Free Republic

As The Post's Liz Sly recently noted, the war in Syria has become a tangled web of conflict dominated by "al Qaeda veterans, hardened Iraqi insurgents, Arab jihadist ideologues and Western volunteers." On the surface, those competing actors are fueled by an overlapping mixture of ideologies and political agendas. Just below it, experts suspect, they're powered by something else: Captagon. A tiny, highly addictive pill produced in Syria and widely available across the Middle East, its illegal sale funnels hundreds of millions of dollars back into the war torn country's black market economy each year, likely giving militias access to...

In seven months of secret debriefings, Saddam Hussein admitted that he faked having weapons of mass destruction but planned on developing a weapons of mass destruction program with nuclear capability within a year. Saddam made the admissions in videotaped interviews with George L. Piro, an FBI agent who was assigned by the FBI with the CIA’s approval to try to develop his cooperation. For my book "The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to the Next Attack" — being published this week — Piro described the debriefings, which have never been previously revealed. [To get Ronald Kessler's new book, go...

Footage of Masyaf shows missile shaped items; IAEA urges Syria to let inspectors visit reactor that IAF destroyed in 2007. A compound in western Syria with buildings and hundreds of missile-shaped items has been identified as functionally related to a nuclear reactor Israel destroyed northeast of Damascus in 2007. Satellite footage of the site in Masyaf was obtained by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security and shows a compound built in a ravine and surrounded by what appears to be a line of trenches. While there are no security measures visible in the commercial satellite imagery, ISIS said...

Jane’s Defence Weekly reports that Hezbollah has built a runway in the morthern Bekaa Valley to be used for drones, likely Iranian-made UAVs. New satellite images shows the runway in an area 10 kilometers south of the Lebanese village of Hermel.
Jane’s states: The short length of the runway suggests the facility is not intended to smuggle in weapons shipments from Syria or Iran as it is too short for nearly all the transport aircraft used by the air forces of those countries. An alternative explanation is that the runway was built for Iranian-made UAVs, including the Ababil-3, which has been...

Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah group, a close ally of the Syrian regime, is redeploying its forces ahead of possible US strikes on Damascus, according to witnesses in Lebanon. The reports come as the daily Al-Akhbar, which is close to both Hezbollah and the Syrian regime, said on Monday that the group had "called on all its officers and members to man their positions." Residents speaking to AFP in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre said there appeared to be a general mobilisation of the group's members, even if such a movement was not being publicly discussed. Many Hezbollah fighters have disappeared...

U.S. intelligence suspects Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction have finally been located. Unfortunately, getting to them will be nearly impossible for the United States and its allies, because the containers with the strategic materials are not in Iraq. Satellite photo of hundreds of trucks systematically leaving an Iraqi weapons dump, early 2003. Instead they are located in Lebanon’s heavily-fortified Bekaa Valley, swarming with Iranian and Syrian forces, and Hizbullah and ex-Iraqi agents, Geostrategy-Direct.com will report in Wednesday’s (Sept. 2, 2003) weekly edition. U.S. intelligence first identified a stream of tractor-trailer trucks moving from Iraq to Syria to Lebanon in...

The Obama administration finally highlights Iran’s key role in supporting al Qaeda On July 28, the Treasury Department designated six al Qaeda operatives involved in shipping money and men from the Persian Gulf to senior al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The move targets a node of the global terror network that is critical to its overall strength, freezing any of its financial assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting any transactions with the operatives. Of the many conduits for al Qaeda funds and personnel across the world, the U.S. government believes this one is the most important. “This network...

Israeli defense experts were still sounding alarms this week over Google Earth images made public Friday by the Israeli daily Haaretz. The satellite photos, taken March 22, show Scud missiles ready for deployment at a Syrian base at Adra, where earlier reports suggest Syria is training Hezbollah militants in the use of missiles that threaten large parts of Israel. The photos show five 11-meter-long Scuds at the Adra base. Three are on trucks in a car park. Two others are in a training area where 20 to 25 people can be made out along with about 20 vehicles. One of...

Western intelligence sources said the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has overseen the accumulation of a huge missile arsenal along the border with Lebanon. The sources said the arsenal included Scud C and Scud D missiles, with ranges of 550 and 700 kilometers, respectively. "The Scuds are kept just inside Syrian territory to avoid an Israeli attack," an intelligence source said. The sources said the Syrian military has been training the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah to operate the Scuds. They said some of the Scud missile infrastructure has been transferred to Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley. "If the Syrians want to, they...

With a startled shout from the outcrop above, the Hizballah fighter bounded down the rocky slope, cocked his AK-47 rifle in a dramatic flourish as he drew near. "What are you doing here?" he demanded, his face a mix of anger and astonishment. "This is a military zone. You should not be here." It turned out that the youthful militant had been guarding a small outpost created by the Shi'ite militia on a remote mountain top in south Lebanon. The location was well chosen, offering the Hizballah men commanding views over the hills and valleys of the southern Bekaa Valley,...

The Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah was believed to have received long-range variants of the Scud-class ballistic missile. Western intelligence sources said Syria has been supplying Hizbullah with the Scud C missile, with a range of 550 kilometers. They said a Syrian shipment of Scud Cs to Lebanon was detected in early 2010 in a transfer arranged and financed by Iran. "There is a stockpile of [Hizbullah] weapons, short-range, medium-range and perhaps even long-range missiles, and we are concerned," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said. Kouchner, in a French radio interview on May 2, did not provide details of the Syrian missile transfer...

Nearly four years after Hezbollah fought invading Israeli troops to a standstill in south Lebanon, the militant Shiite group says it's prepared for a fresh conflict and confident of victory. "We are ready for another war and we eagerly await it," says veteran Hezbollah fighter Abu Hadi on a drive through the Bekaa Valley. "We expect the next war to be short. The Israelis will not be able to endure what we will do to them." Hezbollah's leadership insists it does not seek a war and that its military preparations are a defense against potential Israeli aggression. Yet, the inconclusive...

Lebanon faces rising unrest amid renewed Syrian dominance. Officials said the restoration of Syrian ties with Lebanon has increased the flow of heavy weapons and equipment to militias linked to the regime of President Bashar Assad. They said this has sparked unrest in several areas of Lebanon, particularly Tripoli, Tyre and the Bekaa Valley. "The pro-Syrian forces in Lebanon have become bolder and more aggressive," an official said. On April 8, a battle was fought in the Bekaa Valley between factions of the Syrian-sponsored Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command. Officials said Syrian-trained and equipped Palestinian fighters employed...

Hezbollah has dispersed its long-range-rocket sites deep into northern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, a move that analysts say threatens to broaden any future conflict between the Islamist movement and Israel into a war between the two countries. More than 10,000 U.N. troops now patrol traditional Hezbollah territory in southern Lebanon along the Israeli border, and several thousand Lebanese armed forces personnel also have moved into the area. A cross-border raid by Hezbollah guerrillas in summer 2006 triggered a month-long war that prompted the United Nations to deploy its force as part of a cease-fire. The United Nations is confident...

It has been confirmed across the board that 18-wheelers were seen going into Syria before the war, crossing the border soon after Iraqi intelligence replaced the border guards and cleared nearby areas for their passage. There are also eyewitness reports of the trucks going into Syria, and eyewitness reports of their burial in Lebanon. The trucks with the weapons were tracked to three locations in Syria and Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, currently controlled by the Syrians, Iranians, and Hezbollah. Sources I've spoken with that have seen satellite photos of the movements confirm that the WMD in Syria are at military bases,...

A new Palestinian militant group whose members have been trained to carry out rocket-launching and bombing operations was reportedly formed in the southern refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh to carry out among others an attack on the Egyptian embassy. Al-Balad daily reported on Sunday that a Palestinian named Jamal Hamad formed the organization, which he named "Jihad movement for the victory of Gaza" with the assistance of Ghandi Sahmarani, a Lebanese wanted from the authorities on several terrorist charges. The newspaper said several militants from Jund al-Sham and Osbat al-Ansar have joined the new group. The militants have received training...

Damascus is preparing for a large-scale Israeli attack on Syria and Hizbullah, London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported Wednesday. According to the report, the Syrian army has been maneuvering its forces and drafting some of its reserve forces in preparation for such a contingency. Damascus has also raised the alert level along its borders, and has placed three armored divisions, nine infantry brigades and special forces near its border with Lebanon's Bekaa valley, fearing an Israeli infiltration there. The report claimed that this would be a strategic spot for Israeli ground forces to strike, as it is both a Hizbullah stronghold and...

If Sarkozy is serious about using French military power, he's got the perfect opportunity in Lebanon. With Lebanese encouragement and backing Sarkozy can introduce a strong French-backed European force of troops, planes, and ships to help resolve the Syrian-caused mess there. With this force, France can clean out the refugee camps. Next, the French-backed forces can clean out the Bekaa Valley. Third, Sarkozy will find a reason to attack Syria directly. Finally, as French forces invade from the south, in a coordinated action US armored forces sweep in from Iraq and march to the Mediterranean. While this is going on,...

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan announced Saturday night that the IDF activities in Baalbek constitute a violation of the UN cease-fire resolution that went into effect on Monday. In a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Annan discussed the Lebanese claims that Israel was in violation of UN Resolution 1701 after IDF troops raided Baalbek overnight Friday - less than a week after the ceasefire went into effect between Israel and Hizbullah. Less than a week after a cease-fire went into effect, soldiers from the Sayeret Matkal (General Staff Reconnaissance Unit) raided Baalbek deep in Lebanon overnight Friday and,...

The Prime Minister's Office said Saturday afternoon that the commando operation in Wadi village near Baalbek was necessary and not against the ceasefire: "We needed to carry out this operation, and it's good that we did so." Sources in the office also said, "The operation was necessary because Hizbullah is violating the ceasefire by smuggling Syrian and Iranian arms, which is against the agreement." In the operation, an IDF officer was killed and another two officers were injured, one critically, the other lightly. The Prime Minister's Office responded to claims made by Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora that Israel's actions...