Free Republic

Syrian military weakness, painfully exposed over the last few months, is the main reason for direct Russian intervention in the war – whether its goal is to strike at Islamic State or, more likely, to take on any rebel force fighting Bashar al-Assad in order to shore up his position and stave off demands that he step down. Officials and analysts say Moscow decided to deepen its involvement after the fall of the northern towns of Idlib and nearby Jisr al-Shughour in May served as a “wake-up call” about the parlous state of the Syrian army. Both were taken by...

Many Russian analysts maintain that Russia's intervention in Syria is driven by Vladimir Putin’s desire to reinstate the status of the world's largest nation as a superpower and his genuine belief that the United States has deliberately seeded chaos in the region to secure its reign there. While this assessment may be accurate, it only reveals part of the Russian president's intentions. Russia’s military engagement in Syria comes on the backdrop of three major factors: a serious threat to the survival of President Bashar Assad's regime, Russia's old Middle Eastern client; Putin's success at securing the occupation of Crimea and...

Executive Summary The Iranian nuclear deal is a full capitulation to Iran’s terrorist mastermind Mullahs, and the latest in a series of betrayals of the American people and allies by the Obama administration. At the highest level of the administration, Barack Obama’s Senior Advisor, the Iranian-born Valerie Jarrett, prioritized rapprochement with the terror state. Throughout the process and negotiations, she had the backing of billionaire investor (and Obama-backer) George Soros, and his multi-headed network of tax-exempt foundations. Their efforts were driven by deep-rooted anti-Semitism and personal greed. Meanwhile, since the mid-1990s, a small but very connected Iranian lobby (funded, in...

Vladimir Putin has conscripted 150,000 new troops into the Russian army as the country unleashed a new wave of airstrikes in Syria - while and Iran and Islamist group Hezbollah prepare for a major ground offensive. Hundreds of Iranian troops have arrived in Syria over the last ten days, backed by the country's Lebanese allies, Hezbollah, and rebel fighters from Iraq and Afghanistan, two Lebanese sources claimed today. One of the sources said the Iranian ground forces were 'soldiers and officers', not advisers, adding: 'We mean hundreds with equipment and weapons. They will be followed by more.' They are being...

We Are Watching The Lost The Entire Middle East To Russia & Iran The Administration did not destroy ISIS when we had the chance. Russia is now going to destroy ISIS in no time flat with the help of Iran. Russia and Iran will probably control Iraq, Syria, and who knows what other countries?

The Liwa Suqour al-Jabal, one of the CIA-backed groups, said it had been hit by 20 missiles in its base in Idlib province. Among the dead from Wednesday’s strikes was said to be a prominent rebel leader in north Homs province, Captain Iyad al-Deek, a former regime officer who defected early in the uprising. The rebels have promised to take the fight to the Russians, some in blood-curdling comments online. “Is it not time for the knight to mount his steed? Is it not time to cut off the heads? What are we waiting for? What remains?” said one man,...

Russia's Lavrov on Syria targets: 'If it looks like a terrorist, walks like a terrorist ...' By Don Melvin and Susannah Cullinane, CNN Updated 2:00 PM ET, Thu October 1, 2015 | Video Source: CNN (CNN)Russia's airstrikes in Syria "do not go beyond ISIL (ISIS), al Nusra or other terrorist groups recognized by the United Nations Security Council or Russian law," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday. Pushed to define "other terrorist groups," Lavrov said: "If it looks like a terrorist, if it acts like a terrorist, if it walks like a terrorist, if it fights like a terrorist,...

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told FRANCE24 in an exclusive interview on Thursday that he is open to allowing Russia to carry out air strikes against Islamic State group militants in Iraq. "Not yet. It is a possibility. If we get the offer, we will consider it," Abadi told FRANCE24. "It is in our interest to share information with Russia. Russia has a lot of information. The more information we gather the more I can protect the Iraqi people," Abadi added. On Wednesday, Russian warplanes began air strikes in neighbouring Syria, saying it would hit the Islamic State group "and...

The Soros-sponsored "White Helmets," one of the largest NGOs operating on the territory of Syria, is busy with cooking up lies instead of protecting the human rights of the Syrian people. The "White Helmets," a controversial quasi-humanitarian organization, is playing dirty in Syria: the NGO has been spotted fabricating "evidence" of Russia's "disastrous" involvement in Syria. The organization has published a photo on its Twitter account, depicting a bleeding girl claiming that the poor child was injured together with a number of civilians during the Russian airstrike launched on September 30. "Russia strike in Homs today. 33 civilians killed including...

