Author: Steven Sahiounie

The former Lebanese MP, Hassan Hoballah, met on Friday with a leading delegation from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Hoballah, the official in charge of Palestinian relations in Hezbollah, discussed with the Palestinian delegation headed by the Secretary-General of the PFLP, Abu Ahmed Fouad, “the latest developments in the Arab and Palestinian arenas,” according to the National News Agency in Lebanon. Fouad expressed his satisfaction with “the results of the General Secretaries General Conference held in Beirut and Ramallah,” stressing “the importance of the conference in terms of consolidating Palestinian national unity and launching the popular…

Lebanon’s parliamentary speaker said his group opposed the way the prime minister-designate was forming a new cabinet and that it would not join on those terms, but that he would still cooperate to stabilise the nation in crisis, his office said. The office of Nabih Berri, head of the Muslim Shi’ite Amal Movement which is allied to the powerful Hezbollah group, listed in a statement criticisms of the way the cabinet was being formed by Mustapha Adib, including a lack of consultations. “The problem is not with the French, the problem is internal,” Berri’s office said in its statement, after…

The US Embassy in Libya welcomes the assurance of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the head of the Libyan National Army (LNA), that the energy sector in the country would reopen no later than 12 September. “As responsible Libyan parties come together in UN-facilitated peaceful dialogue, the U.S. Embassy is encouraged by an apparent sovereign Libyan agreement to enable the National Oil Corporation (NOC) to resume its vital and apolitical work,” the embassy said in a Saturday statement. According to the release, in an exchange of letters between US Ambassador to Libya Richard Norland and head of the LNA, Norland stressed US support…

Israel and Bahrain have agreed to establish diplomatic ties, less than a month after the United Arab Emirates did so under a peace deal brokered by the United States earlier in August. The move drew condemnation from Iran and the Palestinians. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned that Bahrain could face “harsh revenge” from its own people along with the Palestinians, after the kingdom decided to normalize relations with Israel. “The executioner ruler of Bahrain should await the harsh revenge of the Mujahideen (Islamic fighters) aiming to liberate Quds (Jerusalem) and the proud Muslim nation of this country”, the IRGC…

On 11 September, the Kingdom of Bahrain has reportedly agreed to a peace deal with Israel, becoming the fourth Arab country to formally recognise the Jewish state and the second in the last 30 days. International observers have discussed the new announcement as well as its potential impact on the 2020 presidential race in the US. A joint statement by the US, Israel and Bahrain hailed the development as highly positive, while Palestinian Arabs, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Turkey condemned the agreement, reiterating that the Gulf nations’ reconciliation with the Jewish state is upending the Palestinian cause. Earlier, on…

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed concerns over tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean during his Saturday visit to Cyprus. “We remain deeply concerned by Turkey’s ongoing operations surveying for natural resources in areas over which Greece and Cyprus assert jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Republic of Cyprus has the right to exploit its natural resources, including the right to hydrocarbons found in its territorial sea and its economic – exclusive economic zone”, Pompeo said, as quoted by the US State Department. Pompeo stressed that regional cooperation is essential for energy security in the Eastern Mediterranean. “We also believe that the…

by Ekaterina Blinova A draft of an economic and security deal between the People’s Republic of China and the Islamic Republic of Iran previously leaked by The New York Times is continuing to reverberate in the international media. Iranian political analyst Mahan Abedin has explained the fuss over the accords and shed light on Iran’s strategic shift towards the East. The 18-page Persian-language document envisages multi-billion-dollar Chinese investments in the Iranian economy as well as considerable oil discounts for the People’s Republic. The agreement also includes security cooperation, intelligence sharing, and joint military drills. Commenting on the leak, Iran’s Foreign Minister…

President Donald Trump has issued a joint statement by the United States, Israel and Bahrain announcing Tel Aviv and Manama’s intention to establish full diplomatic relations.“Another HISTORIC breakthrough today! our two GREAT friends Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain agree to a Peace Deal – the second Arab country to make peace with Israel in 30 days!” Trump wrote in a tweet accompanying the statement. As per the statement, Israel and Bahrain agreed to normalize ties following a telephone conversation between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa bin Salman al-Khalifa and Donald Trump.“King Hamad and Prime…

Two explosions took the lives of four Syrians, three women and an old man, while seriously injuring five others and left considerable material damage in the city of Ras Al-Ayn, Hasakah countryside, northern Syria. The first explosion took place when an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) was detonated in ‘Abbara Haj Wasfi’, a market of shops opposite the main post office on the city’s main road. The second explosion took place in the chicken meat market, opposite the main bakery, a booby-trapped motorcycle was detonated. No casualties in the second explosion which left material damage. Exchanged bombing between terrorists loyal to the…

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday, that European countries will try to work to reach a unified policy on Turkey, pointing to the need to take a strict approach against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in light of the escalating tensions in the eastern Mediterranean.Macron stated during a press conference in Ajaccio, on the southern island of Corsica, that “work will be done to reach a unified European policy on Turkey,” adding that there is a desire to “avoid escalation.”The French President also stressed, in light of tension with Ankara, that his goal “is to reactivate an effective dialogue…