Free Republic

Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said on Thursday it would begin legal proceedings against Islamic State detainees transferred from Syria after the rapid collapse of Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria triggered concerns over prison security.The U.S. military said on Tuesday its forces had transferred 150 Islamic State detainees from Syria to Iraq and that the operation could eventually see up to 7,000 detainees moved out of Syria. It cited concerns over prison security after the military setbacks suffered by the Syrian Democratic Forces. An Iraqi military spokesperson confirmed that Iraq had received a first batch of 150 Islamic State detainees, including...

Pic of Kahlil The Trump administration is moving to deport Mahmoud Khalil, the Syrian born anti Israel activist and Columbia University graduate who was arrested by ICE, as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani publicly rallies behind him. video of Mamdani bloviating about Khalil's free speech Speaking at a press conference in Brooklyn, Mamdani insisted Khalil should be allowed to stay in New York, calling the planned deportation “an attack” and claiming it is part of a wider effort to silence speech tied to pro Palestinian activism. Khalil became a national figure after helping lead the aggressive anti Israel demonstrations...

@LindseyGrahamSC If Syrian government forces continue to advance in the north toward Raqqa, I will push for reimposing Caesar Act sanctions on steroids. Apparently no one in Syria is listening to me or other U.S. government officials. If this continues, not only will there be bone-crushing sanctions, it will permanently damage relationships between the U.S. and the new Syrian government. If you think we’re BSing - keep it up. I’ve tried to be fair to the new government, but apparently it’s falling on deaf ears. If you want a conflict with the U.S. Senate and to do permanent damage to...

An Islamist radical recruited to Somalia from Minneapolis inspired the would-be “Texas Terror” killers, who were gunned down in Garland, Texas Sunday night by a sharp-shooting law enforcement officer before they could carry out their mass-murder plot at an art exhibit sponsored by First Amendment heroine Pamela Geller. It’s just the latest example of how and why Minneapolis—and specifically the congressional district of Muslim Democrat Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) —has become ground zero for the threat to the United States from Islamist terror groups such as ISIS and Al-Shabaab. ... The terrorist threat emanates from the Minneapolis neighborhood known as...

RAQQA, Syria — The Syrian government Sunday announced a ceasefire with the Syrian Democratic Forces, taking almost full control of the country and dismantling the Kurdish-led forces that controlled the northeast for over a decade. The announcement comes as tensions between government forces and the SDF boiled over earlier this month, eventually resulting in a major push by government forces toward the east. The SDF appeared to have largely retreated after initial clashes on a tense front line area in eastern Aleppo province. Syria's Defense Ministry said it ordered the fighting to halt on the front lines after the agreement...

Newsdump Alert: Kurdish Forces In Syria Pushed Back By Government Forces Fighting In Recent Weeks Leading To Ceasefire The Kurdish forces in Syria former backed by the United States have been expelled from large areas of Syria by the jihadist central government supported by the US and Turkey... Newsdump Alert: Iran's Supreme Leader Links Trump To Deadly Rioting In Iran Trump Speaks Of Need For New Leadership In Iran... Senator Graham is associated with... Going Covert In The Culture War... The "Canada Update" lets watch this rendition of "Oh Canada"... "This is love not that we loved God but that...

Syria’s army has taken control of swathes of the country’s north, dislodging Kurdish forces from territory over which they held effective autonomy for more than a decade. State media said on Saturday that the army took over the northern city of Tabqa and its adjacent dam, as well as the major Freedom dam, formerly known as the Baath, west of the Syrian city of Raqaa. It came despite US calls to halt the advance. The government appeared to be extending its grip on Kurdish-run areas after the Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, issued a decree declaring Kurdish a national language and...

The Pentagon announced Saturday that a precision airstrike conducted the previous day (January 16) in northwest Syria killed Bilal Hasan al-Jasim, a leader affiliated with Al-Qaeda networks in the region. According to a statement from U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), al-Jasim was an experienced terrorist figure who had been involved in plotting attacks against U.S. and partner forces. He maintained direct operational connections to the ISIS gunman responsible for the deadly ambush on December 13, 2025, in Palmyra, Syria, which killed two U.S. soldiers and a civilian interpreter. This link reportedly facilitated coordination or support that enabled the attack, highlighting complex...

On Saturday, we learned from the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) that an Al-Qaeda affiliate who was in part responsible for the attack last December, which resulted in the deaths of two American service members and an interpreter, has been located in Syria and removed from play. Permanently.https://t.co/kTqYU5xMb4— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 17, 2026The CENTCOM release states:U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) conducted a strike in northwest Syria on Jan. 16, that resulted in the death of a leader affiliated with Al-Qaeda who had direct ties to an ISIS terrorist responsible for an ambush which killed two U.S. service members and...

