Six residents of the village of Ghajar on the Golan Heights were accused on Thursday of planning a terror attack in Israel with help from the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah. Diab Kahamuz, the alleged ringleader, was caught after he apparently forgot where he hid the explosives he received from Hezbollah. The explosives were found...

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The recent influx of Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite militias into Syria has helped tilt the fight for Aleppo in favor of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and possibly portends the emergence of the militias as “a larger, externally focused force” throughout the Middle East, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The Iraqi Shiite militia al-Nujaba,...

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The reigning American female chess champion has come under fire after announcing last week that she will boycott next year’s tournament, which is slated to be held in Iran, to protest the requirement that all participants wear the Islamic hair covering known as the hijab. Nazí Paikidze-Barnes, a 22-year-old originally from the former Soviet republic of Georgia, protested...

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A Washington Post reporter who was imprisoned by Iran for eighteen months filed a federal lawsuit against the country on Monday, saying he was taken hostage and tortured in order to “extort” concessions from the United States. Jason Rezaian, who was arrested in July 22, 2014 and released with four other Americans...

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A prominent Iranian human rights activist has been sentenced to 16 years in prison, The New York Times reported Wednesday. Narges Mohammadi, a human rights lawyer, who “has been in and out of jail over the past 15 years” was sentenced by Abolghassem Salavati, the head of an Iranian revolutionary court, to...

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The leader of a coalition of Sunni rebels fighting against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad expressed that his group, which includes Islamists, has no desire to go to war with Israel, Eli Lake of Bloomberg View reported Thursday. Mohammed Alloush, the political leader of Jaish al-Islam, which translates to “Army of Islam,” which...

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In an interview two weeks ago, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani consistently lied and evaded questions put to him by NBC News’s Chuck Todd. Todd first asked why Iran was claiming that the United States was not living up to the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Rouhani responded that the deal...

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The United States signed a secret agreement to lift United Nations sanctions on two Iranian banks that were designated for financing their country’s ballistic missile program on the same day that Tehran freed four American hostages, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The Obama administration’s decision to delist Bank Sepah and Bank Sepah International...

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Iran is seeking increased sanctions relief from the West by leveraging concerns that it will back out of last year’s nuclear deal, two experts from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) wrote in an analysis for U.S. News and World Report on Wednesday. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s speech at the United...

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Thousands of Iran-backed Shiite troops are massing in northern Syria for a battle to take the rebel-held eastern part of Aleppo, The Guardian reported Thursday. Around 5,000 of the estimated 6,000 fighters come from countries outside Syria, such as Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Most of the troops’ commanders are Shiites devoted to...

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