Free Republic

Egyptian archaeologists digging near the Suez Canal have discovered the remains of what is believed to be the largest fortress in the eastern Delta, Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni announced. Located at the site of Tell Dafna, between El-Manzala Lake and the Suez Canal, the remains reveal the foundation of a military town about 9 miles (15 kilometers) northeast of the city of western Qantara. "The fortress covers an area of about 380 by 625 meters (1,247 by 2,051 feet), while the enclosure wall is about 13 meters (43 feet) in width," Mohamed Abdel Maqsoud, head of the Central...

Excavations carried out by an Egyptian mission at the Tel Abu Seify archaeological site in Northern Sinai uncovered the remains of a limestone building that was once a workshop for the construction and repair of boats and vessels during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. The site is said to have been the location of the Roman fortress of Silla. Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that the workshop includes two dry dockyards where ships were built or repaired. But regretfully, along the span of time as the workshop lost its function, after the Nile branch...

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled former crown prince of Iran, said in an interview with RFE/RL's Radio Farda that he thinks "we are really close to the fall of the [Iranian] regime." He added that the current situation in Iran is similar to how it was in 1979 when his father left Iran amid violent turmoil and went into exile. That upheaval ended centuries of monarchy in Iran and led to the formation of the Islamic Republic of Iran with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini at its head. "The atmosphere [in Iran] seems to be close to a flash point," he said...

Two Palestinians died Monday and several others injured after Egyptian troops pumped toxic fumes into a smuggling tunnel stretching into the Sinai Peninsula from the Gaza Strip. The Hamas-run Gaza Interior Ministry was quoted by Wafa news as identifying the two as 39-year-old Hamas officer Abdul Hamid al-Aker, who was killed during a “security mission to inspect the tunnel,” and 28-year-old Sobhi Abu Qarshin. Abu Qarshin was said to have died during a rescue attempt. Several other security personnel were rescued by civil defense teams from inside the tunnel and were rushed to hospital, where they were described as being...

But on January 30, in the aftermath of his discussion on the Wall Street Journal column with Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Pipes wrote that Trump is “the most pro-Israel president ever A week after raising doubts on President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century” to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a leading Mideast policy expert reversed course and affirmed Trump as “the most pro-Israel president ever.”   Daniel Pipes, founder and president of the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum think tank, had written in a January 23 op-ed in The Wall Street Journal that although the specific details of Trump’s peace...

Russia's Embassador to Lebanon warned on Saturday that the US policy in the region could spark a new conflict between Israel and Lebanon. Speaking with the Russian Sputnik news agency, Ambassador Alexander Zasypkin said that the United States' actions are aimed at sowing discord in the region. "As for a conflict between Israel and Lebanon, nothing can be predicted with certainty because the region is at a crossroads. Peoples are demanding the settlement of existing crises, the return to a peaceful life, the development of cooperation. A negative alternative to this is the incitement of new conflicts bt the Americans,...

blew up bridges on the Euphrates river held by Iranian militias several days ago, according to a report. This is the first time the Russians attacked Iranian targets in Syria. The information came from a senior Syrian official who refused to be identified, and was reported in Bas News, a Kurdish news website.

Senior security official in Tehran says ‘calculated measures’ will by used as a deterrent to prevent further attacks on ally A senior Iranian defense official warned on Tuesday that his country will hit back at Israel if it continues to carry out airstrikes in Syria. Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, made the threat as he held talks with visiting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem in Tehran. “If these actions continue, we will activate some calculated measures as a deterrent and as a firm and appropriate response to teach a lesson to the criminal and lying rulers...

The Israeli government released a report Sunday claiming to reveal close links between the Palestinian-led boycott movement against Israel and militant groups. Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry, which leads the country’s efforts against the boycott movement, said it uncovered extensive connections between pro-boycott groups and activists affiliated with Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement dismissed the report as “wildly fabricated.” The 80-page report claims several dozen current or former members of the Palestinian groups, both designated terrorist organizations by the U.S., European Union and Israel, are involved in BDS activity through...

Finding the Mountain of Moses: The Real Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia < (24:49 )/a> The Ryan Mauro Show "Finding the Mountain of Moses: The Real Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia" by Ryan Mauro & The Doubting Thomas Research Foundation. For generations, we have been taught we had to believe the story of the Exodus on faith alone. We were taught that Mount Sinai was located in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, but there was barely any evidence found there to make the story of Moses and the Exodus believable. A new theory has emerged in recent decades that the real Mount...

