Free Republic

NAJAF, Iraq, Sept 23 (Reuters) - U.S. Marines handed over on Tuesday to a Spanish-led force in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf, scene of the country's deadliest postwar bomb attack which killed more than 80 people including a top Shi'ite cleric. At a ceremony in bright sunshine on the outskirts of Najaf, U.S. Marine Brigadier General John Kelly transferred authority to Brigadier General Alfredo Cardona of the Spanish army. "We've spilled blood to hand this province over to you," Kelly said sombrely in an address to the Spanish-led force, recalling the Marines' key role in the war that...

Most people assume that the Sunni terrorist group ISIS is the natural and mortal enemy of Shia Iran, but this is not always the case. In fact, in at least one part of the Middle East, Iran has become a crucial, if indirect, sponsor of its supposed enemy. As the world's eyes are focused on ISIS terrorism in Europe, the Middle East, and even the U.S., the group's branch in the Sinai has become one of the most powerful, dangerous, and effective in the region. Recent reports indicate that Iran, through the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, is primarily responsible for...

The Archbishop of Canterbury today welcomed a group of Shia theologians to Lambeth Palace at the culmination of three days of dialogue with Christian theologians, hosted by Harris Manchester College, Oxford and the British Council. Expressing his appreciation for this dialogue, Archbishop Justin Welby said: “At a time of increasing fear and division in the world, it is ever more important that people of faith, Christians and Muslims, come together to work towards the common good for the betterment of all. "As Anglicanism has its roots in the United Kingdom, and Shi’ism in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the...

12/02/2015 is a significant tragic day for San Bernadino, and the USA. It also happens to be a Very significant Martyrdom Anniversary for Islam... Connections? Islamic Education Center, Atlanta http://www.zainabia.com/sample-page/calendar/important-dates/ Important Islamic Dates 1437 AH (2015 – 2016): 20 Safar, 1437 = December 02, 2015 * Arbayeen (40th Day of Imam Hussain Martyrdom Anniversary)  Muslims observe Arbaeen in Iran - The Iran Project www.theiranproject.com/ blog/ 2015/ 12/ 02/ mus... Proxy Highlight 17 hours ago ... ... elegies are recited in memory of Imam Hussein and his 72 loyal companions. The Arbaeen mourning ceremony is one of the largest religious...

Turkey should be kicked out of NATO for downing the Russian jet near the Syrian border Tuesday because the country "is trying to establish their own Ottoman Empire again," retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely told Newsmax TV. "They're moving very much to the Islamic State — and they've been no help in supporting the opposition forces against Assad," Vallely said, referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, on "The Steve Malzberg Show" in an interview. "They've been hitting a lot of the Kurds, as you know, up north in Syria and the northern part of Iraq." Despite the downing of...

(CBS/AP) NEW YORK -- The question was simple: “Would you like to die as a martyr?” The putative terrorist unhesitatingly replied yes—there was no greater way to die in Islam. The right answer put the man in the midst of a terrorist plot conceived as more devastating than the 9/11 attacks. He was soon making surveillance trips around John F. Kennedy International Airport—the “chicken farm,” as the planners dubbed their target -- and visiting the Trinidad compound of a radical Muslim group. On Saturday, the insider—a twice-convicted drug dealer—was revealed as a government informant whose surreptitious work undermined a plot...

Earlier this month, Shia militiamen in Iraq dropped off an American-supplied Abrams tank at a US-supported repair facility where workers were surprised to find an attached Russian machine gun plus Iranian ammo, Defense News has learned. The MIA1 main battle tank — one of 146 frontline tanks the US sold to Baghdad — was transported through the Green Zone to a US-supported Iraqi service facility at al-Muthanna that was established as part of the Pentagon’s Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. The tank was equipped with a Russian .50-caliber machine gun and Iranian-stamped 12.75-mm ammunition, according to a source at the...

Iraqi Ayatollah Ahmad Al-Baghdadi Talks of America's Annihilation and the Muslim Conquest of the World; Declares Support for Nuclear Bombs for Muslim and Arab Countries The following are excerpts from speeches and interviews with Iraqi Ayatollah Ahmad Husseini Al-Baghdadi, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on May 5, 2006, on Syrian TV on May 3, 2006, and on ANB TV on April 14, 2006.TO VIEW THIS CLIP: http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=1135. "The Mujahid Iraqi People... Has Shattered the American Plan, Not Only in the Region, but Throughout the World"Ayatollah Ahmad Husseini Al-Baghdadi: "Jihad in Islam, from the perspective of Islamic jurisprudence, is of two...

ISIS set four captured Iraqi men on fire by hog-tying them upside down, hanging them from a pole, then burning them alive. Once again, the savage execution was captured on video and shared on social media accounts friendly with the terror group as part of its propaganda and fear campaign. The four men in orange jumpsuits introduce themselves on camera and are made to watch videos of other ISIS executions before they’re marched out to the desert, with chains around their wrists and ankles, to their fate. After a man wearing camouflage and a mask explains how the men must...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday "early details" of how to coordinate international efforts to fight Islamic States have started to emerge. Lavrov was speaking at a joint news conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir. He said Moscow and Riyadh agreed that international players should join ranks to counter the Sunni jihadists who control swathes of Syria and Iraq...

