Free Republic

'SAS TROOPS armed with sniper rifles and heavy machine guns have killed at least 200 evil Islamic State (ISIS) extremists in a series of deadly raids in the past year. Soldiers from the elite fighting unit have eliminated the barbaric terrorists in war-torn Syria and Iraq by calling in air strikes, carrying out deadly ambushes and using long-range sniper fire. They have even organised groups of Peshmerga fighters - forces in Iraqi Kurdistan who are fighting the blood-thirsty terror group - into guerrilla units. In one of the most effective raids British special forces destroyed an entire 20-vehicle fuel convoy,...

Hero SAS sniper saves father and eight-year-old son from being beheaded by ISIS maniac A HERO SAS sniper gunned down a knife-wielding Islamic State (ISIS) maniac just as he was trying to brutally behead a father and his young son. By Nick Gutteridge PUBLISHED: 02:29, Tue, Aug 11, 2015 | UPDATED: 08:52, Tue, Aug 11, 2015 The brave British marksman saved the terrified eight-year-old and his father after taking out the crazed jihadi with a head shot from 1,000 metres away. The special forces crack shot then killed two other members of the hated terror group, who were also taking...

A HERO SAS sniper gunned down a knife-wielding Islamic State (ISIS) maniac just as he was trying to brutally behead a father and his young son. The brave British marksman saved the terrified eight-year-old and his father after taking out the crazed jihadi with a head shot from 1,000 metres away. The special forces crack shot then killed two other members of the hated terror group, who were also taking part in the sick planned execution. ISIS militants had decreed that the little boy and his father must die after branding them "infidels" because they refused to denounce their faith....

Elite special forces are some of the best-trained and most formidable units a country can boast. They go where other soldiers fear to tread, scoping out potential threats, taking out strategic targets, and conducting daring rescue missions. These really are the best of the best. Although it's extremely difficult to rank these forces relative to one another, there are some units that rise above the rest in their track record and the fear they instill in their adversaries. These soldiers have been through rigorous training exercises designed to weed out those who can't hit their exacting standards. In a world...

NHS doctor from East London may hold the key to identifying the jihadi who beheaded James Foley. An NHS doctor from east London who was previously accused of kidnapping Western journalists in Syria may hold the key to identifying the jihadi who beheaded James Foley, intelligence sources have disclosed. Shajul Islam was arrested and charged with kidnapping a British journalist, John Cantlie, in 2012 but was released after his trial collapsed when Mr Cantlie was unable to give evidence. He had always protested his innocence, saying he went to Syria to use his medical skills to treat victims of the...

A dramatic international rescue mission of thousands of trapped refugees in northern Iraq was ‘far less likely’ this morning after the Government revealed huge numbers had already escaped across the border to Syria. David Cameron, returning from holiday 24 hours early to chair an emergency Cobra meeting in Downing Street, yesterday revealed Britain was working on ‘detailed plans’ to airlift up to 30,000 desperate Yazidis cornered by Islamic State extremists on Mount Sinjar. But the International Development Secretary Justine Greening confirmed this morning that American surveillance had revealed fewer people were left on the mountain than first feared. But she...

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"It was tense, hot and arduous ... it was kill or be killed." For sniper team leader Sergeant Garry Robinson - a veteran on his third deployment to Afghanistan - it was the most intense fighting he had experienced. The commandos were surrounded by more than 100 Taliban fighters and were pinned down by withering rocket propelled grenade and machinegun fire at one of the enemy's most secure fortresses in southern Afghanistan, the village of Chenartu in Shah Wali Kot. The rate of fire raking the dangerously exposed Diggers shocked even the most hardened soldiers in their ranks. ..... The...

The SAS were already fighting in Iraq on the eve of the Commons vote Soldiers were there to prevent a chemical weapons attack on Israel The SAS were involved in fierce fighting inside Iraq the day before the crucial Commons vote in 2003 that approved military action against Saddam Hussein’s regime, The Mail on Sunday can reveal today. As the tenth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War approaches, we have uncovered a trove of documents about the secret mission, including accounts of senior Special Forces personnel. Told here for the first time, this is the story of Operation...

'Jailed SAS sniper Danny Nightingale has walked free from court after his sentence was suspended following a successful appeal. Sergeant Nightingale was given 18 months military detention earlier this month after he admitted illegally possessing a Glock 9mm pistol and more than 300 rounds of ammunition. Now judges at the Court Martial Appeal Court in London said his sentence would be cut to 12 months and suspended. They said he could be released immediately.'

