Free Republic

ISIS on Thursday confirmed the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and named Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi as its new leader, according to the BBC. The terror group also confirmed spokesman Abu al-Hasan al-Muhajir, who had been considered a potential heir to al-Baghdadi, had been killed in a separate joint operation between U.S. and Kurdish forces on Oct. 27. President Trump announced al-Baghdadi’s death Sunday morning, saying the ISIS leader was killed in a raid on his compound in Idlib province in northern Syria after fleeing into a tunnel and detonating a suicide vest. U.S. forces have said al-Baghdadi killed two...

U.S. special operations forces conducted a large-scale counterterrorism raid in northwestern Syria overnight Thursday, in what the Pentagon said was a “successful mission.” Residents and activists reported multiple deaths — including civilians — from the attack. Residents and activists in the area described witnessing a large ground assault, with U.S. forces using loudspeakers asking women and children to leave the area. They described the raid as the biggest operation since the October 2019 killing of Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. There was at least one major explosion. A U.S. official said that one of the helicopters in the...

The Pentagon announced on Monday it had carried out an airstrike against a senior leader of Al-Qaeda* located in Idlib Governorate, the northern Syrian province occupied by Turkish troops and radical Muslim rebel militias. "US forces conducted a kinetic counterterrorism strike near Idlib, Syria, today, on a senior al-Qaeda leader. Initial indications are that we struck the individual we were aiming for, and there are no indications of civilian casualties as a result of the strike," Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday. Kirby said he had no further details on the target's identity, but according to SITE Intelligence Group,...

Custody of the Franciscans in Knayeh Two Franciscan friars describe their high-risk ministry in Syria's Idlib province in one of the country’s last jihadist strongholds. They convey the daily threat that weighs on them and on the flock of some three hundred Catholic families they assist at the risk of their lives. Fr. Hanna Jallouf is sixty-seven, Fr. Luai Bsharat is forty. These two Franciscans are the last priests to minister in the province of Idlib, near the border between Turkey and western Syria. The two sons of St. Francis bring spiritual help to three hundred families who are...

Jihadist groups are believed to have been present in Azerbaijan since at least February, it was claimed on Oct. 27, with Turkey accused of shipping in militia, including a Uyghur Muslim terror group, the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP). The Islamist fighters are thought to have been mobilized from their bases in Syria to join Azeri forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, where they are fighting against Armenia. Despite Turkey initially denying the presence of the jihadists, film footage and photographs have since corroborated reports which began circulating in the Syrian press in August. The mobilization of Turkish troops was reported in...

The United States announces that it killed seven senior leaders of Al-Qaeda in Syria in an air strike last week as they were meeting near Idlib, US Central Command announced on Monday. Central Command spokeswoman, Major Beth Riordan, said the strike was conducted on 22 October. The leaders were not identified. “The removal of these AQ-S leaders will disrupt the terrorist organization’s ability to further plot and carryout global attacks threatening U.S. citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians,” Riordan said. “With our allies and partners, we will continue to target al Qaida and other terrorist organisations.” she added. According to...

The photographs from the Turkish occupation zone Serêkaniyê (Arab. Ras al-Ain) in northern Syria basically confirm only once again what the autonomous administration and human rights organizations have long denounced: The terrorist militia "Islamic State" (IS) is one of the proxy troops of NATO partner Turkey acting for Ankara in Syria. The footage, which has been circulating on online networks such as Twitter and Facebook since Sunday, shows "demonstrators" in Serêkaniyê protesting against French President Emmanuel Macron. In early October Macron had presented his law against Islamist separatism and announced that his country would increasingly counteract the development of...

Russian air strikes in northern Syria have killed more than 50 Turkish-backed militia fighters in the mainly rebel-held province of Idlib, reports say. Many others were wounded in the attack, which marks an escalation of violence in the region. A training base for an Islamist group called Faylaq al-Sham was hit. The assault puts at risk a ceasefire in Idlib, brokered and monitored by Russia and Turkey, which back opposite sides in the war. UK-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the number of dead at 78.

Syrian air defenses thwarted an Israeli attack on Aleppo city, Syrian state television said on Friday. The attack reportedly left seven militia men of the Iraqi Hezbollah dead, and the death toll is expected to rise due to the severity of ensuing causalities, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The organization added that unidentified jets, which Syria suspects to be Israeli, struck Hezbollah targets five km away from Qallat Al-Rahbah on the outskirts of Al-Mayadeen city in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor.

“We have nothing left in Idlib, no properties, houses, or rents. The Sharia Committee seized everything.”With these words, Issa (a pseudonym) from Idlib city described to Enab Baladi what happened to his family’s property years after the Islamic factions took control over the city. Issa added, “We had a house, an agricultural land, and a number of stores, all of which, were rented through my father’s agent, who used to transfer the rents to us on a regular base.”He continued saying, in 2019, the Sharia Committee issued a decision providing for the confiscation of any property that was not managed...

