Free Republic

For the first time in a long time, in her life spent in the public eye, Hillary Clinton looked like she was enjoying herself. The Democratic presidential candidate has had a fraught relationship with Iowa. After leading in the polls in her 2007 presidential race, she came third in the Iowa caucuses, trailing behind Barack Obama in what she saw as a personal defeat; a betrayal by the Hawkeye state. But on Friday night at the Democratic Wing Ding dinner - an annual event designed to energise state volunteers for the party – past grievances were set aside, as the...

Many residents of Mosul say they prefer life under ISIS to that under Iraqi army control Less than one week ago the jihadists seized control of Iraq’s second city, Mosul, where they have set to work imposing the hardline rules and summary justice of their “Islamic State”. In the Sunni dominated city, the removal of the Iraqi army by ISIS has been interpreted as a local victory; as a means of empowering Mosul residents against ...the Shia dominated national government who they feel has kept their people “oppressed”. But the crises in northern Iraq is now less one of a...

The United States and Gulf countries have been secretly backing efforts by opposition rebels to destroy al-Qaeda’s most extreme wing in Syria, diplomats and rebels involved in the plan have told The Telegraph. As Western leaders publicly push the Syrian regime and the opposition to the Geneva II peace conference that begins Wednesday Washington has also been quietly supporting moves by Saudi Arabia and Qatar to give weapons and cash to rebel groups to fight al-Qaeda’s Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (ISIS) in Syria. One source said the US was itself handing out millions of dollars to rebel groups...

Were it not for the high walls and watchtowers, it could easily be mistaken for a recreational centre or private boarding school. With its volleyball and basketball courts, and visitors' garden complete with bubbling fountain, Muwaqqer prison, in Jordan, is a world away from the harsh regimes associated with Arab jails. The comfortable, airy cells of this newly-built facility will be where Abu Qatada, 53, be held after he touches down in Jordan on Sunday after his long-delayed deportation from Britain. Last week, Britain and Jordan signed an extradition treaty that paved the way for the cleric's departure by guaranteeing...

1. Turkey's political ideology Since the 1920s Turkey has been vigorously secular in its public sphere. Now protestors accuse Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of blurring the line between religion and state by trying to impose the Islamist values of his Justice and Development party (AKP) on society as a whole. Last month the government introduced a new law cracking down on alcohol, banning the sale of drink between 10pm and 6am and forcing restaurants near schools or mosques to be dry. The government has also tried to clamp down on kissing in public. Some have also perceived a state...

Syria accused Israel of supporting "terrorists" including al-Qaeda, threatening retaliation for Israeli air strikes on military bases that have drawn the Jewish state deep into the civil war raging across the border. The strikes north of Damascus, in the early hours of Sunday morning, lit up the night sky and felt "like an earthquake", according to residents. Continuing explosions suggested weapons and ammunition facilities were hit, in line with Israel's policy of preventing heavy arms transfers to Hizbollah, Syria's ally in neighbouring Lebanon. Israeli officials refused to comment, but the strikes went beyond the claims made for a previous major...

It is one of the most shocking images from the Syrian war. An eight-year-old boy draws deeply on a cigarette, the small fingers of his other hand clutching a an AK-47 rifle that balances awkwardly against his chest.

One of the men behind a series of jihadist attacks inside Syria tells Ruth Sherlock about their battle to overthrow President Assad. The blocks of explosive that lay neatly stacked on the back seat, connected by thin wires, weighed down the silver saloon car. Gripping the steering wheel tightly, the man known to his comrades as Abu Hafez al-Shami looked steadily at the video camera, uttering a final message as he prepared himself to die: "I ask God to make me do well in this operation, and please, my brothers, pray for us."

General Hassan Shateri was killed on Tuesday in an ambush on the way from Damascus towards the Lebanese capital, the Iranian authorities said. They blamed the attack on Israel. Gen Shateri was also in charge of the Iranian of the Iranian Committee for the Reconstruction of Lebanon, set up after the devastating war in 2006 between Israel and the Iran supported Shiite Hezbollah militia.

Syria: Easter Cancelled In Homs After Churches Bombed For the first time in centuries no services were held to mark the festival of Easter in Christian churches of war-torn Homs as the Syria government inflicted a heavy bombardment in defiance of UN-brokered ceasefire talks. By Ruth Sherlock 08 Apr 2012 The three principal churches for Christian denominations in the city, which until a few months ago was home to Syria’s third largest Christian community, were virtually abandoned. Other small churches have been destroyed as private homes became the places of worship on Sunday with priests and locals gathering in secret....

As Major Haitham Emhammed prepared to return to Syria from his hiding place in Lebanon and fight for the overthrow of President Bashar al Assad's regime, his wife called him repeatedly on his mobile phone. Mrs Emhammed, who is still inside Syria, wasn't calling to urge him to fight for freedom, or even to beg him to be careful. His wife, a member of the Alawite ethnic group that make up Mr Assad's hard-core of support, was calling her Sunni Muslim husband to lambast the rebel movement he has joined, and bemoan the fact that he had left his family......

Tens of thousands Syriac Christians – members of the oldest Christian community in the world – have fled their ancestral provinces of Deir al-Zour and Hasakah in northeastern Syria, residents have said. "It breaks my heart to think how our long history is being uprooted," said Ishow Goriye, the head of a Syriac Christian political Hasakah. Mr Goriye, told The Daily Telegraph how, over the past two years he has watched as Christian families from Hasakah pack their possessions on the rooftops of their vehicles and flee their homes "with little plan to come back". Conflict in the area, desperate...

Syrian Christian towns emptied by sectarian violence Towns and villages in Syria that have been home to Christians for hundreds of years are being steadily emptied by sectarian violence and targeted kidnappings.