Free Republic

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Israel must withdraw its forces from Syria or it will cause “unfavorable outcomes for everyone.” “The aggressive actions of the forces attacking Syrian territory, Israel, in particular, must come to an end as soon as possible,” he said during a meeting of his party in Ankara. “Everyone should take their hands off Syria and we, along with our Syrian brothers, will crush the heads of Islamic State, the YPG and other terrorist organizations in a short time.”

Several reports have suggested that ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad may have been poisoned in Moscow. According to these reports, he fell ill on Sunday afternoon. Assad has been under the protection of Russian President Vladimir Putin since fleeing Syria in December 2024. A social media account, General SVR, operated by a former Russian spy, stated that Assad sought medical assistance after experiencing coughing and choking. The account suggested that there was reason to believe that it was an assassination attempt. On the social media account, it has been claimed that Bashar al-Assad called the security guards after he was...

Oy veh — it’s gonna get mashugana out there. In the waning days of the Biden administration (which also coincides with the waning days of Joe Biden), a few uncomfortable truths have emerged. First, Biden is destined to be remembered as one of the least consequential presidents in American history. His tenure was a speed bump -- a thin slice of bologna that’s sandwiched between the two Trump terms. For a guy like Biden, who so clearly covets adulation, recognition, and public praise, that’s gotta sting. Two, it’s now apparent that Biden’s presidency coincided with a national realignment. The public...

Why was the Los Angeles California arson suspect (arrested yesterday) carrying FIVE cell phones and a United Nations prepaid debit card?? ... Syrian Illegal Alien ... If you speak Arabic, please feel free to translate and correct in comments. ... LAPD says there is no probable cause to charge the man walking around with a large blowtorch in LA with arson. He must have just been trying to light a cigarette with a massive blowtorch! The man was detained by local residents after they accused him of trying to start fires. "There was not enough probable cause to arrest this...

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said the UK government should consider allowing Shamima Begum, who left the country to join the Islamic State group in 2015, to return to the UK. "I've never wanted to. I've instinctively never wanted to. But I'm now thoughtful, I'm thoughtful. I don't classify her as an ISIS, an all out ISIS killer," Farage told ITV News Political Correspondent Harry Horton. "So she's sort of less... She is a lesser part of the equation," he added. Farage made the comments after Donald Trump's terror chief Seb Gorka said on Thursday that ISIS members in...

Given how totally obsessed liberal-lefties are with condemning imaginary Nazi behaviour, it’s amazing how squeamish they are about confronting the real thing. Burning people alive in cages? Raping, torturing and crucifying? Slave trading? Destroying and looting priceless ancient artefacts? Blowing up and machine gunning people at pop concerts and restaurants? Chopping prisoners’ heads off? I’d say that all the above are pretty Nazi-level evil. So I’m a bit surprised that liberal-lefties are so keen to welcome back to Britain someone from an organisation which frequently perpetrated such crimes against humanity.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abdul Momen said Bangladesh had 'nothing to do with' the runaway schoolgirl He warned that his country's policy is to execute 'anyone involved with terrorism' Ms Begum was stripped of British citizenship in February after pleading to return Speaking to ITV News, Mr Momen said: 'We have nothing to do with Shamima Begum. She is not a Bangladeshi citizen. She never applied for Bangladesh citizenship. 'If anyone is found to be involved with terrorism, we have a simple rule, there will be capital punishment. And nothing else.' Describing his country's laws as a 'model in eliminating all...

Shamima Begum could be freed 'within days' from the Syrian detention camp where she has being held. The 25-year-old is currently being held in Al Roj, a filthy, brutal temporary tent city teeming with dangerous ISIS loyalists. But the Isis bride could be set free by the guards holding her there after dictator President Bashar al-Assad 's regime was toppled in Decembe

British fathers relate horrific accounts of trying to save daughters from Muslim rape gangs.. As the pedophile Muslim gang scandal has exploded into the mainstream this week in the UK, horrible accounts are being shared by fathers of some of the victims, with one relating how the police did nothing when he told them his daughter had been raped and advised him to “let it go” or he would “get arrested for being racist.” ... the left wing Labour government and Prime Minister Kier Starmer as complicit. The man tells Talk TV anchor Jeremy Kyle that Pakistani Muslims from the...

A top Iranian general has accused Russia of lying to Tehran by saying its jets were attacking Syrian rebels while they were instead bombing the open desert. In a rare break from Iran's diplomatic line on Syria, Brig. Gen. Behrouz Esbati partially blamed Moscow for the fall of Bashar Assad's government during a speech at a mosque in Tehran. An audio recording of the speech was published on Tuesday by Abdullah Abdi, a journalist in Geneva who reports on Iran. "We were defeated, and defeated very badly. We took a very big blow, and it's been very difficult," Esbati said...