SAS veterans ask PM to intervene over "monstrous" jailing of war hero David Cameron has been urged to intervene to secure the release of a former SAS sniper who was jailed for possessing a pistol given to him as a present by Iraqi soldiers he trained. By Sam Marsden 2:46PM GMT 14 Nov 2012 Four high-profile British special forces veterans have written to the Prime Minister appealing for help to overturn a “monstrous miscarriage of justice” in the case of Sergeant Danny Nightingale. They compared his treatment by the judicial system to that given to Abu Qatada, the extremist cleric...

'They killed with apparent impunity, effortlessly dodging capture by the world’s deadliest special forces. Nothing, it seemed, could stop Al Qaeda’s two top Iraqi terrorists as they orchestrated a campaign of high-profile kidnappings, car bombings and executions in Baghdad and beyond. At the height of their reign, one of them, Maher Ahmed Mahmoud az-Zubeidi, better known by his alias Abu Rami, was believed to have been responsible for the murders of 200 people each month. Yet perhaps even more ferocious was his charismatic co-leader, Abu Uthman, whose exploits in two battles in Fallujah earned him the nickname Abu Nimr –...

Defence sources said the “surgical” operation showed the “precision, skill and courage” of British special forces after they stormed the cave where Helen Johnston, 28, was held, and killed her kidnappers. David Cameron spoke individually to the soldiers to thank them for an “extraordinarily brave” mission. He warned that anyone who took British citizens hostage faced “a swift and brutal end”. Miss Johnston, a committed Christian, along with Moragwa Oirere, a Kenyan colleague, and two Afghan women who worked for the same aid agency, were said to be physically well after their ordeal. Miss Johnston’s parents expressed their gratitude to...

This is a YouTube video I came across. During the 1970s, the Sultanate of Oman was threatened by Communist guerillas of the PFLOAG (Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arabian Gulf), and the UK sent SAS soldiers to help the government. On July 19, 1972, a SAS squad was stationed outside the town of Mirbat, in Dhofar province. They came under attack by several hundred Adoo (Communists), and they had to hold the line until support could arrive. Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxmtbMFGSXo&feature=autoplay&list=PL5FFDDFA750F39D0A&lf=results_main&playnext=4

A Briton and Italian held hostage for 10 months in northern Nigeria died Thursday, apparently killed by their captors before they could be rescued, the British prime minister said. Nigerian security forces, with support from Britain, launched an operation Thursday to free British citizen Chris McManus and Italian national Franco Lamolinara, Prime Minister David Cameron said. But the effort did not succeed.

SAS target Taliban using Royal Navy submarine technology The SAS is targetting Taliban insurgents and Afghan smugglers in the Helmand desert using Royal Navy technology designed to hunt down Soviet submarines, it can be disclosed. The Daily Telegraph has been allowed access to operations along supply routes that involve radar technology traditionally used to spot periscopes breaking the surface and missiles skimming across wave tops. Using a sack-like device with which helicopters carry the radar equipment, the Sea King airborne surveillance and control (Skasac) can spot camel trains, pickup trucks and insurgents on foot dozens of miles away. The Navy...

'A secret World War II diary of the British special forces unit, the SAS, has been kept hidden since it was created in 1946. Now it's being published for the first time to mark the 70th anniversary of the regiment. The BBC has exclusive access to the remarkable piece of history. It was 1946; World War II was over and so was the Special Air Service, better known as the SAS. Set up in 1941 by David Stirling, a lieutenant in the Scots Guards at the time, it had changed the way wars were fought, dispensing with standard military tactics...

Ex-SAS soldier John McAleese, who led the raid that ended the 1980 siege at Iran's embassy in London, has died. Mr McAleese, who was in his early 60s, died on Friday in Thessaloniki, Greece, the Foreign Office said. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14697819

British special forces are on the ground in Libya helping to spearhead the hunt for Col Muammar Gaddafi, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. As a £1 million bounty was placed on Gaddafi’s head, soldiers from 22 SAS Regiment began guiding rebel soldiers after being ordered in by David Cameron. For the first time, defence sources have confirmed that the SAS has been in Libya for several weeks, and played a key role in co-ordinating the fall of Tripoli. With the majority of the capital now in rebel hands, the SAS soldiers, who have been dressed in Arab civilian clothing and...

As Wisconsin heads toward lifting a ban on carrying concealed weapons, researchers at the University of California-Davis have turned up some unsettling information about those who may take advantage of the law. In a study using 15-year-old data -- the most recent available -- published online in the journal Injury Prevention, the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program says those who carried concealed weapons or who had confronted someone with a gun were twice as likely to be heavy drinkers than non-gun owners. Gun owners who drove with loaded weapons were four times more likely to hop behind the wheel...