Free Republic

Scientific team finds one of world's oldest cities 22 February 2007 MADRID - A Spanish scientific team found one of the world's oldest cities, thought to be about 5,500 years old, in Syria. The discovery, based on pottery fragments and other ceramics found at the site, was announced in Madrid by two of the scientists in charge of the investigation, Ignacio Marquez of Spain's CSIC scientific research council and Juan Luis Moreno of the Universidad de La Coruña. According to reports, the find is of "the highest level" of scientific importance because of its ramifications for the understanding of history...

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN)ISIS has closed off a dam to the north of the Iraqi city of Ramadi -- seized by its forces last month -- cutting water supplies to pro-government towns downstream and making it easier for its fighters to attack forces loyal to Baghdad, local officials and residents said. ISIS militants are opening only two or three of the dam's 26 gates on the Euphrates River for brief periods daily, the officials and residents said. The head of the security council in the town of Khalidiyah, Sheikh Ibrahim Khalaf al-Fahdawi, and two residents of the nearby town of Habbaniya...

Islamic State (ISIS) group jihadists have closed the gates of a dam in the Iraqi city of Ramadi which they seized last month, posing a humanitarian and security threat, officials said Tuesday. ISIS fighters have repeatedly attempted to control dams in Iraq, in some cases reducing the flow of water to areas under government control or flooding swathes of land to impede military operations, reports AFP. Anbar provincial council chief Sabah Karhout said ISIS "closed all the gates" at a dam in Ramadi, capital of Iraq's largest province. The move lowered the level of the Euphrates River and cut water...

The Zeugma excavation project conducted by Oxford Archaeology and supported by Packhard Humanities Institute and the Ministry of Culture of Turkey has recently unearthed three ancient Greek mosaics in the Turkish city of Zeugma. Zeugma had received some press and support in 2000 after flooding caused by construction began to bury and damage artifacts in the region. The mosaics, created in the 2nd century BC, are constructed of boldly colored glass and are being covered for protection until excavation is complete. The head of the project, Professor Kutalmis Görkay, recently gave the Hurriyet Daily News more details about the plan...

ASSOCIATED PRESS An Iraqi scientist has told U.S. interrogators that her team destroyed Iraq's stock of anthrax in 1991 by dumping it practically at the gates of one of Saddam's main palaces, but never told U.N. inspectors for fear of angering the dictator. Rihab Rashid Taha's decision in 2003 to remain silent stoked suspicions of those who contended Iraq still harbored biological weapons, contributing to the U.S. decision to invade Iraq two years ago this month. "Whether those involved understood the significance and disastrous consequences of their actions is unclear," the CIA-led Iraq Survey Group says of Mrs. Taha and...

The militant group called the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria seemed to surprise many American and Iraqi officials with the recent gains it made in its violent campaign to create a new religious state. But the victories achieved in the past few weeks were built on months of maneuvering along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which define a region known as the cradle of civilization.

The crisis revolves around the Euphrates River, which quickly became the Euphrates Creek when Turkey completely cut off the water flow upstream of Syria, reported Al Akhbar on May 30. The Euphrates originates in Turkey and passes through the Atatürk Dam before flowing into Syria and Iraq. By cutting off the flow and directing it into the reservoir, Turkey has lowered water levels downstream

"The Turkish government recently cut off the flow of the Euphrates River, threatening primarily Syria but also Iraq with a major water crisis."

The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, al Qaeda in Iraq's affiliate in Syria, led an assault today that resulted in the takeover of a major dam on the Euphrates River in northern Syria. Additionally, the terror group claimed credit for a suicide assault on an intelligence headquarters in the city of Palmyra. The Al Nusrah Front spearheaded today's assault on the "strategic" dam in Thawra in Raqqa province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Nusrah Front led "other factions" of the insurgency to take control of Thawra, which "is considered one of the...

According to the head of the national archeological mission working at the site Thayer Yerta, carved panels and archeological findings dating back to the beginning of the agricultural revolution in the 10th Millennium B.C. were unearthed at Tel al-Abar 3 site, left bank of the Euphrates River, the panels are made from chlorites (green precious stone) with different engravings and figures. He added that "one of these panels portrayed an eagle with wings spread wide and snake-form sculptures on the two sides. Another panel has an abstract sculpture of three eagle sculptures spreading their wings behind which the sun appears."...

AL KHIDR — After 25 years of neglect, this community with a population of 50,000 has received a boost to its quality of life with the opening of a new covered pedestrian bridge. The bridge, spanning the Euphrates River and linking both sides of this city in Muthanna province, was dedicated during a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Aug. 18. The construction of the $360,000, 132-meter long bridge was managed by the South District of the Gulf Region Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers here. “This bridge will provide a critical service to Al Khidr residents who suffered for a long time from...

