Free Republic

The United States is working to get the Iraqi government's permission to put Patriot missile defense systems in the country to protect U.S. forces there from possible Iranian attacks, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Thursday. “One of the things we need to do is make sure we have permission from the host government, and that’s one of the matters we have to work on and work through,” Esper told reporters at a Pentagon press conference. “We need the permission of the Iraqis.” The U.S. military did not have Patriots deployed at al-Asad airbase in Iraq, which houses American troops, during...

NBA basketball star Kobe Byrant and eight others dead in a helicopter crash but first..... Security sources in Iraq say five rockets hit in Baghdad's Green Zone Sunday evening with at least one direct hit on the US Embassy. The Embassy's cafeteria was hit in the attack.... Reporting on injuries varies with some saying one was injured and others three injured..... While Israel's major political party leaders (Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud and Benny Gantz of Blue and White) headed to Washington to hear about the "Deal of the Century" peace plan involving Israel and the Palestinians, a prominent Palestinian leader...

After all his claims that turned out to be “exactly wrong,” how can senators be expected to believe Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-Calif.) claims during the Senate impeachment trials, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) asked Wednesday. Rep. Jordan tweeted video of his comments to reporters following Impeachment Manager Schiff’s two-plus hours of allegations against President Donald Trump at the trial: Schiff: 1. "More than circumstantial evidence" of collusion 2. Nunes memo was false 3. FISA process was fine 4. The "Whistleblower" would testify 5. "We haven't spoken... with the 'Whistleblower'" 6. Parodied @POTUS' call 7. "Mr. Z" referred to Zelensky But today...

U.S. troops last weekend reportedly found themselves in a standoff with Russian forces trying to gain access to key oil fields in northeastern Syria. The Saturday standoff — first reported by Turkish media outlets, citing unnamed local officials in the Turkey-Syria border region — seems to have ended without any shots being fired or any real risk of violence between the two sides. American military personnel reportedly stopped a Russian convoy near the town of Rmelan, and the Russian forces then apparently turned back and returned to their home base. Still, the near-clash serves as a reminder of the high...

A year and a half into Donald Trump’s presidency, Henry Kissinger set out a theory. “I think Trump may be one of those figures in history who appears from time to time to mark the end of an era and to force it to give up its old pretences,” he told the Financial Times. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that he knows this, or that he is considering any great alternative. It could just be an accident.” A term has been coined to describe this notion: Ryan Evans of War on the Rocks calls them “Trumportunities.” It is the idea that,...

Riyad Dirar, the co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces SDF, stressed that they are among those who are inviting but not invited to the Third Cairo Conference, because they are from the preparatory committee of it. He stressed Egypt's important role in the political solution in Syria and that it supports their position in facing "Turkish aggression" in the region. Dirar said in a statement to North-Press, that the Syrian Democratic Council is included in the preparatory committee for "Cairo 3" conference, and they are seeking to develop the road map...

A key Republican ally of President Trump argued impeachment began long before the Ukraine controversy. Instead, Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio, said the Democratic-led effort, which has resulted in two articles of impeachment, began in the summer of 2016 with the FBI's counterintelligence investigation into members of Trump's 2016 campaign. "It didn't even start with Ukraine. Impeachment started before this guy was president," Jordan said Tuesday on Fox & Friends. "Impeachment started on July 31, 2016, when the FBI opened up an investigation and spied on four American citizens associated with the Trump campaign. And everything they did...

A video has surfaced of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad laughing about President Trump during Putin's visit to Damascus last week. The video, originally posted by a journalist for the Komsomolskaya Pravda, comes just over a month after multiple NATO nation leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron, were recorded seemingly mocking the American president at a NATO summit. In the latest clip, Assad and Putin joked that Trump should follow in the footsteps of Paul the Apostle and visit the Syrian capital of Damascus. "If Trump arrives along this road...

At least two Iranian journalists at a state-owned media outlet reportedly resigned from their jobs, with one of them apologizing to viewers for "the 13 years I told you lies." As Tehran continues to grapple with the fallout from protests stemming from a cover-up of its accidental downing of a Ukrainian airliner, TV anchor Gelare Jabbari addressed her viewers on an Instagram post that appears to have been deleted. “It was very hard for me to believe that our people have been killed," the post read, according to The Guardian. "Forgive me that I got to know this late. And...

With the death of General Soleimani and Iran's subsequent "saving face" retaliation, many pundits and commentators have expressed fear of an escalation of violence between the U.S. and Iran, something that could even mount into a third world war. Considering that those pushing this narrative also happen to push the narrative that Trump is a fascist dictator, Obama's foreign policy was beyond reproach, and the current impeachment is completely legitimate, it's safe to assume that these critics are mistaken. Trump is unlikely to start a war with Iran; he has no reason to do so, nor does anyone want this...

Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly suggested during a meeting with Bashar al-Assad last week that the Syrian president invite President Trump to Damascus. In a video of the conversation between Assad and Putin at the Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary in Damascus, Assad mentions the Apostle Paul’s conversion to Christianity after a vision at the gate of Damascus, Axios reported. “If Trump arrives along this road, everything will become normal with him too," the Syrian leader said, according to the news outlet.

Hardline conservative Chairman of Assembly of Experts Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati asserted that Kurdistan’s bid for independence from Iraq is an attempt to “disintegrate” and “create another Israel” in the region, speaking at a session of the Assembly of Experts of Leadership in Tehran, Tuesday. Jannati stressed that “today’s important issue about Kurdistan is the climate that they want to disintegrate there and create another Israel in this region.” He went on to call on the Assembly of Experts to “strongly stand up against them because this situation is the demand of the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel,” which he said...

Evidence is Mounting that Qassem Soleimani was Turned Over to the US by his Rivals in Tehran According to confidential sources inside Iran, on the night of January 6th, 56 high-ranking IRGC officers, including the late Qods Force commander General Soleimani’s right-hand man in Iraq, were arrested. A further 34 IRGC officers were detained on the 8th. All 90 of these men were said to be personally loyal to Soleimani. This news is increasing the speculation that Soleimani, who was known to act on his own initiatives, and who was being seen as a possible future dictator-in-waiting for Tehran, was...

Iranian General Qassem Soleimani arrived at the Damascus airport in a vehicle with dark-tinted glass. Four soldiers from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards rode with him. They parked near a staircase leading to a Cham Wings Airbus A320, destined for Baghdad. Neither Soleimani nor the soldiers were registered on the passenger manifesto, according to a Cham Wings airline employee who described the scene of their departure from the Syrian capital to Reuters. Soleimani avoided using his private plane because of rising concerns about his own security, said an Iraqi security source with knowledge of Soleimani’s security arrangements. The passenger flight would be...

While many Iranian officials have threatened genocide, Qassem Soleimani was actually tasked with it. As an architect of Bashar Assad’s genocidal war against the Syrian people, he was one of the most guilty men on earth. As the Godfather of Iran’s global terror network, he was also one of the most dangerous. His terror world tour was finally cut short last Friday by a precision airstrike, in what was arguably President Trump’s boldest and most presidential move thus far. Soleimani was identified only by his hand, itself identified by a red-stone ring he was known to wear. Soleimani was the...

American-led coalition forces have paused operations against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria as officials brace for a strike by Iran. President Trump authorized a drone strike on Thursday that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, one of Iran’s highest-ranking and most powerful officials. Iran has vowed retaliation for the strike. Forces led by the United States in the region are now focused on preparing for a potential attack and have temporarily stopped pursuing ISIS targets. In a statement, the Combined Joint Task ForceOperation Inherent Resolve said, "Repeated rocket attacks over the last two months by elements of Kata'ib Hezbollah...

Chuck Schumer, the man who supported Obama, then supported the Iran deal, then didn’t support the Iran deal. The man who has fought Trump against Middle east Troop withdrawal and stopping the war in Syria, is now suddenly against Trump attacking Hezbollah In Syria and Iraq Ok seriously, can we get this guy a mental examination??? Today’s video Schumer says using our troops will start WW3 MASSACHUSETTS DELEGATION CONDEMNS TRUMP’S ORDER TO KILL IRANIAN GENERAL: PRESIDENT DOUBLES DOWN.

TEL AVIV: Five days ago, an undisclosed intelligence agency intercepted a telephone call made by the head of Iran’s Quds Force, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in which he was heard ordering his proxies in Iraq to attack the U.S embassy in Baghdad, as well as other Israeli and American targets, with the aim of taking hostages, Israeli sources say. It’s unclear whether this was a lapse in tradecraft on the part of the usually savvy Soleimani or whether the notorious Iranian military leader’s phone calls were being routinely intercepted. Nor is it clear whether it was the US or another...

U.S. forces have now surpassed 2,800 strikes against targets in Iraq and Syria under President Obama’s war against the Islamic State, all as part of a conflict Congress has yet to specifically authorize — and amid worries lawmakers won’t ever act. Under intense pressure from Capitol Hill, Mr. Obama finally submitted a draft authorization for the use of military force against the Islamic State in February, but it’s since languished, caught in the stalemate between those who want tighter restrictions and those who want the president to have as free a hand as possible. Now analysts worry that inaction will...

The deputy commander of Iran’s notorious Quds Force bragged at a recent ceremony that his operatives have killed more Americans than U.S. troops have killed Iranian fighters. Brig. Gen. Ismail Ghaani was referring to Iran’s major intervention in the Iraq war to supply Shiite militias with supercharged explosives that could penetrate U.S. armored vehicles. The Pentagon has estimated the Quds Force, an arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, killed 500 Americans that way.