Free Republic

INSIGHT-Has Iran ended Israel's Begin Doctrine? By Dan Williams JERUSALEM Nov 7 (Reuters) - Menachem Begin did not pull his punches. In 1981, as work neared completion on an Iraqi nuclear reactor that Israel believed would produce plutonium for warheads, the Israeli prime minister dispatched eight F-16 bombers to destroy the plant. Begin later said that the raid was proof his country would "under no circumstances allow the enemy to develop weapons of mass-destruction against our people". The event defined a strategy that became known as the "Begin Doctrine" and is best summed up by the phrase "the best defence...

Fourteen soldiers killed in jihadist attack (Nigeria) ISIS fighters launched an assault on a military base in the northeast of the country on Saturday. Several soldiers are also missing. Jihadists linked to the Islamic State (IS) organization killed 14 Nigerian soldiers in an attack on a military base in the northeast of the country, military sources said on Saturday. Several soldiers are missing. Two sources, who requested anonymity, told AFP that fighters from the Islamic State in West Africa (Iswap) group attacked the Jakana military base on Friday with machine guns and grenade launchers, a offensive followed by intense fighting....

Iran’s security forces shot and killed two civilians, including a 17-year-old boy, in western and southern Iran. Ashkan Azizi who was driving a car along with Borhan Azizi was shot and killed by Iranian police in Kermanshah, western Iran on October 15. Borhan, also 17, was severely wounded. According to Hengaw Organization, Borhan is currently in a coma at the hospital. The two minors are residents of Dareh Deraz region, on the outskirts of Kermanshah. 17 year old Ashkan Azizi after being shot by security forces. The police claimed they opened fire on the car because it did not have...

Former President Barack Obama said in an interview with on the “Pod Save America” podcast on Wednesday that President Donald Trump didn’t “have the patience and the focus to really substantially change a lot of U.S. foreign policy.” Tommy Vietor asked, “You spent countless hours with Vice President Biden talking about national security. What did you learn about how he thinks about diplomacy and counterterrorism and the use of military force that others would not have seen?”

An array of Iran-backed Iraqi militia groups have agreed to suspend rocket attacks on U.S. forces on condition that Iraq's government presents a timetable for a withdrawal of American troops, one of the groups said on Sunday. "The factions have presented a conditional ceasefire," said Mohammed Mohi, spokesman for the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah group. "It includes all factions of the (anti-U.S.) resistance, including those who have been targeting U.S. forces," he told Reuters.

According to new official figures, half of Iran’s population live in absolute poverty. The report published by the Statistical Center of Iran also said that Iranians were not able to buy basic groceries. Average Iranians eat 52% less red meat, while those with lower incomes eat 65% less red meat compared to last year, the report said. Iranians are also eating 34% less rice, the country’s staple food. Nine years ago, in 2011, only 18% of the population lived in absolute poverty. Last year, this figure increased to 35%. Currently, 1 USD is trading at 29,750 tomans, an all time...

...Northwestern University received more than $340 million from the country of Qatar from 2012 to 2019 as it operated a campus in the Middle Eastern country and continued a years-long collaboration with Al Jazeera, a media outlet owned by the Qatari government. That’s according to a 2019 Clarion Project report, which found that Al Jazeera and Northwestern University formed a relationship in 2008 when the Qatar Foundation, which the Clarion Project alleges of being linked to terrorism, funded a Northwestern campus in Qatar. Northwestern, one of the top journalism schools in the U.S., partnered with Al Jazeera in an agreement...

An organized campaign is under way against US targets. Who is responsible? The ongoing, steady tempo of rocket attacks against US and official targets in Iraq continued this week. On Monday, two Katyusha rockets fell on the Jadriya neighborhood of Baghdad, close to the fortified Green Zone. There were no casualties.Earlier, on September 27, five civilians (two women and three children) were killed when a Katyusha aimed at Baghdad airport fell short and fell on a private house. The five were members of the same family. On September 30, in an additional escalation, four rockets were launched at the Iraqi...

Seizure Documents Describe Iranian Government’s Efforts to Use Domains as Part of Global Disinformation Campaign The United States has seized 92 domain names that were unlawfully used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to engage in a global disinformation campaign, announced the Department of Justice. According to the seizure documents, four of the domains purported to be genuine news outlets but were actually controlled by the IRGC and targeted the United States for the spread of Iranian propaganda to influence United States domestic and foreign policy in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), and the remainder spread...

ISLAMABAD (CNN) -- A tribal leader accused of harboring Al Qaeda militants in Pakistan's western border region was killed Thursday night in a targeted missile strike, according to Pakistan intelligence sources. The Associated Press quoted an army spokesman Friday as identifying the tribal leader as Nek Mohammed, a former Taliban fighter. He was killed late Thursday at the home of another tribal chief, the spokesman said. "We were tracking him down and he was killed last night by our hand," Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan told The Associated Press.