Bible scholars have claimed there is evidence that suggests the peak Jabal al-Lawz in the Middle Eastern kingdom is actually Mount Sinai. The site is a 8,460 foot peak known as the "mountain of almonds", located in north east Saudi Arabia near the border with Jordan. Moses leads the Israelites to the mountain which is enveloped by fire, smoke and thunder, according to the Book of Exodus in the Bible. The prophet then ascends Mount Sinai where he convenes with God to receive the Ten Commandments. Experts from the Doubting Thomas Research Foundation have backed the location of Sinai, and...

Former US president Barack Obama lied to Saudi Arabia when violating the redlines he famously declared regarding Syria’s use of chemical weapons and then not acting when they were used, a former senior Saudi official said in an interview with Independent Arabia. Bandar bin Sultan served for years as head of Saudi intelligence as well as the Saudi ambassador to the United States. In the interview, he recalled a last phone call between the late Saudi King Abdullah and Obama, during which the Saudi leader told the US president: “I did not expect that [after] this long life, I would...

FULL TITLE: World War 3: ‘Resistance axis’ of Iran, Syria and Hezbollah ‘planning for war with Israel’ HEZBOLLAH has warned it could team up with Iran and Syria to bomb Israel, and is already planning for “the next war”, the Lebanese group’s leader has said, ramping up tensions in the region still further. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Hezbollah made his comments as he responded for the first time to Israel's discovery of tunnels dug into Israeli territory from Lebanon by claiming his organisation had "for years" been able to enter Israel. Israel's unveiling of what it called Hezbollah "attack tunnels"...

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday human rights in Egypt were perceived as worse now than under former strongman Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled by protests in 2011. His comments marked a hardening after he said in 2017 he would not “lecture” President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi over civil liberties, which activists say are being eroded. “I think current policies are perceived by intellectuals and Egypt’s civil society as tougher than under the Mubarak regime,” Macron told reporters on the sidelines of a trip to Egypt. […] Non-governmental organizations are pressuring Macron to be firm with the Egyptian president, who...

The front page of the New York Times Sunday Review featured one of the most biased, poorly informed, and historically inaccurate columns about the conflict between Israel and Palestine ever published by a mainstream newspaper. Written by Michelle Alexander, it is entitled, “Time to break the silence on Palestine,” as if the Palestinian issue has not been the most overhyped cause on campuses, at the United Nations, and in the media. There is no silence to break. What must be broken is the double standard of those who elevate the Palestinian claims over those of the Kurds, the Syrians, the...

The narrative you are about to read is unique in the history of mankind. It is an event never repeated by any other nation or religion... ...Scene: The entire world is silent. All of nature is on hold. Not a bird chirps! Not a frog burps! The Jewish people (who somehow slept that night!) are en route to their divine encounter at the mountain. Soon will be enacted the most important event in human history. Suddenly there is thunder, lightning and a loud shofar blast. The mountain is smoking like a furnace and trembling like a volcano. The people are...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured another diplomatic victory for Israel with the dramatic announcement that Chad and the Jewish State would be reestablishing diplomatic relations. The Muslim majority nation had severed ties in 1972 following intense pressure from Libya, its menacing neighbor to the north, which at the time was led by the dictator, Col. Muammar Qaddafi. But following a visit by Chad’s President Idriss Déby to Jerusalem and a reciprocating visit by PM Netanyahu to N’Djamena, forty-seven years of animosity instantly vanished. Israel’s historic diplomatic achievement occurred despite intense efforts by the Palestinian Authority and Iran to torpedo the...

he Women’s March lost a lot of supporters last year, from Alyssa Milano to the Democratic National Committee, over charges that the organizers had an anti-Semitism problem — one they haven’t done much to counter, what with Tamika Mallory still refusing to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist. The organizers insisted the first Women’s March wasn’t an anti-Trump march, which is exactly what it was: Hillary lost, and lots of women were angry and needed to vent, and the Women’s March was there for them. What was said from the stage didn’t really seem to matter, which was good, because there...

As an Evangelical Christian, Pompeo can easily see the historic damage that was done by Mr. Obama’s speech made during what was later dubbed his “apology tour.” The man who, in my estimation, holds the title of one of the greatest secretaries of state ever, made a trip to the Middle East earlier this month. Mike Pompeo stopped in Cairo to speak to the students and faculty at the American University in Cairo. He said, and I quote, “America is a force for good in the Middle East.” This was unlike president Barack Obama who stood before a group in...

The Israeli Defence Forces on Sunday confirmed that its missiles are “currently targeting Iranian Quds in Syrian territory” just before midnight local time as reports from the Syrian News Agency confirms massive explosions in capital Damascus. “We warn the Syrian Armed Forces against attempting to harm Israeli forces or territory,” the statement released by the IDF said. It marks the first time Israel has confirmed they are striking Iranian targets in Syria and that it is happening in real time. There have been unconfirmed reports since that Syrian forces are engaging with their weaponry by the Golan Heights — a...