Free Republic

The EU’s foreign policy chief suggested that the bloc is in “full unity” in support of Jerusalem becoming the capital ...'of both Israel and a future Palestinian state',... adding that the EU’s member states and the EU institutions would not recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital before a final status peace agreement.

Syrian military positions in the province of Hama and Aleppo were targeted Sunday by a series of strikes that caused an explosion reportedly strong enough to trigger an earthquake observed by neighboring countries. Citing an unnamed military source, the official Syrian Arab News Agency reported that military positions in villages of Hama and Aleppo were hit by a still unidentified rocket attack at around 10:30 p.m. local time ...

AMMAN (Reuters) - U.S-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said they expelled had Syrian troops that briefly took control of a string of villages in oil rich areas east of the Euphrates river near the Iraqi border on Sunday. SDF forces led by the Kurdish YPG militia said they had waged a counter-attack against Syrian troops it said were backed by Russian forces, adding they were driven “far away” from four villages they had seized earlier in the day. “Our forces regained the initiative,” they said in a statement.

The same resolve the US, Britain and France showed in standing up to Syrian President Bashar Assad's use of chemical weapons in Syria needs to be shown in preventing terrorist states and organizations from getting nuclear capabilities, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a phone conversation Saturday night with British Prime Minister Theresa May. Netanyahu, who was referring to Iran, spoke about this conversation at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. US President Donald Trump has given the European powers – France, Britain and Germany – until May 12 to fix the Iranian nuclear agreement signed in 2015. If...

With all eyes on Israel’s southern front where Hamas is desperately trying to conceal the fact it has run out of military options in its never ending war against the Jewish State, Hezbollah and the pro-Assad axis seem to be gearing up for the long anticipated confrontation with the IDF. Iranian and Israeli media reported last week that the pro-Assad coalition is preparing for an offensive against Islamist rebel groups in the Kuneitra and Daraa provinces in southern Syria. The pro-Assad axis, which includes Hezbollah and other Shiite militias, has reportedly deployed tanks and heavy artillery on the Syrian Golan...

FOR years, experts worried that the Middle East would face an uncontrollable nuclear-arms race if Iran ever acquired weapons capability. Given the region’s political, religious and ethnic conflicts, the logic is straightforward.As in other nuclear proliferation cases like India, Pakistan and North Korea, America and the West were guilty of inattention when they should have been vigilant. But failing to act in the past is no excuse for making the same mistakes now. All presidents enter office facing the cumulative effects of their predecessors’ decisions. But each is responsible for what happens on his watch.

EXCLUSIVE – After he escaped from Al Qaeda in Syria, American photojournalist Matt Schrier investigated his own kidnapping and uncovered what he describes as a pattern of "betrayal" by FBI agents handling his case. Schrier is now asking hard questions of former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who now leads the special counsel Russia probe, and former FBI Director James Comey who was fired by President Trump in May 2017. "Not every FBI agent is bad. Some are very good people," Schrier told Fox News. "But the ones that are bad need to be weeded out. And the ones who let...

Yazidis, a historically persecuted non-Muslim people in the Middle East, are yet again fleeing for their lives — this time from Turkey-backed jihadists invading Afrin in northern Syria. Murad Ismael, executive director of Yazda, a relief organization for Yazidi victims of genocide, has alerted the world to the deadly threat posed by Turkish airstrikes many times on his social media accounts and on March 12 wrote on Twitter: "We are evaluating what to do when the [whole] city falls, including an option to ask our people to leave the region altogether. We cannot have our people in Afrin under Al...

Iranian officials Sunday described President Trump's decision to appoint John Bolton national security adviser as shameful and a sign that Washington intends to overthrow the Tehran theocracy. The semi-official Fars news agency quoted Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the country's Supreme National Security Council, as saying that for an "apparent superpower it is a matter of shame that its national security adviser receives wages from a terrorist group." Shamkhani was referring to Bolton's attendance at a gathering of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) opposition group in 2017.

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Several rockets were fired from Gaza at communities in southern Israel. The firings triggered at least ten different Code Red rocket warning sirens on Sunday night in Sderot and the regional councils of Hof Ashkelon and Shaar HaNegev. The Iron Dome anti-missile system reportedly intercepted several of the rockets. The Israel Defense Forces are reported to have retaliated immediately following the attack, firing on several military positions in Gaza from tanks.

One pilot in serious condition * Israel attacks Syrian, Iranian targets in fresh strike * Rocket sirens sound throughout northern Israel An Israeli F-16 was downed Saturday morning after Israel intercepted an Iranian drone launched from Syria into Israeli territory. According to the Israeli army, Syrian anti-aircraft missiles targeted the jet after Israel responded to the infiltration of the drone with a strike in Syria. The two F-16 pilots ejected as the plane went down in northern Israel. The pilots were taken to the hospital in stable condition. One of the pilots is in serious condition. Following the downing of...