Trump has reduced the U.S. military footprint abroad, choosing to punch hard while pulling back. The Islamic State’s so-called caliphate in the Middle East has been destroyed. Syria and Iran are on notice. The two biggest terrorist leaders alive when Trump took office, the Islamic State’s Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani, are now dead. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have recently signed major diplomatic agreements with Israel, a breakthrough engineered by the Trump administration and the first such pact between the Jewish state and its Arab neighbors in 25 years. The president has focused the...

“To the people of Lebanon, Israel means you no harm. But Iran does.” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the annual forum of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Tuesday, September 29, 2020. In his speech from Jerusalem (due to Covid-19, worldwide leaders delivered their speeches via videos, not in person in New York City), he devoted the lion’s share of the time to the threat Iran poses to the international community and especially in the Middle East. He said that, “Iran is the greatest enemy of peace.” He also pointed out on a large map, the location in Beirut where...

If a visitor from Mars observed press coverage of President Donald Trump Middle East peace negotiations, he would have heard an amazing tale about Donald Trump’s incompetence and futility of his efforts. The most experienced negotiator, John Kerry, declared in 2016 "There will be no separate peace between Israel and the Arab world…. No. No, no, and no." In April 2016 Harvard Business Review wrote, “The Donald Trump approach to negotiation would be not only ineffective but also disastrous.” In October 2019 The Atlantic posted an article “Trump’s Middle East Policy Is a Fraud.” Infamous for its foresight, especially when...

For decades, the Iranian government has avoided judicial accountability as the No. 1 nation-state sponsor of international terrorism. This will end on November 27, 2020 in Antwerp, when Belgium’s criminal court commences proceedings against senior Iranian diplomat, Assadollah Assadi. In June 2018, as third secretary in the Iranian Embassy in Vienna, Assadi delivered over half a kilo of Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP) to Iranian sleeper agents in Luxembourg. TATP is a high explosive used in bombs, suicide attacks, and improvised explosive devices.The target was a major international gathering near Paris, in support of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)....

In apparent retaliation for the execution of the reportedly innocent Iranian champion wrestler Navid Afkari, assailants on Sunday fire bombed the entrance of the revolutionary court in the city of Shiraz that sentenced him to death. Video footage of the reported explosion was posted on social media on Sunday. The Iranian regime-controlled news outlet IRNA confirmed the attack on Sunday. “According to a report received by IRNA on Monday, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal of Shiraz announced the firing of incendiary materials in front of the Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal of Shiraz. The complex is in good health and...

Senior editor of Saudi online paper Arab News, Siraj Wahab, has just tweeted that Egyptian ships forced Iranian retreat from Bab Al-Mandab strait near the Port of Aden. A statement issued by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry stated that Egypt is coordinating with Saudi Arabia, together with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for the participation of its Air Force, Navy, and ground forces, should it prove necessary. However, it should be noted that Iran threatened Saudi Arabia today (Thursday), announcing that its foray into Yemen would end up costing it dearly.

Interview By: Peter Tase Vakilabad Prison is located in the city of Mashhad in eastern Iran. This prison has reportedly been the site of hundreds of secret executions carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Not only have the executions taken place secretly, but neither the prisoners nor their families were informed prior to their execution. Mr. Ahmed Shaheed, the former UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, has documented more than 300 secret executions in Vakilabad during the past years. Vakilabad Prison is massively overcrowded, which puts the prisoners under severe pressure, with many of...

Iran’s state television reported Tuesday night that a fire broke out at a large dairy factory near the capital, Tehran, the latest in a series of fires and explosions, some of which hit sensitive sites. Video clips showing the huge fire erupting around the two-story facility were posted on Twitter. The Mihan Dairy & Ice Cream company belongs to the Mihan Food Industries Group, located 22 km. From Tehran on Saveh Rd., was established in 1974 and today has a 65% market share for ice cream and 50% market share for UHT (Ultra-high-temperature processing) Milk.

The first clearance of rubble and explosives around the Al Tahera Catholic Church in Mosul has been completed paving the way for reconstruction to begin, the UN’s cultural agency said on Thursday. The church was severely damaged by ISIS during the bloody internationally-backed Iraqi government battle to wrest the northern Iraqi city back from the militants. Launched under the Reviving the Spirit of Mosul programme that aims to restore the shattered city, the agency aims to rebuild Mosul’s historic landmarks. The reconstruction of the Al Tahera Church as well as several other religious sites – including the famous Al...

Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is King of Saudi Arabia He is 84 years old and said to be in ill health. Social media mill grinding out the rumours he is in critical condition. https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/1307847955639083008