Free Republic

A new Islamic State is being constituted in Syria, and no one is paying attention—yet. “There’s a second Islamic State that has emerged,” says Theo Padnos. “…Nobody knows what is happening in the northwestern corner of Syria. I know because I’m in touch with some of these people, and they’re making videos all the time. We just haven’t connected the dots.” Padnos is a freelance journalist who, in 2012, was kidnapped in Syria and held captive by elements of al-Qaeda and al-Nusra Front. He was released two years later, following negotiations led by the head of Qatar State Security. In...

Syrian Crisis: President Obama asks Congress to save him from his own mess on America's stance toward a terrorist state. Has he given one credible reason why the egg should be on members' faces too? The liberal Think Progress blog's count Thursday found nearly 200 congressmen leaning against Obama's request to approve a strike on Syria, and fewer than 50 leaning in favor. It called this "a drastic change that has occurred literally overnight." But with the president using the bully pulpit to make the case for this supposed national security priority, how can this be? The last straw for...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2010 – Iraqi police arrested nine terrorism suspects in combined operations with U.S. advisors in recent days, military officials reported. Police arrested three suspected terrorists yesterday in a rural area northeast of Baghdad during an operation conducted to capture a regional leader of Jaysh al-Mahdi, an Iranian-backed terrorist group. Acting on a warrant issued by an Iraqi judge, the 3rd Emergency Response Unit and U.S. advisors searched two buildings for the suspected leader of several cells responsible for committing crimes such as kidnappings for ransom to raise money for weapons and supplies used in attacks against security...

WASHINGTON, May 4, 2009 – U.S. forces captured two suspected terrorists during operations in Baghdad May 1 and 2, according to Multinational Corps Iraq officials. In the Adhamiyah district of Baghdad, coalition forces detained a suspect during an early early morning raid May 2. The troops were acting on a warrant issued by the Iraqi government. The suspect was wanted in connection with the manufacture and distribution of improvised explosive devices. He was detained by soldiers with 5th Cavalry Regiment, attached to 1st Cavalry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team. Once in custody, he was turned over to Iraqi security forces...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2009 – Iraqi police, Iraqi army and Multinational Division Baghdad Soldiers seized multiple weapons and munitions caches in Baghdad Jan. 10, officials in Iraq reported. - Iraqi Army soldiers serving with 1st Battalion, 25th Brigade, 17th Iraq Army Division discovered a weapons cache south of Baghdad yesterday. It consisted of SA-7 missiles and SA-7 thermal batteries and was turned over to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armor Division, to be destroyed. - Sons of Iraq members discovered a 60 mm mortar tube and a smoke grenade about 20 minutes later in Dhamiyah. - Northwest of Bagdad, Iraqi...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2008 – Coalition forces in Iraq detained nine suspected terrorists, including two alleged al-Qaida in Iraq leaders, and found an improvised explosive device during operations in Baghdad and the Hamrin Mountains region of Diyala province today, military officials reported. A suspected terrorist leader who reportedly just returned to Iraq after trying to escape arrest during a trip to Syria was captured in Baghdad. The man is believed to be a regional al-Qaida in Iraq leader who orchestrates assassinations of Iraqis and allegedly moves foreign terrorists into Iraq to conduct attacks, officials said. Information from a July 29...

WASHINGTON, June 15, 2008 – Coalition and Iraqi forces captured suspected terrorists and seized several weapons caches across Iraq during the past three days, military officials said. In operations today: –- Iraqi soldiers discovered a large weapons cache in the Rashid district of Baghdad. The cache consisted of scores of 122 mm rockets with fuses, components to make several hundred explosively formed projectiles, blocks of C-4 explosives, and sticks of TNT. During operations yesterday: –- Iraqi soldiers discovered a large explosives cache after an intelligence-driven raid on the western side of Mosul. The cache consisted of 80 mm mortar rounds,...

WASHINGTON -- An Al Qaeda figure killed in a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan last week is believed to have been an Algerian allegedly involved in training militants and plotting attacks against the West, officials said Friday. The Algerian, known by the nickname Abu Sulayman Jazairi, apparently died May 14 in the strike that killed as many as 14 people and destroyed a compound near the village of Damadola, an Al Qaeda stronghold in northwestern Pakistan, officials said. A knowledgeable U.S. official and a senior European anti-terrorism official said Jazairi was thought to be dead.U.S. anti-terrorism forces are targeting front-line planners...

