http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/syria/ en-us Sat, 2 Jan 2010 07:01:35 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419374/posts There's good news and bad news for 2010. The good news is that there is a real hero of freedom in Iraq: a member of the Iraqi parliament named Mithal al-Alusi. In the Iraq war, one thing most Americans have wondered about is who really stands for the people and who, if anybody, still harbors those glowing embers of freedom that ultimately overthrew Soviet totalitarianism. (That's the one our kids don't learn about in school anymore because it might make America look good.) Is it really true that Iraqis wanted their freedom after three decades of Saddam Hussein's brutal fascism?... American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419374/posts#comment Sat, 2 Jan 2010 07:01:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415615/posts Three bombs planted under a car exploded south of Beirut on Saturday, killing one person and wounding several others in an attack that apparently targeted an official from the Palestinian terror group Hamas, the state-run news agency said. The official National News Agency said the explosion was caused by "three bombs tied to each other" that were placed under the car of an official believed to be from Hamas. It did not identify the targeted official or the victims. One of the wounded was in serious condition, the report said. Lebanese security officials told The Associated Press they could not... Jerusalem Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415615/posts#comment Sun, 27 Dec 2009 05:03:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411034/posts Iran has helped Hizbullah form an operational network for attacks on Western targets, officials said. The officials said the Hizbullah priority was to strike Israeli and U.S. interests in Turkey. "Hizbullah established an operational cell in Istanbul that included members of Iran's IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps]," an official said. Officials said Hizbullah organized a safe house and formed a front company in Istanbul. They said IRGC helped Hizbullah set up a tourist agency that would enable Iranian agents to easily enter Turkey. In mid-2009, officials said, Turkey foiled a Hizbullah strike on an Israeli target. Officials said the attack,... Geostrategy-Direct http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411034/posts#comment Sat, 19 Dec 2009 10:13:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410317/posts The 2006 war between Lebanon and Israel took not only outside observers by surprise, but also Israel and the government of Lebanon. A day after an operation in which Hezbollah killed five Israeli soldiers and captured two others, the Israel Defense Forces struck Lebanese targets as far north as Beirut. Over subsequent days, the Israeli Air Force bombed Hezbollah-controlled neighborhoods in Beirut and struck targets in the country's north. U.S., European, and Arab diplomats scrambled to prevent the spread of hostilities. While Arab governments remained conspicuously silent, unwilling to support Hezbollah publicly, if at all, Iranian authorities egged on the... Pundicity - Michael Rubin http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410317/posts#comment Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:05:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409196/posts U.S. Army 1st Lt. Pat Barone, a platoon leader, and Sgt. Daryl Appling, both with Company D, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division (Advise and Assist Brigade), explain to Iraqi department of border enforcement Soldiers how to conduct tactical patrols at night along the Iraqi-Syrian border, Dec. 9, 2009. Photo by Spc. Mike MacLeod, 82nd Airborne Division. COS UBAYDI — Since U.S. advise and assist forces began partnering with Iraqi border patrols along the Syrian border in mid-November, the instances of smugglers circumventing Port of Entry stations have all but ceased, according to the Department... Multinational Force - Iraq http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409196/posts#comment Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:07:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406319/posts A Border Crossing by Ari Bussel The Jordan River A family friend is a professor at the University of Oregon in Eugene. The city is located at the confluence of the McKenzie and the Willamette rivers. I vividly remember looking at awe at a river, thinking of God’s power, the enormity of nature and the fragility of man. Thursday, I was standing near the Jordan River, gazing at the water surface. It was a serene picture, playing with my senses. The water still like glass, on the opposite bank two men fished, the distance shorter than the cement-Los Angeles River.... "Postcards from Israel - Postcards from America" http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406319/posts#comment Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:13:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404434/posts Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Shara estimated that Israel would not be able to attack Iran without the support of the United States. Speaking to heads of the ruling Ba'ath Party, al-Shara claimed Thursday that US President Barack Obama has tried to "restrain" Israel in order to prevent a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. "The Israelis, despite their (vast arsenal), were unable to force the Palestinian people in Gaza to surrender and wave the white flag, he said. Ynet News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404434/posts#comment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:29:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399158/posts DAMASCUS, Dec 3 (Reuters) - A bomb targeted at a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims near a major Shi'ite religious shrine in Damascus on Thursday killed at least six people, witnesses said. Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399158/posts#comment Thu, 3 Dec 2009 11:44:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2398537/posts BEIRUT (AFP) – Prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Daniel Bellemare said on Wednesday his investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri was moving at "full pace." "The investigation is making progress and is proceeding at full pace," said a statement released by his spokeswoman, Radhia Achouri. ... Earlier, Bellemare met President Michel Sleiman on his first trip as prosecutor to Beirut, where he arrived on Tuesday for a seven-day visit during which he also will meet members of the new government. The Hague-based tribunal was set up by a UN Security Council resolution in 2007... AFP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2398537/posts#comment Wed, 2 Dec 2009 17:15:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2395343/posts The Obama administration has found a new way to appease terrorists and put Israel in danger. Last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the Obama administration was playing along with the terrorist ruse in Lebanon when she differentiated between the military branch and a political one in Hezbollah. Clinton’s statement on the Charlie Rose Show came only 24-hours after Prime Minister Saad al-Harriri had created a cabinet of national unity, which includes two members of Hezbollah. Terrorist organizations create a fake divide between political and military branches to give Western Nations "cover" to appease the terrorist groups, and... Arutz Sheva/Aaron Klein/ The lid http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2395343/posts#comment Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:46:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395230/posts BEIRUT, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Ministerial Policy Statement was adopted on Thursday, which allowed Hezbollah to keep its arms, the country's official National News Agency reported. The 12 members committee tasked of drafting the statement agreed to adopt the same clause approved by the previous cabinet over the arms of the resistance, referring to Hezbollah, which allowed the group to maintain their arms in hand to resist Israel, said the report. Meanwhile, the statement insisted on Lebanon's right to free Israel-occupied Shebaa Farms, Kfarshuba Hills and the occupied part of the Ghajar village. Prime Minister Saad Hariri would contact... Xinhua http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395230/posts#comment Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:33:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395222/posts (IsraelNN.com) The new Lebanese government formed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri will officially endorse the Hizbullah terror militia and grant legitimacy to its attacks on Israel. Hariri's national unity cabinet, including two members of Hizbullah, has been attempting to hammer out government guidelines ever since its formation earlier this month. A central sticking point has been Hizbullah's insistence that its independent arsenal of weapons be officially endorsed by the state. According to the Iranian-backed organization, its arms are non-negotiable. Cabinet members of the Phalangist Party and the Lebanese Forces insist that Hizbullah weapons undermine government authority and are in direct... INN http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395222/posts#comment Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:08:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393272/posts A Russian military delegation is inspecting airfields before Moscow sends 10 MiG-29 fighter jets to bolster Lebanon's almost non-existent air force, a challenge to U.S. efforts to build up the Mediterranean country's state institutions to counter Hezbollah. Under a deal announced in December by Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr during a visit to Moscow, Russia will provide the MiG-29s from its air force inventory free of charge, including upgrades, under a military assistance program. The Americans have supplied second- and third-hand military equipment including M-60A3 main battle tanks (ex-Jordanian) and M-198 155mm artillery guns, worth $400 million to Lebanon since... Space War http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393272/posts#comment Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:11:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2381106/posts BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon's Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri will announce a new national unity government to include Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah in the next few days, politicians said on Saturday. Lebanon has been without a functioning government since Hariri led his coalition, backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia, to victory in a June parliamentary election against Hezbollah and its allies. Politicians from both sides said Hariri had now clinched a deal with the opposition on the new government's make-up. A government acceptable to all main parties is seen as key to maintaining stability in a country facing sectarian... Reuters on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2381106/posts#comment Sat, 7 Nov 2009 22:16:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395262/posts US intelligence officials are concerned that Syria is becoming an al Qaeda haven, as the terror group becomes increasingly intertwined with Ba’athist groups operating from Iraq's neighbor to the west. Al Qaeda has refocused its efforts to build an infrastructure in eastern Syria after its network in Iraq was decimated by Iraqi and US security forces from 2007 to 2009, and now the organization is partnering with former Ba’athists from Saddam Hussein’s regime. "A major concern is that eastern Syria will begin to look like northwestern Pakistan," where al Qaeda has joined forces with the Taliban and directs attacks to... Long War Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395262/posts#comment Fri, 27 Nov 2009 06:35:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394055/posts As Iran tests the capabilities of its air defense systems in nationwide exercises, the Israeli air force is reported to be planning special seminars to prepare its attack pilots to cope with heavy surface-to-air missile defenses. According to The Jerusalem Post, the sessions will encompass "future conflict with Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran" in which air force crews will "have to deal with an unprecedented number of surface-to-air missiles, most of them Russian-made." None of these adversaries is considered to pose an overwhelming air-defense threat, although Israeli intelligence believes that Iran has supplied some shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles to the Palestinian... Space War http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394055/posts#comment Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:38:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393534/posts An alleged plot to send anti-aircraft missiles and guns to Syria or Iran was thwarted after a key figure was arrested in Philadelphia, the FBI said in documents released Monday. -snip- He was after missiles that could "take down an F-16," the affidavit says. Little did Tarraf know, he was requesting the weapons from an undercover agent, according to documents. The affidavit alleges that Tarraf paid a $20,000 cash deposit to the agent in July for machine guns and shoulder-fired Stinger missiles, MyFoxPhilly.com reported. The documents say Tarraf's dealings with the undercover officer date back to June 2007. -snip- Fox http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393534/posts#comment Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:48:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393853/posts The FBI says a Centerville man is charged with buying and shipping about 7,000 stolen cell phones in connection with an international ring trafficking weapons and stolen goods. According to the FBI, Hussein Ali Asfour of Centerville is charged with conspiracy to transport stolen property and faces up to five years in prison. A criminal complaint in the case listed his address as 100 Cross Link Trail. USA Today reports that Asfour was charged along with four other men, including three accused of trying to buy Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and machine guns destined for Syria or Iran. USA Today describes... 