Iraq Suffers as the Euphrates River Dwindles By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON JUBAISH, Iraq — Throughout the marshes, the reed gatherers, standing on land they once floated over, cry out to visitors in a passing boat. “Maaku mai!” they shout, holding up their rusty sickles. “There is no water!” The Euphrates is drying up. Strangled by the water policies of Iraq’s neighbors, Turkey and Syria; a two-year drought; and years of misuse by Iraq and its farmers, the river is significantly smaller than it was just a few years ago. Some officials worry that it could soon be half of what it...

A team of Soldiers from Company A, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division patrol the Euphrates River during a demonstration at Patrol Base Kemple, May 5, 2008. Photo by 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (AA) Public Affairs. CAMP STRIKER — Most Soldiers who join the Army can honestly say they would have never imagined patrolling the Euphrates River in a boat. Some Soldiers will soon be able to say they’ve done just that.Company A, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), is training to...

(IsraelNN.com) Israeli TV Channel 1 said Tuesday that the IDF "definitely carried out an attack" against Syria last Thursday. The attack was meaningful, the channel's military affairs reporter said, and was probably carried out against a large and important target that justified taking this kind of extreme action at such a sensitive time in Israeli-Syrian relations. The target hit was in the Deir Ez-Zour region in eastern Syria, near the Euphrates river. The attack was carried out by Israel Air Force (IAF) F-15i jets (The 'i' stands for 'Israel') referred to in Hebrew as Ra'am, or 'thunder.' Anti-aircraft fire from...

AL RAFTA, Iraq (June 4, 2007) -- The quiet current of the Euphrates River was interrupted by a low hum. Two men in a small fishing boat moved along the river. Unseen to the fishermen, Marines stood alongside a crumbling aqueduct waving the men to the shore. Any insurgents moving along the Euphrates River that day were trapped. The Marines of third platoon, Charlie Company, Task Force 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 2, blocked the Euphrates River access while Weapons Company 1/4, searched houses north of the river for insurgents. “We were intercepting anyone trying to flee from...

BAGHDAD ? From a distance it looks like a classic summer scene: boaters enjoying an afternoon on the river, taking an occasional dip to cool from the sun. But that?s far from the real situation occurring on the Euphrates River near Camp Habbaniyah, Iraq. The seemingly placid scene is actually is a new initiative to prevent improvised explosive devices from entering the area. The boaters and swimmers are actually Soldiers in the Iraqi Army receiving small boat operator, or coxswain, training they requested from their American Military Transition Team counterparts. Preventing insurgents from transporting IEDs on the Euphrates River is...

In case you haven't been keeping up -- and, as it's August, who could blame you? -- the Anglican Communion is still doing its utmost to make the Catholic conversation look civil and decent by comparison. As plans develop for the early November inaugural of Presiding Bishop-elect Katharine Jefferts Schori, the latest developments have a representative of archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams slated to meet in New York with six bishops of the Episcopal church (four dissidents, the PB and PB-elect), a Virginia cleric ordained under the aegis of the church of Nigeria (with the blessing of the conservative...

BAGHDADI, Iraq (Aug. 17, 2006) -- After 30 recent graduates from the Iraqi police academy came to Baghdadi, Iraq, residents in this Saddam-era military housing complex are expressing interest in joining the police force because they are noticing a decrease in insurgent activity. Marines with the Hawaii-based 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, or “America’s Battalion”, are combating the insurgency with local police officers – who recently received “much needed” new gear to get the job done – pistols, protective vests, rifles and batons to use while patrolling the city’s streets. Soon they will receive radios and police cars, said Maj....

HADITHA, Iraq (July 7, 2006) -- In Iraq, a country where temperatures often soar above 110 degrees and terrain is mostly fine grains of sand, Cpl. Derek Metallo never thought he’d find himself patrolling Al Anbar province in a boat when he arrived three months ago. Metallo, a 27-year-old Marine reservist from Jacksonville, Fla., is part of a team of Marines who patrol the Euphrates River by boat, providing security to the Haditha Dam – one of the country’s largest sources of electrical power and home to the Hawaii-based 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment’s headquarters. The dam provides electricity to...

FOB KALSU, Iraq (Army News Service, March 13, 2005) – Iraqis celebrated the reopening last week of the Musayib Bridge, located about 45 kilometers south of Baghdad, and officials said it will make traveling easier for residents of Babil province. The span, which runs over the Euphrates River in Iskandariyah, is the main thoroughfare for merchants, worshippers and families who travel north to Baghdad or south to Karbala. The bridge was destroyed one year ago by a terrorist car bomb. The reopening ceremony March 6 was attended by Salem Salh Mahdy, Babil province governor; Gen. Qais Kamza, Babil provincial police...