Author: Steven Sahiounie

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney called today for an immediate de-escalation of the Israeli aggression on Gaza and the protection of civilians there, which he said is an obligation under international humanitarian law. “Ireland calls for de-escalation and the protection of civilians, which is an obligation under international law. I am particularly concerned about the impact on children. Ireland calls for everybody to act with restrain and reduce tensions,” Coveney said in a tweet. He added that he was “deeply concerned about the escalation in and around Gaza and the impact of the Israeli strikes on civilians.” Source : WAFA

Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Friday expressed its support for Palestinians in responding to the deadly Israeli airstrikes against the Gaza Strip earlier in the day. “Hezbollah supports all the steps taken by the leadership of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) to respond to the Israeli aggression and its continuing crimes,” the Lebanese Shiite political party said in a statement. The Israeli airstrikes, dubbed the “Breaking Dawn” operation, were launched against the Islamic Jihad Movement, an Islamist organization active in Gaza, to “eliminate” what the Israeli military called “the threat to the citizens of Israel.” The airstrikes “will only increase Palestinians’ determination…

The senior commander of the military branch of Islamic Jihad, who was assassinated by the Israeli regime, was one of those overseeing the construction of rockets by the Palestinian resistance. Israeli air raids on Friday killed at least ten people, including a commander of the Islamic Jihad group, as fears of an all-out war on Gaza again gripped the besieged Palestinian territory. The Israeli regime’s forces assassinated Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s (PIJ) northern commander, Taysir al-Jabari, FDD’s Long War Journal reported. He was one of the supervisors of resistance missiles, including the Islamic Jihad missile system that was unveiled in May…

Israeli warplanes attacked today and destroyed two residential buildings in Gaza city displacing their residents and damaging nearby houses as dozens of people were injured in the ongoing Israeli airstrikes throughout the Gaza Strip, according to WAFA correspondent. Warplanes fired missiles at a three-story building owned by the Shamlakh family in Sheikh Ijjilin neighborhood of Gaza City apparently minutes after its residents received a phone call telling them to evacuate the building since it was going to be bombed. Reports from Gaza said the building was totally destroyed and all houses around it were also heavily damaged leaving more than 100…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator Yesterday, Muqtada al-Sadr urged his supporters to continue protests at the Iraqi parliament in Baghdad.  The Muslim cleric has a large support base who demand the dissolution of parliament and a call for early elections. Iraq has been suffering under a political stalemate that has prevented an elected government for almost 10 months. Thousands of protesters entered and occupied the parliament which sits within the Green Zone last weekend. The move was in response to attempts by a rival political faction to form a government with prime ministerial candidates unacceptable to Sadr and his…

Israel is preparing for any scenario and will act if necessary against any organization that threatens the security of Israeli citizens The Israel Defense Forces command made the decision on Thursday to send additional units to the Gaza border area to enhance the units’ combat readiness in case of a possible attack by radical forces, the army press service reported. After situation assessment, the decision was taken to beef up Gaza Division (stationed near the border with the strip – TASS) with additional units in order to enhance combat readiness, it said. According to Israel’s Kan Radio, artillery and engineering…

Moscow is assessing the possibility that a Washington DC agency played a part in the creation of Covid-19 Russia’s Defense Ministry says it’s investigating the possible role of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in the creation of the Covid-19 virus. In a press briefing on Thursday, the head of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces, Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, claimed that US-backed bio-laboratories in Ukraine had been conducting questionable research and clinical tests on Ukrainian citizens, and that “over 16,000 biological samples, including blood and serum samples, were exported from the territory of Ukraine to US and European countries.”…

Moscow has called on Azerbaijan and Armenia to exercise restraint and comply with the ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh in the wake of a deadly exchange between the two in the disputed region. Azerbaijan accused Armenian forces of attacking its military positions in the Lachin corridor area, which is under the supervision of the Russian peacekeeping force, and killing one of its soldiers on August 3. On the very same day, the Azerbaijani military attacked Armenian military positions on the northwestern part of the frontline in Nagorno-Karabakh with artillery and combat drones, killing two Armenian soldiers and wounding 14 others. The exchange defined…

Iraqi prominent Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for dissolving the parliament and holding early elections, urging his followers to continue their open sit-in in the parliament building until their demands are met. “Most of the Iraqi people are tired of the ruling class, including some faces of the Sadrist Movement,” al-Sadr said in a televised speech. “The revolution (protests for comprehensive reform) began by the Sadrist, and it will not exclude the corrupters from the Sadrist Movement,” al-Sadr said. “I am not asking for power, but I am seeking reform,” the Shiite cleric concluded. On Saturday, thousands of al-Sadr’s followers…

Early on August 4, an officer of the Syrian Military Intelligence Directorate (MID) was killed and another was wounded as a result of a cross-border attack from Lebanon. The two officers were manning a checkpoint in the town of al-Mushrefa, which is located right on the border line between Syria and Lebanon, when an gunman from the Lebanese side attacked them with a hand grenade. Lebanese news sources said that the attack took place following an attempt by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) to arrest two local smugglers wanted by both Syrian and Lebanese authorities. One of the smugglers was…