13WMAZ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393853/posts#comment Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:05:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393975/posts WASHINGTON — A grand jury in Philadelphia indicted four men Tuesday for an alleged plot to support the Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah through illegal schemes, including buying the group more than a thousand machine guns. The indictment comes just a day after officials in Philadelphia said they disrupted a similar scheme to acquire anti-aircraft missiles and send them to Syria — though in that case, authorities have yet to accuse anyone of trying to help a specific terror group. The indictment filed Tuesday says two suspects sought to provide roughly 1,200 Colt M4 machine guns to Hezbollah, but their efforts... Foxnews http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393975/posts#comment Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:12:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393332/posts While the Obama administration and congressional leaders may justify renewed engagement with Syria with their desire to jumpstart the Middle East peace process, they ignore the very issue that lies at the heart of the Syrian threat to U.S. national security: Syrian support for radical Islamist terror. This may seem both illogical and counterfactual given past antagonism between the 'Alawite-led regime and the Muslim Brotherhood, but there is overwhelming evidence that President Bashir al-Asad has changed Syrian strategic calculations and that underpinning terror is crucial to the foreign policy of the country. Background On February 14, 2005, a huge bomb... Michael Rubin http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393332/posts#comment Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:54:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392063/posts Does anyone read the newspapers in the U.S. government? How about checking out the dispatches coming from its generals in the field? Here’s a news story which tells all. A Reuters’ dispatch from Iraq interviews the commander of U.S. forces there. What’s he say? Al-Qaida is joining forces with Saddam Hussein’s supporters. And where are both al-Qaida’s forces fighting in Iraq and Saddam’s backers headquartered with lots of money stolen from Iraq? Syria. Syria? So Damascus is now allied with al-Qaida, the perpetrators of the September 11 attack to kill Americans and defeat the United States in Iraq? Is that right,... Rubin Reports via Reform Party of Syria (RPS) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392063/posts#comment Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:53:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2390638/posts Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris last week that he wanted to launch talks with Damascus without preconditions, according to Syrian President Bashar Assad's top aide Bouthaina Shaaban. Shaaban told Arab reporters on Friday that Sarkozy had told Assad in his subsequent meeting with the Syrian leader that Netanyahu had told him "that the Syrian track was very important, and that he wanted to open talks without delay and without preconditions." However, she said that Assad had responded by saying that before talks could start, he wanted guarantees that Israel would return "Syria's land" and... Jerusalem Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2390638/posts#comment Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:30:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2390822/posts WASHINGTON - The International Atomic Energy Agency and Syria are walking a tightrope and appear to be headed toward a collision over two nuclear sites where undeclared uranium was recently found. The agency found traces of uranium at the Dair Alzour nuclear site that are not included in Syria's declared inventory, according to a just released report. The Syrians said the uranium came from the Israeli missiles used to destroy the nearby al-Kibar reactor in September 2007. The presence of uranium particles was detected at a second site near Damascus -- the Miniature Neutron Source Reactor. Syria said it came... WTOP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2390822/posts#comment Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:06:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2390353/posts Nuclear Terror: After years of blindness, the International Atomic Energy Agency warns that Syria is concealing nuclear activity and Iran is hiding atomic facilities. Has the "watchdog" just been polishing its Nobel? The diplomats just love Mohamed ElBaradei, who is about to step down as director general of the United Nations' IAEA. He's the recipient of Georgetown's prestigious Raymond "Jit" Trainor Award for Distinction in the Conduct of Diplomacy. Also on his crammed mantelpiece can be found the Delta Air Lines Prize for Global Understanding, the Golden Dove of Peace award from the president of Italy, the Gandhi Prize for... Investors.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2390353/posts#comment Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:08:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2389938/posts The Great Rift Valley extends some 4,000 miles southward from Syria north of Israel, through the Gulf of Aqaba, through Ethiopia, and all the way to Mozambique in southeast Africa. It harbors a giant fault, which has been under investigation as a model for sea floor spreading. A recent geologic event rent a gaping crack through the desert of Ethiopia, causing safety concerns for locals. These crustal plate motions may foreshadow rifting events further north in the Great Rift Valley... ICR News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2389938/posts#comment Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:22:01 GMT