When the Obama administration sold its Iran nuclear deal to Congress in 2015, one of its primary arguments was that the agreement was narrow. It lifted only nuclear sanctions. America, President Barack Obama told us, would remain a vigilant foe of Iran’s regional predations through sanctions and other means. Thanks to stunning new reporting from […]
House IT Aides Ran Car Dealership With Markings Of A Nefarious Money Laundering Operation…
The used car dealership known as CIA never seemed like an ordinary car dealership, with inventory, staff and expenses. On its Facebook page, CIA’s “staff” were fake personalities such as “James Falls O’Brien,” whose photo was taken from a hairstyle model catalog, and “Jade Julia,” whose image came from a web page called “Beautiful Girls […]
The Secret Backstory of How Obama Let Hezbollah’s Billion-Dollar Criminal Enterprise Off the Hook…
In its determination to secure a nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration derailed an ambitious law enforcement campaign targeting drug trafficking by the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, even as it was funneling cocaine into the United States, according to a POLITICO investigation. The campaign, dubbed Project Cassandra, was launched in 2008 after the Drug […]
Islamic State Last Stand; End Times for the Caliphate by Mike Whitney…
Russia and its allies have expelled ISIS from its last urban stronghold in Syria. Now the Syrian coalition will turn its attention to the numerous hotspots around the country where al Qaida-linked groups have dug in waiting for the Syrian Army to make its final push. On Monday, Lebanese media reported that the Syrian Arab […]
Hezbollah’s Nasrallah: Saudi Arabia Inciting Israel to Attack Lebanon…
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech on Friday that Saudi Arabia had declared war on Lebanon, claiming that the kingdom had incited Israel to strike Lebanon. “Saudi Arabia is inciting Israel to launch a war against Lebanon,” said Nasrallah. “I speak here about facts not analysis. Saudi Arabia is ready to pay […]
Syria’s Assad Says Western Plots Against Him Foiled But War Not Yet Won…
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Sunday his country had foiled Western designs to topple him but his army had not yet won the fight to end Syria’s six-year-old insurgency. In an televised address, Assad said that even though there were signs of victory after six-and-a-half years of civil war, the “battle continues, and where […]
7,000 Syrian Refugees and AQ Fighters Return Home from Lebanon…
More than a hundred buses carrying thousands of al-Qaeda-linked fighters and Syrian refugees drove down a dirt road from Lebanon into Syria on Wednesday, in what was the last phase of an exchange deal between Syria’s al-Qaeda branch and Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group. The departure of al-Qaeda fighters from the Lebanon-Syria border…
Dispatch From the Middle East: U.S. Buildup All About Iran…
As the drive to push ISIS out of its remaining territories in Syria and Iraq rapidly advances, the U.S. and its allied forces have entrenched themselves in the southeastern Syrian border town of al-Tanaf, cutting off a major highway linking Damascus to Baghdad. Defeating ISIS is Washington’s only stated military objective inside Syria. So what […]
Who Is Losing and Who Is Winning in Syria?…
Who is losing in Syria? The immediate answer would be “Islamic State” (ISIS). But the reality is more complicated than that simple answer. Yes, ISIS is losing its territory, oil and gas fields and the other assets the group acquired since 2014 in both Iraq and Syria. In two years ISIS had become the richest […]
Former Official: Obama Admin ‘Systematically Disbanded’ Units Investigating Iran’s Terrorism Financing Networks…
The Obama administration “systematically disbanded” law enforcement investigative units across the federal government focused on disrupting Iranian, Syrian, and Venezuelan terrorism financing networks out of concern the work could cause friction with Iranian officials and scuttle the nuclear deal with Iran, according to a former U.S. official who spent decades dismantling terrorist financial networks. David […]