Free Republic

... Most of Turkey sits on the Anatolian plate between two major faults: the North Anatolian Fault and the East Anatolian Fault. The tectonic plate that carries Arabia, including Syria, is moving northwards and colliding with the southern rim of Eurasia, which is squeezing Turkey out towards the west, says David Rothery, a geoscientist at the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK. “Turkey is moving west about 2 centimetres per year along the East Anatolian Fault,” he adds. “Half the length of this fault is lit up now with earthquakes.” ... The epicentre of the main earthquake was 26 kilometres...

150 search, rescue and medical experts to depart after survey team scans areas affected by deadly quake in southern part of country. A delegation of 150 military rescue experts was to depart for southern Turkey on Monday night, as the country grappled with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that killed thousands of people in the region. An initial, smaller team departed earlier on Monday...

Operations at Ceyhan, a major oil export terminal on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, have been suspended as a precaution. Ceyhan receives crude from two major cross-border pipelines — the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline carries oil from fields offshore Azerbaijan across Georgia to Turkey's Mediterranean coast, while the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline transports oil from northern Iraq. A spokesman for northern Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government said operations at Ceyhan will resume once an inspection has been finalised. Turkish pipeline operator Botas said neither pipeline has been damaged. The Ceyhan terminal exported just over 1mn b/d of crude in January, according to Vortexa. This included around...

Paris (AFP) – An earthquake that has killed more than 5,000 people in Turkey and its southern neighbour Syria is proving a diplomatic headache for those seeking to channel aid to Syrians. Still gripped by more than a decade of civil war, Syria is divided into areas controlled by the government under President Bashar al-Assad, for years a pariah for the West; rebel-held regions dominated by jihadists or pro-Turkish factions; and a swathe of land held by semi-autonomous Kurdish authorities. France and Germany are among world powers that have rushed to pledge help after the massive 7.8-magnitude quake on early...

Israel is exploring the possibility of supplying Ukraine with its state-of-the-art Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday. "The issue of arms supplies was considered and rejected by the previous Israeli government. I will study this issue and answer this matter in the most adequate manner," Netanyahu said in an interview with the French LCI channel. He, however, said that Israel has to review its options and to take into consideration its interests in the region. Israel's "contribution will probably be in other areas," the Israeli premier added.

PM Netanyahu said that Israel has received requests for humanitarian aid from both Turkey and Syria in wake of the deadly earthquake...

<p>And what will happen when the Muslim population inexorably rises..</p><p>A picturesque and once-peaceful university town, Freiburg – like many places in Germany – has been transformed by the arrival of Muslim migrants. More than a million of them were admitted to Germany in just one year – 2015 – which is when Angela Merkel flung her country wide open to migrants, who have overwhelmingly been Muslims. Diversity! Why should anyone have reason to worry?</p>

Dr. Gadi Taub: "Haaretz" is an anti-Semitic newspaper Dr. Gadi Taub in an interview with Orna Yashar a day after the Haaretz newspaper decided to stop publishing his column Tov News Staff, 01/26/2023 "It was like an admission of weakness," says Dr. Gadi Taub, "I wouldn't have expected a newspaper to want to do something like that, instead of answering - you are excommunicating. The newspaper "Haaretz" worked on a massive deception of the public. He set up a wall of lies within which his big pages will hide the reality, they cannot afford someone to make a hole in...

Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza erupted with rejoicing with cries of “Allahu Akbar,” gunfire and fireworks in celebration of a deadly terror attack in Jerusalem that killed seven people and wounded several others.The Palestinian terrorist, identified as Alqam Khayri, a 21-year-old resident of eastern Jerusalem, opened fire on a group of Israeli worshipers as they were leaving a synagogue in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Yaakov.It was the deadliest Palestinian terror attack on Israelis since 2008.Videos posted to social media showed hundreds of Palestinians in at least 7 different cities marching and chanting in the streets, honking...

Multiple blasts were reported in Iran Saturday night, as drones of an unknown origin carried out attacks on critical Iranian defense production facilities. At the time of this writing, there are no confirmed details on the number of attacks and the targets other than the major ammunition plant at Isfahan. Isfahan is Iran’s third largest city and located about 270 miles south of Tehran.UPDATE: Explosion at Military Plant in Isfahan #Iran, local media saying it’s by drone targeting munitions manufacturing centers. Video: pic.twitter.com/t7sLXENoZK— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) January 29, 2023The below map shows the unofficial tally of strikes.Tehran’s Mehrabad airport is...

