Free Republic

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel has the “full right” to annex the Jordan Valley if it chose to, even as the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court warned the country against taking the bold step. Netanyahu said his proposal to annex the strategic part of the occupied West Bank was discussed during a late-night meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He said they also agreed to move forward with plans for a joint defense treaty. The longtime Israeli leader, beleaguered by a corruption indictment and political instability at home, is promoting the two...

Turkey is set to invade Syria, as the country had been threatening in recent months, with the U.S. saying it will remove all of its forces from the "immediate area," according to the White House. The news came late Sunday after President Donald Trump spoke to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by phone earlier in the day.

Following meetings with top Saudi Arabian leaders in the country's capital on Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that one of the Trump administration's top regional goals is to "make sure that the Iranian people get control of their capital," a shot across the bow to a ruling regime that has spent billions to beef up its foreign military and terrorist operations. Pompeo, speaking to reporters in Riyadh, said that the Trump administration's primary goal is to empower the Iranian people to rein in the ruling regime, which has spent a fortune on foreign wars and terror operations as...

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Erdogan, Mr Abbas, members of the clergy, foreign guests, friends, Let me congratulate you from all my heart on the opening of Moscow’s rebuilt Cathedral Mosque. This is a big event for all Muslims in Russia. One of Moscow’s oldest mosques stood on this historical site and has undergone reconstruction that now makes it the biggest in Europe. It was given a magnificent modern new look worthy of the capital of our united, multi-ethnic and multi-confessional country. This new mosque is worthy of Russia, in which, I want to stress, Islam, under our country’s...

Mr. Trump’s sidestepping of reports that the C.I.A. believes that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing as “Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” was jarring. But every president since Harry Truman has aligned with unsavory Middle Eastern rulers in the service of national interests. The difference here is that Mr. Trump seemed unapologetic about this state of affairs with only a passing nod to the affront to our values that Mr. Khashoggi’s murder represents. That’s nothing to cheer. But it is vitally important to evaluate the policy on its merits more than its mode of expression. And...

The Syrian fighter jet Israel shot down over the Golan Tuesday is an old Soviet-era aircraft that has formed the backbone of Syria’s air force as attrition has taken its toll over seven long years of war. It took off from the T4 Air base more than 200km from the Golan and was on a mission to bomb ISIS targets near the 1974 ceasefire line. Initially thought to be either an SU-22 or SU-24, it was flying towards Israeli airspace at high speed, the IDF said. What do we know about the SU-22 and its capabilities? According to the website...