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The European Union on Tuesday reacted to Iran’s announcement that it will boost uranium enrichment capacity, saying a “first assessment” indicated the plan does not breach its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal. “Following a first assessment, the announced steps per se are not a violation of the JCPOA,” Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini, told AFP, using the official name for the agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). “However, at this particularly critical juncture, they will not contribute to build confidence in the nature of the Iranian nuclear program,” she added. Earlier on...

Shin Bet, Israel's security agency, said Tuesday that in recent weeks it thwarted a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The United States is committed to ensuring the exit of Kurdish forces from the area of northern Syria west of the Euphrates river, and will work with Turkey to do so as soon as possible, senior officials from the U.S. State Department have said. The officials’ statements to press officials seemed rather vague compared to the precisely described plans announced by Turkish officials, however, particularly on the time frame for the withdrawal. The two unnamed U.S. State Department officials held the press briefing via teleconference on Tuesday, covering in depth the U.S.-Turkish Working Group on Syria and the agreement announced...

Special BriefingSenior State Department Officials Via Teleconference June 5, 2018 MODERATOR: Good morning, and thanks so much for joining us for today’s background call on the U.S.-Turkish working group on Syria. Joining us today we have [Senior State Department Official One]. He’ll be referred to as Senior State Department Official One. Also joining us is [Senior State Department Official Two]. He’ll be referred to as Senior State Department Official Number Two. As a reminder, the call is on background and the contents of the call are embargoed until the call ends. With that, I’ll hand it over to our Senior...

The Syrian Kurdish YPG on Tuesday said it will leave Manbij after Turkey and the United States the day prior agreed on the militia’s withdrawal.Turkey has long demanded the YPG withdraw from Syria’s northern border with the nation. In a new roadmap agreed upon by Ankara and Washington on Monday, the Syrian Kurds will leave and the U.S. and Turkey will jointly maintain security in the city.“We affirm that our forces will heed the call when necessary to offer support and help to the people of Manbij should it be needed,” the YPG said in a statement. The YPG said fighters left Manbij...

It's been more than a month since President Trump officially ended the Iran nuclear agreement and the dangerous Iranian regime has been ramping up hostilities against the United States and Israel ever since. Earlier this week, Iranian Ayatollah Khamenei again issued the regime's long held threat to annihilate Israel from the map. In other words, Iran has a goal of murdering nearly 9 million people.

Every Dem has his day. Hillary had her tour. Bernie had his. A number of Dem staffers and media people have done theirs. Now it's Ben Rhodes' turn to play Miss Obama. His documentary clips are everywhere. He's got a new gig with NBC. And he's churning out a stream of articles, editorials and excuses. As the Obama Whisperer, the manager of the echo chamber, he's back doing what he loves. Spinning. This time it's Obama on Syria. In an Atlantic piece, Obama's vizier blames the international community and Republicans. Obama had famously blamed the Euros. Rhodes goes easier on...

Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Marking the first-ever visit to Israel by a member of Great Britain’s royal family, Prince William will arrive in Tel Aviv on Monday, June 25, Kensington Palace announced in a statement released early on Friday. Besides Israel, the Duke of Cambridge will also visit Jordan and the Palestinian territories. “The visit is at the request of Her Majesty’s Government and has been welcomed by the Jordanian, Israeli, and Palestinian authorities,” the statement read. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip spent five days in Jordan in 1984, but have never visit Israel or the Palestinian territories....

Syrian Democratic Forces initiated ground operations for phase two of Operation Roundup to defeat Daesh remnants in northeastern Syria today, the US-led coalition said on Sunday. The coalition said the SDF operation is also helped by Iraqi air and artillery strikes. “The SDF ground offensive, aimed at clearing Dashisha, is bolstered by coordinated Coalition cross-border air and artillery strikes, and our Iraqi partners' strikes by the Iraqi Air Force and Iraqi Army artillery positioned near the border.” “Iraqi Security Forces have also enhanced their border presence to prevent the escape of Daesh members from Syria into Iraq,” the statement added....

Mr Assad's comment reportedly came as he met the North's new ambassador to Syria. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad plans to make a state visit to North Korea, the North's state news agency says. It would be the first time North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has hosted a head of state since assuming power in 2011. He has undertaken a flurry of diplomatic activity recently, meeting China's president in May, and is expected to attend a summit with Donald Trump this month. Syria, an ally of the North, has made no comment on the reported plan. The two countries have been...

The Russian military has finally offered an explanation for its mysterious, and brief, deployment of Su-57 stealth fighter prototypes to Syria in February. The Su-57s conducted "practical" test launches of "promising multipurpose tactical cruise missiles," Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu said during a May 25 address in Moscow. But there are good reasons to believe Shoigu's explanation is a lie. The Kremlin seems determined to portray its stealth fighters in the best possible light as prospects fade for mass-production of the troubled warplanes. Two of the Russian air force's twin-tail, twin-engine Su-57s spent two days at Hmemmem Air Base in...

