Free Republic

In this Friday, Oct. 26, 2018 file photo, released by Oman News Agency, Oman's Sultan Qaboos, left, receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Muscat, Oman. (Oman News Agency via AP, File) The “last decade,� notes James Sinkinson in a perceptive article, has seen a “sea change� in Israel’s ties with “key Arab states.� And that last decade is also the one in which Benjamin Netanyahu (again, after a stint in the 1990s) has been Israel’s prime minister — specifically since March 2009.True, conditions for enhanced Arab-Israeli ties have been propitious — particularly the behavior of regional bully Iran, a...

Iraqi security forces were on Friday (June 26) interrogating pro-Iran fighters detained for planning a rocket attack in the first such raid in a country caught in the tug-of-war between Teheran and Washington. Since October, nearly three dozen deadly rocket attacks have hit US military and diplomatic installations in Iraq, with the US blaming pro-Teheran faction Kataeb Hezbollah. Infuriated, Washington has demanded Iraq take tougher action to hold the perpetrators accountable and Thursday's unprecedented raid appeared to be a response to this call. Just before midnight Thursday, the elite Counter-Terrorism Service stormed a base in southern Baghdad used by Kataeb...

A large explosion was heard east of Tehran on Thursday night, with video from local sources showing a bright light lighting up the night sky.

Live coverage and speculation about a military base, Iranian guards outpost or a large natural gas reservoir in the area Still night there

Massive explosion east of #Tehran in an area that looks like full of research facilities! The explosion is massive and the brightness of the aftermath indicate a major incident! VIDEO AT LINK...................

BEIRUT, LEBANON (3:20 P.M.) – The semi-official Syrian newspaper, Al-Watan, published the first scenes of the destruction left by the Israeli strikes in the Hama countryside this morning. The photos published by the Syrian newspaper on its official Facebook page show the great destruction caused by the raids on some installations, buildings and structures in the Al-Salamiyah District of Hama. The Syrian newspaper did not state the name of these buildings, the location, or the total number of losses from these strikes. At approximately 12:45 A.M. (local time) last night, the Israeli Air Force fired several missiles at the eastern...

As Turkey touts its humanitarian aid deliveries to Syria's Idlib, critics weigh the six truckloads of supplies against its thousands of tons of allegedly looted Syrian grain. Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported that on Monday, two Turkish charities had sent six trucks carrying humanitarian aid to the rebel-held province of Idlib in northwest Syria. “Truckloads of supplies including flour, clothing and dry food [donated] by the Adana Dosteller and Eskisehir Gunisigi charities entered Idlib through the Yayladagi border crossing in Turkey’s southern Hatay province. The aid will be distributed among families living in tents in Idlib,” Anadolu reported. Turkey’s...

KOBANI, Syria (North Press) – Four women lost their lives including a feminist activist and many others injured on Tuesday evening in an aerial bombardment allegedly by Turkish air force that targeted the village of Helenj, east of the town of Kobani, north Syria, local sources said. The sources in the village told North Press that a feminist activist, named Zahra Barkal, was among the women who lost their lives in the bombardment. Barkal was an official in the Kurdish Women Organization, known as Kongreya Star, which activities focus on the feminist movement in northeastern Syria. Barkal was visiting a...

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A Turkish drone strike on Tuesday evening killed three civilian females at a residence in the village of Helincê, located outside the northern Syrian city of Kobani, according to local security forces. The General Command of the Kurdish-led Internal Security Forces (ISF), also known as the Asayesh, in an official statement said blamed the “Turkish occupation” for the attack. “We in the General Command of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) for Northeast Syria condemn the crimes of the Turkish occupation against our people and we also call on the International Coalition and the Russian Federation to...

Waters, the cofounder of Pink Floyd, said in an interview with the pro-Hamas Shehab News Agency that Floyd died in Minneapolis police custody last month because of "a technique invented by" the Israeli Defense Forces. "That is an Israeli technique, taught to the militarized police forces of the United States of America by Israeli experts, who the Americans have been flying over to the United States, to teach them how to murder the blacks because they've seen how efficient the Israelis have been at murdering Palestinians in the occupied territories using those techniques," Waters said. "And they're proud of it."

Social media posts sought to link the strike to a series of other US attacks on al-Qaeda affiliates in northern Syria in which US drones have used such a weapon. A man riding a motorcycle was hit by an alleged drone strike near the Syrian town of Al-Bab in the early morning hours of Saturday. His mangled body was seen on video near the side of a dusty road and the remains of his motorcycle had crashed on the other side. A second man may have been killed in the same airstrike. The attack was reported by Syrian activists as...