Bilal Hasan al-Jasim was affiliated to gunman who killed 2 service members and interpreter in December attack U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Saturday a leader affiliated with al Qaeda, who had direct ties to an ISIS terrorist responsible for killing two U.S. service members and an American interpreter on Dec. 13, was killed in a U.S. strike in northwest Syria on Friday.CENTCOM officials said Bilal Hasan al-Jasim was an experienced terrorist leader who plotted attacks and was "directly connected" with the ISIS gunman who killed and injured American and Syrian personnel last month in Palmyra, Syria."The death of a...

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem has declared that the terror group will not give up its weapons, warning that such a move would mean "the end of Lebanon." According to Qassem, Hezbollah is prepared to pay additional prices in order to preserve its military capabilities. "The weapons in our hands are meant to defend ourselves, our resistance, our people, and our homeland," he said. Qassem also claimed that relinquishing the weapons would weaken Lebanon and advance Israel’s strategic objectives. Warning the Lebanese government against implementing plans to disarm militias, Qassem claimed such plans are being promoted under pressure from the United...

The first members of what would later become Iran’s fearsome revolutionary guards were trained in a quiet village outside Paris. Those close to the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who was in exile in Neauphle-le-Château, secretly began recruiting Iranian revolutionaries in the West to establish a “people’s army”. One of the group’s founders, Mohsen Sazegara, has told The Telegraph that the aim in 1978 was to gather loyalists prepared to confront the Shah’s regime head-on in Iran. The recruits first studied the theory of guerrilla warfare before being dispatched to Beirut and Damascus for military training. There, they learnt...

In Israel speculation...Netanyahu will take to impede his corruption trial... US Department of Justice sending subpoenas to Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey... US military active in a contested area of Syria in recent hours... Tonight the announcement of two boards to deal with implementation...Trump's Gaza Plan... The Trump Administration joining Governors of several states to pressure the nation's leading power grid... US House Ethics Committee looking into a complaint against Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace... The US Supreme Court will consider a limitation on liability for pesticide makers... Uganda's opposition leader Bobi Wine taken from his home... Israel's...

Iran is once again on fire. For the better part of the last month, Iranians have been taking to the streets in large numbers to demand change. The proximate cause for the protests was spiraling inflation, but as the crowds grew, Iranians clamored for the end of the Islamic regime. Despite the avalanche of speculation, no one knows what will happen in Iran. That is the nature of popular uprisings, they are unpredictable. To many analysts, journalists, pundits, and academics, this round of protests feels different from previous ones in 2009, 2017, 2019, and 2022—and maybe they are. Or maybe...

Despite attempting to cast himself as the moral arbiter of the Middle East, Turkish Islamic semi-dicrator President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to use regional instability to mask his domestic failures and pursue a transparently expansionist “Neo-Ottoman” agenda. 1. Exploiting the Syrian Power Vacuum While the fall of the Assad regime in late 2024 was a victory for the Syrian people, Erdogan has swiftly pivoted from “liberator” to occupier. Turkey was the primary backer of the Syrian National Army (SNA), a proxy force critics argue is more loyal to Ankara than to the Syrian revolution. Following Assad’s collapse, Erdogan’s forces launched...

After more than 2,000 Druze were killed in a brutal massacre, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri says Israel’s airstrikes halted the bloodshed, condemns Syria’s rulers as jihadists and calls for an independent Druze entity in Sweida

An Iranian protester told KAN Reshet Bet that many Iranians admire Netanyahu and Israeli strikes, while blaming economic collapse, repression, and inflation for the unrest. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently the most popular person in Iran, a Tehran resident told KAN Reshet Bet on Wednesday... They also told KAN that Iranians were "impressed" by Israeli strikes on Iran in June, as part of Operation Rising Lion, as the air force "focused only on regime infrastructure and did not harm civilians." ...The Iranian is an opponent of the Islamic Republic regime and has participated in demonstrations over the past 11...

Newsdump Alert: Syrian Government Announces New Unilateral Ceasefire In Aleppo Amidst Fighting With Kurdish Forces... Newsdump Alert: Son Of Deposed Shah Pushes Conflict In Iran... Newsdump Alert: At Least 25 Members Of Iranian Law Enforcement Killed In Rioting In Iran... There's a song about "abuse" Annie Lennox orange hair and all from the 1980's. I got chewed out... "The Epstein Files Transparency Act"... "There's something deep going on with Mark Levin..."...Tucker Carlson "Charlie and I had a two-minute exchange on Epstein and he worked for a foreign agency who would it have been and I said it would make sense...

"Affordability!" The word President Trump used to call a hoax from Democrats posted... A federal judge blocking the Trump Administration from freezing child care funds... "We are going to be doing something with Greenland the nice way or the more difficult way..."...Trump today... Four people wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack... Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggesting Israel will rely less on the US for military assistance... Syrian government forces on the attack... Minnesota authorities announcing their own investigation in the ICE agent killing of Renee Nicole Good... US Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer under investigation for an "inappropriate relationship"... Chart...

The Lebanese daily Al-Nahar on Jan. 3, 2026, quoted Lebanese Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Wehbe Katicha as saying that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro provided Lebanese Hizbullah with 10,000 Venezuelan passports, some of which were used by officers of Syria's Assad regime to flee the country.