A new film, “The Truth About Gaza,” contests the establishment media’s coverage of the violent incursion at the Gaza border May 14, which took place on the 70th anniversary of what the Palestinian’s call “Nakba Day,” or the “Day of Catastrophe,” in which an estimated 700,000 Arabs fled their homes as Arab nations attacked Israel upon its independence. Shaw says in the 22-minute film’s opening that while he was in Israel he “investigated the reality of the Palestinian situation and Hamas, and found “it’s nothing like the news media portrays, and I’m so tired of the biased reporting that I’ll...

CNN appears to be on a mission to help Hamas destroy Israel. CNN has spent the past month actively assisting Hamas terrorists with media propaganda dissemination as the terrorists continue their attempt to overtake Israel. CNN headlines always point the finger at Israel as a culprit, and always shower Palestinian terrorists with white lies to bolster them. CNN stories are propagandizing art. A story about months of continuous attacks on Israeli border and infrastructure by terrorists and their recruits becomes a story of a nurse killed due to Israeli overreaction to what CNN described as “largely unarmed” “protests,” a regurgitation of Hamas...

The courage in facing Iran and countering its policies is no longer just measured by the decisions taken outside it. Some states decided to directly confront national security challenges posed by Iran’s policies in the region and elsewhere — namely Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, the United States, European Union and Great Britain. In Yemen, there are popular and tribal elites, parties and blocs that support the legitimate power and confront Iran and its project. In Iraq, Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr re-established the country’s political identity in a manner that opposes Iran’s project that aims to dominate over Mesopotamia. Lebanon might be...

Persian and Jewish people have had friendly relations since biblical times.  Emperor Cyrus liberated Jewish exiles in Babylon and helped rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.  More recently, the Shah of Iran and Israel planned a pipeline from Eilat on the Red Sea to Ashdod on the Mediterranean to supply Iranian oil to Israel and bypass the Suez Canal. Things have changed, and in dealing with the hostile regime in Tehran, Israel's aim has been twofold: to interdict weapons transfers to Hezb'allah and to keep Iranian ground forces away from its northern border. Several weeks ago, DEBKA, a military intelligence website based...

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – US forces have reached on the top of Mount Sinjar (Shingal) to establish a new a military base, a Kurdish Ezidi official said on Friday. “Today, 15 military vehicles of US troops arrived on top of Mount Shingal and stationed themselves near Mira peak on the mountain,” Jalal Khalo, deputy mayor in Shingal, told Kurdistan 24. The US forces are preparing to build a military base on the mountain, Khalo added. Mount Shingal is one of the most strategic locations in Iraq, lying near the border with Syria and 125 km west of Mosul. The Kurdish...

At the outpost, American soldiers watched a column of tanks and other armored vehicles turn and drive toward them around 10 p.m., emerging from a neighborhood of houses where they had tried to gather undetected. A half-hour later, the Russian mercenaries and Syrian forces struck. The Conoco outpost was hit with a mixture of tank fire, large artillery and mortar rounds, the documents show. The air was filled with dust and shrapnel. The American commandos took cover, then ran behind dirt berms to fire anti-tank missiles and machine guns at the advancing column of armored vehicles. For the first 15...

According to a report in a leading Arabic website, Moscow has given its consent to Israeli military strikes deep in Syrian territory. Al-Sharq al-Awsat reported Friday that Moscow and Jerusalem held talks Thursday concerning Syria and agreed to “limit” the Iranian presence in the south of the country. Israeli counterpart Avigdor Liberman met met in Moscow with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, while Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Vladimir Putin spoke about Syria over the phone. The two sides agreed to “limit” Iran, keep its forces away from the south, and to allow the IDF to target "menacing...

<p>Remarks came after Assad told Russian broadcaster RT he would not hesitate to use force to retake the third of the country held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).</p> <p>The SDF, dominated by the militia of a self-proclaimed Kurdish autonomous administration, has air support from the US-led coalition against Daesh and backing from US and French special forces on the ground.</p>

Over the past 24-hours, the Iranian backed terrorist organization Hamas launched nearly 100 rockets and mortars into Israel with the intention of slaughtering innocent civilians. Israeli Defense forces responded by targeting a series of Hamas strongholds in the Gaza Strip. This illustration depicts the rockets and mortars that terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip fired at Israeli civilians pic.twitter.com/kZvxyq5NkW— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) May 30, 2018 This video shows some of the terror targets that the IDF struck during the last 24 hours pic.twitter.com/ImvH1iczwn— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) May 30, 2018 A close look at the rockets shows many were developed and sent by...