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2008 – Iraqi soldiers and coalition forces detained 10 suspects in separate operations throughout Iraq today. -- A platoon from 2nd Iraqi Army Division, advised by U.S. Special Forces, detained two suspected insurgents in Qayyarah. Both men allegedly are responsible for supporting insurgent activities in northern Iraq by providing al Qaeda with money and supplies, as well as facilitating the movement of foreign fighters toward Mosul. -- Coalition forces captured two alleged terrorists, including an individual suspected of coordinating and conducting improvised explosive device attacks in the Tigris River Valley, during an operation in Sharqat. -- In...

BAGHDAD, March 5, 2008 – Coalition forces detained 22 suspects today during operations to disrupt al Qaeda networks operating in northern and central Iraq. In the western part of Ninevah province, coalition forces detained two suspects, one of them an alleged associate of al Qaeda networks in northern Iraq. He reportedly is responsible for the facilitation of finances to networks throughout the Mosul area and is associated with several senior-level foreign terrorist facilitators. In Mosul, coalition forces captured another alleged associate of the wanted individual. The Mosul suspect reportedly is connected to foreign terrorist facilitation and smuggling networks in the...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18, 2008 – The concerned local citizens groups in Iraq have made a huge impact in areas that were once al Qaeda fiefdoms, and the program is expanding to include the economic aspects of the counterinsurgency fight, Army Col. Wayne W. Grigsby Jr. said today during a phone interview from Iraq. Grigsby commands the 3rd Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team. He is responsible for an area east of Baghdad that is the size of Rhode Island. Grigsby’s area of operations contains a mix of Shiia and Sunni neighborhoods, and the concerned local citizens program has brought security....

BAQOUBA, Iraq – Iraqi Security Forces teamed with Task Force Lightning units, Thursday, to clear Baqouba and surrounding areas as Operation Arrowhead Ripper continued.   “We are shoulder-to-shoulder with Iraqi Security Forces in this fight,” said Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, deputy commanding general, operations, and commander of Operation Arrowhead Ripper.  “Specifically the 5th Iraqi Army Division led by Maj. Gen. Saleem Kariem Ali Alotbei, along with the provincial director of police, Maj. Gen. Ganim, have provided the Iraqi security forces to the fight.   The weeks ahead are absolutely key in not only holding and retaining the ground that is...

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2007 – A terrorist bomb-builder was killed with three accomplices during a coalition raid near Taji, Iraq, today, U.S. officials said, and other operations over the last few days netted more terror suspects and weapons. One of the individuals killed in the Taji raid was a suspected vehicle-bomb cell leader with alleged ties to al Qaeda in Iraq senior leaders. Two others detained in the raid also have alleged ties to al-Qaeda in Iraq, officials said. Coalition forces also detained two suspected terrorists today during separate raids targeting a vehicle-bomb network in Mosul. Four other suspected...

Militants' training camps wiped out By Rahul Bedi in New Delhi (Filed: 10/10/2005) Training camps used by jihadists battling with the Indian army for control of Kashmir were buried by landslides or left in ruins by the earthquake, bringing hope of a new opportunity for peace-making after a 16-year Islamic insurgency. India and Pakistan, nuclear rivals who both lay claim to Kashmir in its entirety, have fought two of their three wars over the territory. Security analysts said yesterday that the earthquake in Pakistan's highly-militarised Kashmir region had "significantly depreciated'' the insurgents' capacity to carry on their fight for independence...

Al Qaeda is not so much focused on an immediate radical Islamic revolution in the Middle East as they are on laying the groundwork for such a revolution, Near Eastern Studies professor Michael Doran GS '97 told a packed Dodds Auditorium on Monday. "They have a tremendous longterm view of things," Doran said. They seek to influence the state in the direction of radical Islam over time, he added. Doran is a leading scholar on Middle East issues, including terrorism, U.S. foreign policy and the Arab-Israeli conflict. His lecture, titled "Al Qaeda's Grand Strategy (and Ours Too)," highlighted the sophistication...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Before he was slain Friday night by Saudi security forces, Abdulaziz al-Moqrin was an angry young man regarded as an up-and-coming figure in the world of international terrorism. Moqrin, who grew up in Riyadh's Suweidi district, joined Jordan-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose terror cell was responsible for dozens of car bombings in Iraq, as the most visible new leaders of a terrorist movement that had become more diffuse since U.S.-led troops destroyed the Afghanistan base of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida. Moqrin, who was believed to have a longtime relationship with bin Laden, was driven by revenge...

ABC television plans to observe the first anniversary of Sept. 11 by giving its airwaves over to daylong news on the aftermath of last year's suicide hijacking attacks and memorial events around the world, the network said April 30, 2002. It will mark the longest stretch of non-stop news on any of the major networks since the Big Four broadcasters suspended regular programs to air four straight days of commercial-free, round-the-clock coverage of the worst attacks on U.S. soil. Trade Center tower two is seen collapsing as tower one continues to burn in this September 11 file photo.Link to article...