Syrians living in rebel-held areas of Homs province have seen a lot of destruction in four years of war, but say the Russian air force unleashed a whole new level of devastation in air strikes on their towns on Wednesday. Jets flying at higher altitudes than the Syrian air force emitted no noise to alert the people below to raids reported to have killed at least 33 civilians, including children. "We have been exposed to a wide range of weapons over the last five years, but what happened today was absolutely the most violent and ferocious, and the most comprehensive...

Fox News is exclusively reporting that Russia has demanded American warplanes exit Syrian airspace immediately, as Russia begins its bombing campaign on behalf of Bashar Assad.

'Russia gave Israel advance notice of its airstrikes in Syria' Israel did not receive any information on where specifically the strikes would occur. By YAAKOV LAPPIN \ 09/30/2015 17:43 Russia gave Israel advance notice of its impending air strikes in Syria on Wednesday, western defense sources said. For the first time, Russia launched air strikes against Islamic State in Syria on Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin secured his parliament's unanimous backing to intervene to prop up the Kremlin's closest Middle East ally. Israel did not receive any information on where geographically the strikes would occur.

The Sunni extremist group currently wreaking havoc across Syria and Iraq announced it has established an Islamic caliphate across the two countries. Here's what you need to know.

Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday rebuffed Russia's demand that U.S. warplanes leave Syrian airspace to make way for their own airstrikes, saying coalition forces are not going anywhere. "These strikes will continue," Kerry said. Kerry spoke at a United Nations Security Council meeting chaired by his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, with whom he reportedly spoke before the meeting. The meeting followed a dramatic escalation in the Syrian conflict, as Russia began bombarding opposition targets inside the country. Speaking in New York, Kerry said he was prepared to welcome Russia's actions if they are directed only at the Islamic...

<p>Warplanes have carried out air strikes in Hama, Homs and Latakia in what Russia's powerful Orthodox Church has termed a "holy battle".</p> <p>“Russian and Syrian airplanes carried out numerous strikes today against terrorist positions in Hama, Homs and Latakia provinces,” according to a Syrian security source.</p>

President Obama and Russian Czar President Vladimir Putin went into a room at UN headquarters mano a mano and whatever happened behind those closed doors, one man came out the victor.  And it wasn’t Obama. Putin took over Syria, and that’s that. Charles Krauthammer blamed it on the “utter passivity of the United States,” that has allowed ISIS to attract 7,000 new jihadis in the last few months alone.  Some of them are from the U.S., and some of them are from Russia.  While we hand-wring our way into irrelevance, Russia is determined never to let ISIS fighters back into their country. "The irony...

NEW YORK -- Defending Bashar Assad as the only "legitimate" leader of the Syrian state, Russian President Vladimir Putin recommitted Moscow's support to his government on Monday in a speech to the United Nations. In his first address to the assembly hall in a decade, Putin chided western powers for their efforts to undermine Assad, who has presided over a country now four and a half years enmeshed in violent civil war. According to the UN, over 210,000 Syrians have died since 2011, and half of the country's population has been displaced. "We should finally acknowledge that no one but...

MOSCOW, September, 30, by TASS The President of Russia Vladimir Putin submitted to the Federation Council [upper house of the parliament] a proposal to issue a bill to allow him using abroad the Russian Armed Forces on the basis of "universally recognised principles and regulations of the international law" as the Kremlin's press centre has informed. [...] The Upper House's speaker Valentina Matviyenko [Mut-vee-yEn-koh] said the Federation Council was considering the issue in a closed session.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani is publicly holding American Pastor Saeed Abedini and the other wrongfully imprisoned Americans as hostages, demanding ransom for their freedom. Yesterday, Rouhani told CNN: “If the Americans take the appropriate steps and set [a number of Iranians in the United States who are imprisoned] free, certainly the right environment will be open and the right circumstances will be created for us to do everything within our power and our purview to bring about the swiftest freedom for the Americans held in Iran as well. . . . If the Americans take the appropriate actions vis-a-vis Iranian...

"There cannot be a return to the prewar status quo. Let's remember how this started. Assad reacted to peaceful protests by escalating repression and killing that in turn created the environment for the current strife." "When a dictator slaughters tens of thousands of his own people, that is not one nation's internal affairs - it affects us all," Obama said, before turning his fire on IS. "Likewise, when a terror group beheads captives, slaughters innocents and enslaves women… it is an assault on all our humanity."