Author: Steven Sahiounie

Three citizens were injured as a result of a landmine explosion left behind by Daesh terrorists in the village of Akash in Salamiya countrsyide. A source at Hama Police Command told SANA reporter that “a landmine left by Daesh (ISIS) terrorists exploded on Saturday in the village of Akash in the eastern countryside of Salamiya, where a number of citizens were present in the place, causing the injury of two men and a girl. On the 14th of last month, a citizen was martyred as a result of the explosion of a landmine left behind by Daesh terrorists in a…

Syrian media reported an airstrike near a bridge in Deir ez-Zor in the east of the country. The airstrikes took place in the Hawijah Kate area near the suspension bridge in the city of Deir ez-Zor,” the official Syrian news agency SANA reported on Saturday. According to local Syrian sources, initial reports indicate that an unidentified military aircraft targeted a local position in Hawija Kate. Syrian official sources have not yet provided details on the material damage and possible casualties resulting from the attack. Source: IP (Iran Press)

On May 7, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) units reportedly retreated from the town of Popasnaya in the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), where violent clashes continued for several weeks. Russian troops together with the LPR People’s Militia continue the offensive. According to the reports from the area, the 24th mechanized brigade of the AFU was defeated and withdrew from the city towards the town of Bakhmut. The mop-up operation continues on the north-western outskirts of Popasnaya. According to the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, Popasnaya is 80% controlled by Russian forces. Chechen units are also deployed in the area. Russian-led forces…

Washington should be on a “list of war criminals” for sharing military data with Kiev, the head of Russia’s Duma has said Washington should be added to a “list of war criminals” as it is now directly participating in “hostilities” in Ukraine, Chairman of Russia’s State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin claimed on Saturday, citing media reports about alleged US intelligence-sharing with Ukraine. US President Joe Biden has told senior intelligence officials that “counterproductive” leaks about data sharing with Ukraine should stop, NBC reported on Friday. Though there was no official reaction to the report from the US authorities, Volodin took to…

In parallel, a Palestinian youth was injured while confronting the occupation forces that stormed the town, backed by more than 100 military vehicles. The Israeli occupation forces blew up the home of the family of Palestinian prisoner Omar Jaradat, who carried out Operation Homesh, in the town of Al-Silah Al-Harithiya, west of Jenin. Video clips posted on social networks showed the occupation forces demolishing the house, with smoke and dust emanating from within The Israeli Supreme Court had approved the decision to demolish the house of prisoner Omar Jaradat over claims of his and his brothers’ involvement in Operation Homesh in mid-December last year. It…

After losing nearly half of its value in March due to Western sanctions, the Russian currency has staged an extraordinary recovery, strengthening to levels not seen in over two years. RT talked to Sergey Kopylov, a junior partner at consulting company BSC and a lead researcher at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, to find out what’s behind the ruble’s resilience. According to the researcher, the West had defaulted on its obligations to Russia when it froze the assets of the country’s central bank. “This is the abolition (something like cancel culture) of the rules of international financial relations based on global…

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has confirmed that President Joe Biden will sign the Lend-Lease Act of 2022 on Monday. The legislation will make it easier for Washington to ship more types of weapons to Ukraine. The authorisation will take place on May 9, or “Victory Day” – when the defeat of Nazi Germany is celebrated annually in Russia. The symbolism will almost certainly raise eyebrows in Moscow. “The president will sign the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022,” Psaki said on Friday, aboard Air Force One en route to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Biden is set to…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The European Union is debating on imposing sanctions on Patriarch Kirill, the head of The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), also known as the Moscow Patriarchate, who leads about 100 million believers. The EU has accused him of supporting the war in Ukraine, and President Vladimir Putin. The sanctions would entail an asset freeze and a travel ban, with EU diplomats set to meet this week to discuss the sanctions, which is part of a wider package proposed by the EU on Wednesday. About 75% of Russians and 60% of Ukrainians profess to be Orthodox…

The US will be there for Ukraine until the fight with Russia is “done,” the House speaker vowed US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has paid a surprise visit to Kiev to personally reassure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of Washington’s support amid the conflict with Russia, it was revealed on Sunday. Zelensky shared a video on Twitter in which he is seen greeting Pelosi and other US lawmakers outside the presidential palace in the Ukrainian capital. The highest-ranking US official to come to Kiev since the start of the fighting, Pelosi was accompanied by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman…

Forces of the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) supported by Russian units are slowly advancing in the town of Rubezhnoe located on the northern outskirts of the city of Severodonetsk. Units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have left residential areas and hold control over the industrial facilities on the southern outskirts of the town. Amid fierce clashes, LPR units take control over Ukrainian strongholds. On April 30, press service of the LPR People’s Militia released a video showing another Ukrainian stronghold taken by LPR units in the industrial area of Rubezhnoe. An LPR soldier who participated in the storming…