Over 18,000 people who came to Sweden during the height of the 2015 migrant crisis have been granted Swedish citizenship — and by extension EU citizenship — since being initially accepted for asylum status. The Swedish migration board has revealed that a total of 18,420 people who came to the country in 2015 as asylum seekers are now Swedish citizens, granting full citizenship rights including the right to Free Movement around the EU — including Britain, until the end of the 2020 transition period — and the right to vote. Around 60 per cent of them come from Syria, followed...

Dr. Reza Parchizadeh, a political theorist and analyst, recently noted on Twitter that “the Iranian regime has turned the late #George_Floyd into Saint George, Shiite-style!” And sure enough, Parchizadeh posted a painting of Floyd depicting him in the way Shi’ite Muslims often depict their holy figures: in a green robe and surrounded by an aura of holy light. The Iranian regime has turned the late #George_Floyd into Saint George, Shiite-style! #Beware_Foreign_Influence pic.twitter.com/ofTtW5J3px— Dr. Reza Parchizadeh (@rezaparchizadeh) June 1, 2020 As incongruous as the image is, it’s perfectly fitting: Floyd, whose murder touched off the rage for destruction that is...

Syria devalued its currency by 44% on Wednesday, announcing a new official exchange rate for the pound amid chaos in the market, hours before new U.S. sanctions aimed at cutting off revenue for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government took effect. The sanctions, known as the U.S. Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, are the toughest set of measures to be imposed on Syria yet, preventing anyone around the world from doing business with Syrian officials or state institutions or from participating in the country’s reconstruction... Syria’s already troubled economy has sharply deteriorated, prices have soared and the national currency, the Syrian...

The journey of two senior Al Qaeda-aligned commanders in northwestern Syria on Sunday was suddenly cut short by a targeted U.S.-led strike — only it doesn't appear that they were killed by explosives, but a missile packed with knives. Video of the aftermath circulating on social media shows that the vehicle of the terrorist leaders – Jordanian Qassam ul-Urdini and Yemeni Bilal al-Sanaani – was mostly untouched, with just one side severed and the roof smashed in, prompting defense analysts to point to the use of a "secret" missile jointly developed by both the Department of Defense and the Central...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells the story of a major drama that unfolded behind the scenes at the UN Security Council shortly before former US President Barack Obama left office. New details about some drama involving Israel, Russia, and the US that played out behind the scenes at the United Nations Security Council some four years ago are coming to light. more.... It appears that Russia demonstrated a rare willingness to use its UNSC veto on Israel's behalf to block a resolution led by then-US President Barack Obama, which would have compelled Israel to set up a Palestinian state based...

France is decending into a war zone with guns.  Both muslim gangs are armed. https://twitter.com/descifraguerra/status/1272576971445280770 https://twitter.com/DawkinsReturns/status/1272631024305004545 https://twitter.com/Sotiridi1/status/1272590419868688385 https://twitter.com/EncartL/status/1272598686439108610 https://twitter.com/DarrenPlymouth/status/1272629102042918920 https://twitter.com/BasedPoland/status/1272580808893763585

BEIRUT, LEBANON (8:40 P.M.) – Two commanders from the Hurras Al-Deen group were killed on Sunday, when a drone struck their positions in the Idlib Governorate. According to the preliminary reports, the two leaders, Bilal Al-Sanani (Yemeni national) and Qassam Al-Urdoni (Jordanian national), were killed by a U.S. Coalition drone in the Idlib city. The drone strike targeted the vehicle carrying both men and their associate, Mohammad Al-Ahmad, who was seriously wounded as a result of the U.S. Coalition attack. The attack appears to have been carried out by a U.S. ninja drone, as the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was...

June 9, 2020: Despite the financial crises, continuing anti-government protests and growing criticism from government and military leaders, the senior clerics who run Iran believe that there is a good chance the American presidential elections in November will put a more pro-Iran and anti-Israel government in power. While this is a possibility, many Iranians don’t believe the clerics can hang onto power until the end of the year. Poverty is growing in Iran and the government continues to spend lots of money on military operations in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. Syria is the costliest foreign adventure. So far this...

The announcement Thursday that the partners of the Leviathan gas reservoir will invest $3.75 billion in its development is a devastating blow to the BDS movement, Eli Groner, director-general of the Prime Minister's Office, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. The development of Leviathan, which is scheduled to take about three years, constitutes both the largest energy project and financial investment in Israel in the country's history.