On June 17, 2015, the Iranian daily Kayhan, which is affiliated with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, published an editorial praising the month of Ramadan and, in connection with this, praising also the 175 Iranian military frogmen killed in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War whose bodies were recently brought to Iran and given a martyrs' interment.Kayhan stated that Iran is currently in a situation similar to that of the early battles of Islam, when Muhammad won the Battle of Badr and annihilated the Jews of Khaybar. It called on Iranian nation to act in Ramadan after the example of the martyrs and...

The Islamic State (IS) group says it was behind a suicide bombing on a Shia mosque in Saudi Arabia that killed at least 10 people. The attack in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province is the first to be claimed by the Saudi branch of IS, which was formally established last November. The claim was posted on Twitter with an image of the bomber by an account that is a reliable source on the group. IS has previously threatened to attack Shia Muslims in Saudi Arabia. Witnesses reported a huge blast at the Imam Ali mosque in the village of al-Qadeeh, in...

America and Iran on Monday took another step towards direct military co-operation in Iraq as pro-government forces prepared a counter-attack to retake the key western city of Ramadi. Iran’s defence minister, Hossein Dehghan, flew into Baghdad for talks with the government after the Iraqi army fled from a concerted attack by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on Ramadi, the capital of the majority-Sunni Anbar province.

NEW YORK, USA (UPI): Relatives and friends said the four men arrested in an alleged plot to bomb jet fuel tanks at Kennedy International Airport in New York were wrongly accused. "The man is no extremist," Rudy Thorne, a lifelong friend of Abdel Nur in Guyana told the Friday's Miami Herald. Another suspect, Kareem Ibrahim, told a friend in Trinidad that his Shiite branch of Islam meant peace, not overthrowing governments, Wendell Eversley, the friend, told the newspaper. The Herald said the four suspects -- Nur, Ibrahim, Abdul Kadir, and Russell Defreitas -- are black converts to Islam and three...

Face of evil: MOHSEN RABBANI The Islamic Shiite cleric active in Latin America since the early 1990s. Responsible for the 1992 and 1994 anti-Jewish massacres in Argentina. Wanted in that country and by the Interpol for the crimes. Called for Israel to be "wiped off," in 1994. 'Chief' Islamic operator of Hezbollah - Quds activities of: Islamizaton --including 'recruting converts for Islam'-- and terror networks in Latin America, resides in Brazil. Lightning Out of Lebanon: Hezbollah Terrorists on American Soil - Pages 122-3Tom Diaz, Barbara Newman - Random House Digital, Inc., 2006 - History - 272 pagesThe man directly responsible for this cell-building...

Four men including former PNCR Member of Parliament Abdul Kadir were yesterday charged by United States law enforcement officials with allegedly conspiring to blow up the John F Kennedy International airport as well as tanks storing aviation fuel and underground fuel pipelines. Those charged with Kadir are former JFK worker Russell Defreitas, a Guyanese-born US citizen; Kareem Ibrahim, an imam from Trinidad; and Guyanese Abdel Nur. Kadir and Ibrahim were arrested in Trinidad, while Defreitas was held in New York. Up to press time, however, Nur had not been apprehended and was thought to be still at large in Trinidad....

This week on 102.9 KARN , Little Rock, AR’s “The Doc Washburn Show,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) was asked about the theology of the Iranian Ayatollahs who believe world chaos will start the “end of days,” which will bring a Shia messiah, called the “Twelfth Imam” to establish a global Islamic caliphate more dangerous then the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Cotton replied, “As evil and wicked as the Soviet tyranny was, we could always count on Soviet leadership to be dedicated to national survival of mother Russia. I don’t think we can count on the Ayatollahs of Iran...

We talked before about whether Obama is a Sunni or Shiite Muslim. Recent revelations about Obama's father being a Shiite Muslim. Obama hired Valerie Jarrett.. an Iranian operative to run his Administration. Now he's essentially given the green light for Iran to make nuclear weapons. Obama used the Sunni group ISIS to knock out dictators. Once they are in power.. Shiite groups, which outnumber them, will wipe them out and fill the power vacuum. And today he says he would like to visit Iran before the end of his Presidency. The cat's out of the bag folks. The US has...

Saudi Arabia is moving heavy military equipment including artillery to areas near its border with Yemen, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, raising the risk that the Middle East’s top oil power will be drawn into the worsening Yemeni conflict. The buildup follows a southward advance by Iranian-backed Houthi Shi'ite militants who took control of the capital Sanaa in September and seized the central city of Taiz at the weekend as they move closer to the new southern base of U.S.-supported President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

On Tuesday, a man convicted of blinding another man in an acid attack was himself forcibly blinded in one eye, according to Amnesty International and Tasnim News, a semi-official news website. The punishment is believed to be Iran's first case of Qasas, meaning retribution in kind, Tasnim News said. Amnesty International denounced the sentence. "This punishment exposes the utter brutality of Iran's justice system and underlines the Iranian authorities' shocking disregard for basic humanity," said Raha Bahreini, Amnesty International's Iran researcher. "Meting out cruel and inhuman retribution punishments is not justice. Blinding, like stoning, amputation and flogging, is a form...