Author: Steven Sahiounie

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator Suleyman Soylu, Turkish Interior Minister, announced on Saturday new measures affecting Syrians living in Turkey. Firstly, Ankara has banned all Syrians from visiting their relatives in Syria during the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which will take place in mid-July. A similar ban had been applied earlier in the year for the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. Refugees can lose their protected status if they travel back to Syria. Secondly, as a sign of growing social discontent, Ankara has taken new measures to restrict the movement of Syrians…

President Erdogan will tell fellow NATO leaders in Madrid that his country won’t compromise on Sweden and Finland’s membership Ankara maintains its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, the office of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. The president is expected to reiterate the position to the leaders of NATO states during an upcoming summit in Spain. Erdogan will say that “Turkey will not compromise its stance towards countries that support terrorism and terrorist organizations” during the key meeting on June 28-30, the message from his office said, as cited by Turkish media. The office said it will hold…

US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser has raised concerns with China’s top diplomat over Beijing’s veto of a United States-led push at the United Nations to impose more sanctions on North Korea, a senior US official said. During the four-and-a-half-hour meeting between Jake Sullivan and Yang Jiechi in Luxembourg on Monday, the Biden administration conveyed the belief that Beijing and Washington could cooperate on the North Korea issue, the official told reporters during a briefing. “Jake raised concerns, in particular, about the veto, which comes following a significant series of ballistic missile launches in violation of previous UN Security…

The total number of monkeypox cases in the UK has now reached 470 after more than 100 cases were confirmed over the weekend and today. Monkeypox has become a notifiable disease in England, meaning all medics must alert local health authorities to suspected cases. Monkeypox is a family of smallpox that killed millions of people around the world each year before it was eradicated in 1980. But monkeypox is less severe now, and most people recover within three to four weeks. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said a further 104 cases had been confirmed in England as of June…

As of June 13, the fierce battle for the city of Severodonetsk continues. The recent days were marked by several incidents which confirmed the deplorable situation for the Armed Forces Of Ukraine in the city. The AFU confirmed the loss of control over the center of Severodonetsk Advisor to the Minister Yuri Sak in an interview with Deutsche Welle said that the situation in the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Severodonetsk is very difficult, but events are developing more intensively. The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine confirmed that Russian forces have significant advantage in firepower and compared the situation in…

A convoy of the US occupation vehicles loaded with ammunition, military equipment and logistical materials has entered Hasaka countryside to reinforce the occupation’s troops in their illegitimate military bases. Local sources in al-Yarubiya countryside told SANA reporter that a convoy of 55 vehicles belonging to US occupation, loaded with military equipment and ammunition, entered through illegitimate al-Waleed crossing to Khrab al-Jir airport, where the occupation has a base for its forces in al-Yarubiya countryside in Hasaka countryside. Source: SANA

The day before, Donetsk was shelled with rocket and cannon artillery, and with 155 mm artillery guns Five civilians were killed and another 39 people sustained wounds in shelling attacks by Ukrainian forces in the Donetsk People’s Republic over the past day, the DPR’s mission to the Joint Ceasefire Control and Coordination Center said on Tuesday. “News came about the death of five civilians, including a boy born in 2011,” the mission said on its Telegram channel. Wounds were sustained by 39 people, including three children, the mission added. Cities in the DPR have lately been coming under intense bombardment…

Aid to Kiev has depleted Warsaw’s military stockpiles, creating “gaps” that major partners should help fill, President Duda says Poland’s weapons stocks have been left too bare by military aid to Ukraine, and the country wants its Western allies to replace the firepower that was shipped to Kiev, Polish President Andrzej Duda told his army commanders on Monday. “We expect the gaps that have arisen in our resources to be refilled also within the framework of allied support mechanisms,” Duda said in a military briefing. Poland has been Ukraine’s top supplier of heavy weapons, including hundreds of tanks, artillery pieces and other…

Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit said that the West wants to use the Middle East to “surround” Russia Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit in an interview on Sunday accused the West of pressuring Arab states to condemn Russia over its military operation in Ukraine and vote against Moscow in international forums, in a bid to “surround” Russia with compliant Middle Eastern allies. A number of Arab League members – including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt – voted for a UN General Assembly resolution in March condemning Russia’s operation. However, the league itself, which represents 22 Arab states, has…

Despite the US Federal Reserve’s largest interest rate increase in 22 years, the US saw its largest inflation increase in 40 years in May. The situation has many fearing that the US economy may be doomed to enter a recession after two years of recovery from the crash at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported in its monthly bulletin on consumer price indices that prices had increased by an average of 8.6% in May from where they were in May 2021, noting it was the largest year-on-year increase since December 1981. This, despite…