Author: Steven Sahiounie

The latest Israeli missile attack on the Damascus International Airport was strongly condemned by Russian Ambassador to Syria Alexander Efimov, who has called on the Tel Aviv regime to stop its heinous acts of aggression or face serious consequences. In an interview with the Arabic-language daily al-Watan, Efimov stressed that such reckless activities endanger civilian aircraft and civil aviation, and that the Israeli authorities must immediately halt such heinous acts. The airport was hit by a barrage of missiles fired from Israeli-occupied Golan Heights at 4:20 a.m. local time (01:20 GMT) on Friday, according to official media. The Syrian Ministry of…

Jens Stoltenberg added that Turkey’s security concerns were not new NATO had “no reason to believe” Turkey would block Finland and Sweden’s accession bids, the alliance’s secretary-general said in an interview with the Financial Times published on Monday. “Earlier in the process, we had no reasons to believe there would be any problems,” Jens Stoltenberg told the British newspaper, saying Turkey’s security concerns were not new. Turkey “is an important ally, and when an ally raises security concerns, we have to address them,” he said. The NATO chief also said it was still possible to overcome the concerns “within a…

The President did not commit to a trip to the Mideast kingdom but said any visit would be about security, not energy Written by Kyle Anzalone. Originally published on AntiWar President Joe Biden answered questions about his potential visit to Saudi Arabia. Biden said that a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) would be about Israeli security, not energy. While Axios reported the trip would come in mid-July, Biden did not commit to making the trip. Speaking with reporters outside of Air Force One on Sunday, Biden said, “It happens to be a larger meeting taking place in Saudi Arabia.…

Beijing has reaffirmed its strategic partnership with Islamabad and agreed to enhance defense cooperation Chinese and Pakistani officials have agreed to increase their cooperation in countering terrorism and other security concerns, deepening their alliance amid efforts by “outside forces” to divide the two countries. “Pakistan and China reaffirmed their strategic partnership in challenging times and agreed to continue regular exchange of perspectives on issues of mutual interest,” Islamabad’s military said in a statement on Sunday. The countries also vowed to enhance their ties on training, technology, and counterterrorism. The agreement followed talks during a four-day visit to Beijing by a Pakistani military delegation, headed by…

The Turkish occupation forces have continued to launch attacks on residential areas in Raqqa northern countryside. “The occupation troops shelled, with artillery, the vicinity of Saida and Ma’alaq villages and the M4 international highway, Raqqa northern countryside, causing material damages,” local sources told SANA. The sources added that the continued bombing by Turkish occupation and its terrorists on the northern areas of Raqqa province have obstructed the movement on public roads between villages, towns and the centers of the cities, in addition to displacing families. Source: SANA

Despite pressure from Congress, US President Joe Biden will likely meet Saudi Prince to deal with security issues and oil prices. After the postponed visit of US President Joe Biden to Saudi Arabia and “Israel”, the White House plans to announce the dates of the trip as early as Monday, June 13. According to two officials with immediate knowledge of the plans Congress had previously pushed back against the trip given their critical stance against the Kingdom and its leader for repeated human-rights abuses. Previously, a senior administration official told NBC News “We are working on a trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia for…

Oslo is terminating a deal for the NH-90 dating back 20 years and now demands that €500 million be reimbursed Norway, one of the founding NATO members, is terminating a contract for NH-90 military helicopters it signed back in 2001, the country’s Defense Minister Bjorn Arild Gram announced at a press conference on Friday. The model, which was developed specifically to meet the military alliance’s requirements, has been deemed suboptimal by the Norwegian military, which cited multiple defects and delays. As the model “will never be in a position to fulfill the requirements of the Norwegian armed forces,” Oslo is…

South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup said on Sunday that his country would enhance its defense capabilities and work closely with the United States and Japan to counter North Korea’s nuclear and missile threat. Lee, speaking at an Asian security meeting in Singapore, said the situation on the Korean peninsula posed a global threat and he urged North Korea to immediately end its nuclear weapon and missile programs, Reuters reported. The United States warned this month that North Korea is preparing to conduct a seventh nuclear test, and says it will again push for United Nations sanctions if that happens.…

Google’s LaMDA AI chatbot has raised concerns from a company engineer, which prompted the tech giant to place him on paid leave. An engineer at Google has been placed on administrative leave after he voiced concerns over the possibility that the company’s artificially intelligent chatbot, Language Model for Dialogue Applications, or LaMDA for short, could be sentient, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. “If I didn’t know exactly what it was, which is this computer program we built recently, I’d think it was a 7-year-old, 8-year-old kid that happens to know physics,” Google engineer Blake Lemoine told the newspaper. It said that…

Despite the attempts of Ukrainian media to balme Russian forces for destruction of the Svyatohorsk Lavra during the battles, the mayor of the city of Svyatohorsk confirmed that the sacred place was set on fire by the retreating Ukrainian units. Russian forces claimed control over the city of Svyatohorsk on June 6. The local monastery located on the right bank of the Seversky Donets River was used as a military base of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU). Ukrainian forces deployed their artillery there and took hostage the monks. As a result, three civilians in the Svyatohorsk Lavra were killed. After…