Author: Steven Sahiounie

At least one was killed and six others, including three civilians, wounded as a blast struck a vehicle in eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar province on Sunday. The provincial police chief, Abdul Haq Haqqani, told media that all the injured persons had been taken to hospital, adding that some persons have been arrested and an investigation has been initiated into the incident, China.org reported. According to the official, the blast took place at 8:30 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) Sunday and targeted a patrol van of security forces in Ghazi Abad district, killing one security personnel and injuring six others, including three civilians. No…

Turkey on Sunday alleged fellow NATO member Greece has used a Russian-made air defense system to harass Turkish jets on a reconnaissance mission, calling it a “hostile action.” The incident took place on August 23 when Greece’s S-300 missile system deployed on the island of Crete put a lock on Turkish F-16 jets flying at 10,000 feet west of Rhodes, Turkish defense ministry sources said, AFP reported. That was “incompatible with the spirit of (NATO) alliance” and amounted to “hostile acts” under the NATO rules of engagement, the sources added. “Despite this hostile action, (Turkish) jets completed their planned missions…

A former Labour politician claims the corporation denied him a board position, fearing retribution from Boris Johnson’s government Former Labour government member James Purnell has accused the BBC of blocking him from a top position, supposedly to keep favor with Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Cabinet. Purnell has held a number of high-ranking positions within the BBC over the years and was its director of radio and education between 2016 and 2020. However, when the broadcaster’s new director general, Tim Davie, offered Purnell a position on the board in 2020, other non-executive directors “decided they didn’t want someone with a Labour background,” Purnell…

Kiev is quickly burning all bridges of reconciliation with Moscow. The Ukrainian government withdrew from an agreement with its Russian counterpart regarding scientific and economic cooperation on atomic energy, according to Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnichuk, a Ukrainian government representative. “The agreement between the governments of Ukraine and Russia on scientific and economic cooperation on atomic energy, signed on January 14, 1993 in Moscow, has been voided,” he said. Most recently on August 23, the Russian Finance Ministry announced that Ukraine withdrew from an agreement with Russia that avoids double taxation of income and property and prevention of tax evasion. Kiev…

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has released two videos documenting recent attacks on the Turkish military in Iraq’s northern region. Both attacks took part in the northern parts of the Kurdistan Region, where the Turkish military has been counducting an operation against the PKK since mid-April. The operation codenamed, Claw-Lock, is meant to end the Kurdish guerilla group presence in the areas of Metina, Zap and Avashin Basyan. The first video released by the PKK shows an attack with an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) on an armored vehicle of the Turkish military that took place in Zap on August 9.…

The new death toll comes a day after the Pakistani Prime Minister asked for international help in battling deadly flood damage. Flash floods triggered by destructive monsoon rains across much of Pakistan have killed nearly 1,000 people, injured, and displaced thousands more since June, officials said. The new death toll came a day after the Pakistani Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, asked for international help in battling deadly flood damage. More than 33 million people have been displaced. The government has declared an emergency to deal with monsoon flooding, which began in June and continues to wreak havoc in Pakistan. The National…

US arms maker Raytheon is to produce the NASAMS systems by August 2024 under the contract The Pentagon has signed a $182-million deal with US arms manufacturer Raytheon to produce NASAMS (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems) for the Ukrainian military. The work on short-and medium-range air defense weaponry will be conducted at Raytheon’s facilities in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, with an estimated completion date of August 23, 2024, the US Department of Defense said in a statement on Friday. Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden announced yet another military aid package for Ukraine amid its conflict with Russia. At $2.98 billion…

On August 27, forces loyal to Fathi Bashagha, the interim prime minister of Libya, reached the eastern entrance of Tripoli, where intense clashes broke out a day earlier. Back in February, Bashagha was selected as prime minister-designate by the eastern-based Libyan House of Representatives. However, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, head of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity, rejected Bashagha’s appointment as prime minister, stating that he will only hand power after a national election. Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, Commander-in-Chief of the Libyan National Army, backed Bashagha’s appointment, despite their previous disagreement. The forces advanced towards Tripoli set off from the city…

Russia took back an advanced S-300 long-range air-defense system which was handed over to Syria a few years ago, an Israeli satellite intelligence firm revealed on August 26. ImageSat International (ISI) released satellite images showing that the S-300 system stationed near the town of Masyaf in the western countryside of Syria’s Hama had been shipped back to Russia in recent weeks. The S-300 system’s main radar was taken to Russia’s Hmeimim Air Base in the southern countryside of Lattakia, while the remaining parts of the system were shipped to the Russian naval base in Tartus port. There, they were loaded…

Four Islamic State (IS) militants were killed on Saturday in Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala, the media office of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in a statement. The IS militants from Himreen Lake in Diyala were trying to destroy surveillance cameras, which were installed by the security forces to monitor IS militants’ movement along their routes in the mountainous Himreen area, according to the statement. The security forces tracked down the militants and clashed with them, leaving four militants killed and two others wounded, it added. In a separate statement, the JOC said Iraqi security forces, backed by…