Life often takes us in unexpected directions, but Maria Sue Bell’s life has been more rollicking and full of surprises than most. Back in 1984 and 1985, Bell served in the Army National Guard and was on Army Active Duty until Jan. 31, 1986. In a warning sign of what was to come, the criminal complaint against Bell says that she “received an Other Than Honorable (OTH) Discharge deemed Good for Service in lieu of a Court Martial,” although the reason for this has not been disclosed and has now been overshadowed by far more serious misconduct: Bell was sentenced...

A German-made tank, which Berlin once dubbed one of the best in the world, has had its shortcomings embarrassingly exposed on the battlefield in Syria. Photos from the Turkish military operation dubbed 'Euphrates Shield', which began in August 2016, show the charred remains of one of the Leopard 2 tanks which was reportedly blown up with mines. The images - taken from an ISIS video published in January 2017 - show the tank with its turret completely blown off. Other pictures from the same conflict show Leopard 2s standing idle in ditches and snow after being severely damaged. The 1970s-built...

"Israel should stop all incitement and provocation and avoid any unilateral actions that might lead to aggravation of the situation," the Chinese diplomat said at a joint press briefing on Sunday with Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry. Qin also called for "maintaining the status quo" at Jerusalem's most important holy site - after an ultranationalist Israeli cabinet minister visited the site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary - or the Al-Aqsa Mosque - Islam's third holiest shrine. The visit by Itamir Ben-Gvir, Israel's national security minister, was seen by Palestinians as a provocation...

Amidst visits to Jerusalem and Riyadh, Jason Greenblatt tells me that if anyone can make it happen, he thinks it’s Netanyahu ABU DHABI – In the coming days, I’ll begin reporting on my meetings with senior government officials here in the United Arab Emirates. It’s been fascinating getting updates on how the UAE leadership views the new right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the progress that is being made in developing and deepening diplomatic and cultural ties after the signing of the Abraham Accords, the exciting growth of trade between the UAE and Israel. Today, however, I want...

A woman who ran away from home in Alabama to join ISIS said she felt "broken" when the US revoked her citizenship for aiding the terror group. Hoda Muthana spoke in an interview with The News Movement (TNM), conducted from a prison camp in Syria where she is being held by US-allied forces. She said she wanted to return to the US, and volunteered to serve time in prison if necessary. That seems unlikely to happen — the Obama administration stripped Muthana of citizenship in 2016. In 2019, then-President Donald Trump tweeted that he had personally barred Muthana from the...

A Sydney woman has been charged just months after being rescued from a Syrian refugee camp for reformed Islamic State fighters and eight years after she allegedly left Australia to fight for the militant group with her husband.... ...The woman was in Al Roj Internally Displaced Persons camp in Syria before being repatriated to Australia in October 2022. Ms Raad was arrested following a joint investigation by the Australian Federal Police and the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT). In a statement, the JCTT said 'newly obtained evidence' allegedly allowed them to charge the woman. ...

... It is against such a backdrop that the two meetings in Moscow on December 28 between the defense ministers and intelligence chiefs of Turkey and Syria in the presence of their Russian counterparts took place. Erdogan’s reconciliation process with Assad is quintessentially his sweet revenge for the American betrayal. Erdogan sought help from Russia, the archetypal enemy country in the US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s sights, in order to communicate with Assad, who is a pariah in American eyes. The matrix is self-evident. On December 29, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said: “At the meeting [in Moscow], we...

The Israeli army carried out a missile strike on Damascus International Airport on Monday that killed four people, including two Syrian soldiers, according to a human rights monitor. The attack — which occurred around 2:00 am (2300 GMT) — put the airport out of service, according to Syria’s state news agency SANA. Israel carried out the strike with “barrages of missiles, targeting Damascus International Airport and its surroundings”, a military source told SANA, which reported that two Syrian soldiers were killed.

Archaeologists in northern Iraq, working on the Mashki and Adad gate sites in Mosul that were destroyed by Islamic State in 2016, recently uncovered 2,700-year-old Assyrian reliefs. Featuring war scenes and trees, these rock carvings add to the bounty of detailed stone panels excavated from the 1840s onwards, many of which are currently held in the British Museum. They stem from the ancient city of Nineveh which, for a time, was likely the most dazzling in the world. There is evidence of occupation at the site already by 3,000 BC, an era known as the late Uruk period. But it...

Preparing for any potential war against Iran, the Biden administration has formally elevated Israel in military planning.... ...For the Pentagon, Israel is the most prized military and intelligence partner in the Middle East, with its vast combat experience and advanced technologies. With the end of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, and with the brokering of the Abraham Accords by the Trump administration, Washington sees an opportunity to incorporate Israel into a new regional alliance. ... ..."CENTCOM will now work to implement the U.S. Government commitment to a holistic approach to regional security and cooperation with our partners," the Tampa-based command...