment on Thursday night’s reported airstrikes, but denied a Russian media claim that an Israeli plane had been shot down. "The reports of an Israeli aircraft or other Israeli aerial platform being hit are false," the army...

The brutal murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi has opened a window into the world of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and reminded us that there are many places in the world where disagreeing with your government is a death sentence. I break with the administration on their response to this killing for many reasons. If Saudi Arabia is not held accountable for the barbaric murder of Khashoggi, what will it mean for the fate of other dissidents held in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere who are being held without trial? What message does it send to kingdoms and dictatorships around...