The United States believes it killed seven senior leaders of al-Qaeda in Syria in an airstrike last week as they were meeting near the Turkish border, US Central Command said Monday. A Central Command spokeswoman, Major Beth Riordan, said the strike was conducted in Idlib, in northwest Syria, on October 22. She did not identify the seven leaders by name. ‘The removal of these AQ-S leaders will disrupt the terrorist organization's ability to further plot and carryout global attacks threatening U.S. citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians,’ she said.

The U.S. military carried out a drone strike Thursday, killing two senior Al Qaeda operatives in northwest Syria... “U.S. forces conducted a strike against Al Qaeda in Syria in the vicinity of Idlib, Syria, Oct. 15. AQ-S continues to present a threat to America and our allies,” ... Officials say the strike was carried out by the U.S. military’s elite Joint Special Operations Command. It’s the first drone strike by the U.S. military against Al Qaeda in Syria since mid-September.... The U.S. military has been using a new missile to kill terrorists in the past year dubbed the “flying Ginsu”...

The U.S.-led military coalition in Syria likely used a unique variant of the beloved Hellfire missile to kill a mercenary trainer who recently worked with an al Qaeda-affiliated militant group there, according to photos from the scene of the strike. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported last week that a drone strike likely affiliated with the U.S.-led international military coalition in the country was responsible for killing Abu Yahya al-Uzbeki, an independent "military trainer" recently affiliated with the al Qaeda-linked Hurras Al-Din organization, while he was traveling in Syria's Idlib province. Photos of the aftermath of the strike on...

As Turkey touts its humanitarian aid deliveries to Syria's Idlib, critics weigh the six truckloads of supplies against its thousands of tons of allegedly looted Syrian grain. Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported that on Monday, two Turkish charities had sent six trucks carrying humanitarian aid to the rebel-held province of Idlib in northwest Syria. “Truckloads of supplies including flour, clothing and dry food [donated] by the Adana Dosteller and Eskisehir Gunisigi charities entered Idlib through the Yayladagi border crossing in Turkey’s southern Hatay province. The aid will be distributed among families living in tents in Idlib,” Anadolu reported. Turkey’s...

BEIRUT, LEBANON (8:40 P.M.) – Two commanders from the Hurras Al-Deen group were killed on Sunday, when a drone struck their positions in the Idlib Governorate. According to the preliminary reports, the two leaders, Bilal Al-Sanani (Yemeni national) and Qassam Al-Urdoni (Jordanian national), were killed by a U.S. Coalition drone in the Idlib city. The drone strike targeted the vehicle carrying both men and their associate, Mohammad Al-Ahmad, who was seriously wounded as a result of the U.S. Coalition attack. The attack appears to have been carried out by a U.S. ninja drone, as the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was...

The journey of two senior Al Qaeda-aligned commanders in northwestern Syria on Sunday was suddenly cut short by a targeted U.S.-led strike — only it doesn't appear that they were killed by explosives, but a missile packed with knives. Video of the aftermath circulating on social media shows that the vehicle of the terrorist leaders – Jordanian Qassam ul-Urdini and Yemeni Bilal al-Sanaani – was mostly untouched, with just one side severed and the roof smashed in, prompting defense analysts to point to the use of a "secret" missile jointly developed by both the Department of Defense and the Central...

A projection of how many will die from Covid-19 infection in the United States and the President signaling a longer duration for the coronavirus situation but first A riot broke out at a prison in northeastern Syria housing Islamic State detainees and operated by Kurdish elements of the "Syrian Democratic Forces". Some prisoners escaped and others took over a floor of the prison.... The shape of a new "unity" government in Israel is emerging that will raise the profile of the political faction headed by the former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Benny Gantz that calls itself the Israel...

Syrian rebels backed by the Turkish military said on Thursday they had recaptured the strategic town of Saraqeb in what would be the first major reverse for the Syrian army in a Russian-backed offensive that had made swift gains. Three weeks ago, the armed opposition lost the northwestern town at the junction of two main highways, following advances by the Syrian army in its push to retake the last large, rebel-held region in Syria after nine years of war. Turkey has sent thousands of troops and heavy military hardware into Syria‘s Idlib region in an unprecedented incursion to back the...

Newsdump Update: US Simulates Nuclear Attack On Russia US Defense Secretary Mark Esper participated in an exercise at the US Strategic Command in Nebraska earlier this week. An anonymous US defense official told the media about the 'mini-exercise' that involved both sides engaging in the use of nuclear weapons.... Whoa welcome aboard with music that I heard on country music radio back in the 1970's as sung by Shel Silverstein. Shel Silverstein did a lot of creative work in his lifetime writing the song before "A Boy Named Sue" as sung by the "Man In Black" Johnny Cash. Other country...

"Hello Goodbye" by the Beatles, a number one song from early 1968 here in the USA. That's around the time my father left the factory to higher paying and longer lasting government employment as inflation kicked in here in the USA. Lyndon Johnson was ramping up government with Medicare and Medicaid and the cost of medical care was beginning to skyrocket, debt was beginning to accumulate and wow here we are 23 trillion dollars plus later. The 2021 federal budget proposed by President Trump adds another 966 billion to that. Well the currency is devalued and its easy to tell...