Author: Steven Sahiounie

Liz Truss said she can’t remember tackling Britain’s Gulf allies on human rights issues, but insists she did UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told a hearing on Tuesday that she has raised human rights concerns with Britain’s allies in the Gulf, but when pressed couldn’t name a single time she did. Despite insisting that the UK should oppose “authoritarian regimes” around the world, Truss said that Saudi Arabia and other oil-producing totalitarian states are “partners.” In a speech to Commonwealth leaders last week, Truss argued that Britain and its former imperial territories should act as a “bulwark” against Russia and China, and a “robust counterweight to…

On June 29, nine Turkish-backed militants were killed and two others were wounded when an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) hit a bus that was carrying them near the town of Bosoufane which is located in the southern part of Turkish-occupied Afrin in the northern countryside of Syria’s Aleppo. The slain militants were all members of the al-Sham Legion, a faction of the National Front for Liberation (NFL). The front is Turkey’s main proxy in the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib and a de-facto part of the Syrian National Army that rules over Turkish-occupied areas in northern and northeastern Syria.…

The Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson accuses Washington, Brussels, and London of doing everything to really escalate the Ukrainian grain export conflict. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova pointed out that Russia is not preventing the export of grain from Ukraine, stressing that Moscow is ready to export tens of millions of tonnes of its own grain if the West stops blocking food supplies. Zakharova said if the West is worried about the onset of world famine it should “stop blocking food supplies.” She considered that “it is Washington, Brussels, and London that are doing everything to really artificially escalate the situation”…

A new UN report says more than 19 million Yemenis are now facing hunger, setting a new record since the beginning of the devastating Saudi-led war on Yemen in 2015. The number of hungry people in Yemen is the highest in seven years, with aid cuts possible in days, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday. “More than 19 million people are going hungry, including more than 160,000 on the verge of famine,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. “Funding cuts are hampering our ability to help people in need.” The office said that the World Food…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator “Israel” is heading toward its fifth election in less than four years, as the Bennett-Lapid consensus ends in the Knesset. Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett’s Yamina Party was weakened by significant defections recently between Bennett’s right-wing allies and Arab members of the coalition, which rendered the to a government a minority position in the Knesset. Defense Minister Benny Gantz discussed a vote on a bill to dissolve the Knesset on June 22, 2022. However, the bill to disperse the 24th Knesset has been delayed due to a last-ditch effort by the opposition to form an…

The Secretary General said the West tried to talk with Russia before the special military operation but Russia went ahead with its plans NATO has been preparing to face off Russia since 2014, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday. “We actually prepared for this possibility for a long time,” he said at a news conference capping a second day of a NATO summit in Madrid. “It’s not as if NATO suddenly woke up on the 24th of February and realized that Russia was dangerous.” “The reality is that we also have been preparing for this since 2014 because…

Berlin has allegedly suggested having key infrastructure near the Russian border, but wants troops stationed in their home countries Germany has reportedly objected to the idea of sending several thousand more NATO troops to the alliance’s Eastern flank, suggesting an alternative scheme instead. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz proposed stationing support units and fuel stocks in the Baltic states and Poland, but did not back the deployment of entire additional brigades to the countries, according to a report in Die Welt. The majority of troops, according to Scholz’s plan, would remain in their home countries at full combat readiness, only conducting…

It is stated that a firm position against NATO is only achievable if the Turkish armed forces take full control of the Incirlik and Kurecik bases and the country pulls out of NATO Turkey’s Patriotic Party has called for shutting down the Incirlik and Kurecik military bases in the wake of a memorandum signed by Ankara, Helsinki and Stockholm, which makes it possible for Finland and Sweden to join NATO. “We would like to reiterate a decision that the Patriotic Party made on February 5, 2022. A firm position against NATO is only achievable if the Turkish armed forces take…

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said that Abu Hamzah al-Yemeni, a senior leader of al-Qaeda-affiliated Horas al-Din, was killed in the June 27 drone strike on the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib, but Jihadi sources are denying this claim. The strike targeted a man who was traveling alone on a motorcycle on a road linking Idlib city center with the town of Qmenas, some four kilometers to the southeast. The man was killed on the spot. Just a few hours after the strike, a statement by the CENTCOM identified the man as al-Yemeni without elaborating on his role within…

The country becomes second to acknowledge the Donbass republics’ independence, after Russia Syria has recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR, respectively), which announced their intention to break away from Ukraine in 2014 and were officially recognized by Russia in February. Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) announced the decision on Wednesday afternoon, citing sources within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Damascus. “Embodying the common will and desire to establish relations in all fields, the Syrian Arab Republic has decided to recognize the independence and sovereignty of both the Lugansk People’s Republic and the…