Syria’s former media chief and top aide to Bashar al-Assad said that Russian President Vladimir Putin may have “tricked” the ousted Syrian president in his final days as leader. Speaking to Mazeej Studios, a podcast produced by Saudi channel Al Arabiya, Kamel Saqr said that Assad was in Moscow in late November, just over a week before Syrian rebels captured Damascus. According to him, the rebels had already captured much of Aleppo by the time Assad met Putin on Friday 29 November. There, Saqr said Assad asked for Putin’s support in helping Iran transport equipment and support to strengthen his...

Multiple reports from northern Syria on Thursday indicated the U.S. military is reinforcing its presence in Syrian Kurdistan, or Rojava, potentially building a new base in the city of Kobani.The regional outlet Kurdistan 24 reported on Thursday that “a convoy of 50 trucks carrying Bremer walls entered Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)-controlled areas in northeastern Syria (Rojava) on Thursday.” Citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a non-governmental organization (NGO), Kurdistan 24 reported that the convoy was headed to the Kurdish city of Kobani, on the Turkish border.“Sources from the observatory indicated that the delivery is part of ongoing efforts...

Eighty years ago, Germany’s former conquerors rejected wrecking the defeated nation as too harsh. But now Germany is willfully pastoralizing, disarming, deindustrializing—and destroying—itself. Less than a year before the end of World War II, then U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau drew up a nightmarish plan to punish postwar Germany. After the serial 1870-1871 Franco-Prussian War, World War I, and World War II—along with the failed Versailles peace treaty of 1919—the Allies in World War II wanted to ensure there would never again be an aggressive Germany powerful enough to invade its neighbors. When the so-called Morgenthau Plan was...

The United States has raised concerns with Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, the new foreign minister in Syria’s transitional administration, over recent reports of violent attacks carried out by militant groups across the country, US officials told Axios on Monday. According to the report, US officials fear that reprisals by militants aligned with the rebels who ousted the Assad regime earlier this month, especially those targeting minority communities or individuals associated with the ousted regime, could jeopardize stabilization efforts in the war-torn nation. Al-Shibani serves as the chief aide to Ahmed al-Sharaa, the de facto leader of Syria and head of Hayat...

Gee, then who might be the "problem" most vexing the new regime in Syria? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?In the immediate aftermath of the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Israel moved quickly to destroy Assad's military assets. They also seized the demilitarized zone along their Syrian border to prevent some of the Islamist rebel groups from starting a war. Those moves got condemnation from the UN and some Western countries that have nominal alliance with Israel.According to the new regime's governor in Damascus, however, it's water under the bridge. Maher Marwan spoke to NPR as a representative of the new national government...

It is welcome news that Sweden’s Aid Minister, Benjamin Dousa, has said that Sweden will no longer fund UNRWA, apparently satisfied with Israel’s evidence that it has been a HAMAS front. The Arabs there need not worry, though, because Sweden is going to increase the amount of its aid, only using other agencies. Lucky for them. However, Israel could help itself by going further and attacking the very idea that the recipients of UNRWA largesse are “Palestinian refugees” entitled to such aid when there are virtually no refugees among them. And in any case, there is nothing Palestinian about them....

On this Chanukah, menorahs will be lit not only in the land of Israel, from Jerusalem to Gaza, but in Lebanon and on the heights of Mt. Hermon overlooking Syria. Vacationing families will visit the waterfalls of the Hermon Stream in the Golan Heights from which the Syrian Greek armies had descended thousands of years ago to conquer Israel leading to the events of. Chanukah. The lights of the menorahs over darkness are a reminder that miracles can still happen here. The Syrian Greeks had called the area Paneas after their god Pan and the Arab Muslim conquerors had retained...

Sir Keir Starmer has said he is hoping for peace in the Middle East in his first Christmas message as Prime Minister. The Labour leader also said he was looking towards a 'brighter future' after a turbulent start to his time in power that has seen riots after the Southport murders, a flatlining economy and a backlash to his Government's first Budget. He will enjoy his first holiday since the July election, spending Christmas at the PM's official country residence of Chequers, before going abroad with his wife and two children over New Year. It comes after allies of his...

BEIRUT (Sputnik) - The Syrian authorities on Tuesday declared December 25 and 26, when Catholic Christmas is celebrated, official holidays amid rallies by Syrian Christians in a number of cities. "For all employees of state institutions, December 25-26, 2024 are now declared official holidays. Those institutions and line ministries whose activities are necessary shall continue to work," the government said in a statement published in Al-Watan newspaper. On Monday evening, peaceful protests were held in the suburbs of Damascus and Christian neighborhoods of the Syrian capital against the oppression of the Christian population in Syria after the new government came...

A landmark study published Monday in the United States and Israel has uncovered that the value of property confiscated from Syria's Jewish community exceeds $10 billion in contemporary terms. The research also documents that the once-thriving community has dwindled to just four known Jewish residents in Syria today. The comprehensive findings come from Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC), a Jewish-American organization, following an exhaustive six-year investigation. The study is part of a broader research initiative, with findings on ten additional Arab countries scheduled for release in the coming months. According to the JJAC, Jewish communities had established deep...