Author: Steven Sahiounie

A Hezbollah politician issued the party’s first statement since the decision of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon regarding the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.In statements to Al- Mayadeen TV, the Lebanese parliamentarian for Hezbollah, Hassan Fadlallah, said that “the party’s position on the court is well-known and principled, and it is certain that it is unconstitutional.” He said, “We also have a principled position on the necessity to uncover the truth about the assassination of Prime Minister Rafic Hariri,” noting that the party’s position on the court has not changed, neither before nor after its decision, and reiterated…

The leader of the Ummah Party in Iraq and former member of the House of Representatives, Mithal Al-Alousi, said that the Iraqi government should normalize relations with Israel, similar to what the United Arab Emirates did last week.In a special statement to Shafaaq News, Al-Alousi said, “Iraq needs to get out of the camp of wars, extremism and delusions, and it needs to build stable relations with all countries of the world.”He continued, “For this, Iraq needs a peace agreement with Israel, similar to the Emirates.”Al-Alousi revealed that “there is informal communication between some Iraqi political figures and Israel.”He pointed…

American drones flying over Syria have become a common sight since Washington deployed troops in the Arab Republic without authorisation from its government or a UN Security Council mandate. The US lost two drones in the Syrian province of Idlib on 18 August, the Military Times online media outlet reported, citing an anonymous defence official. While the official confirmed that the two UAVs had collided in the air, they could not confirm that the collision was the primary cause of the crash, as there were reports of the drones being shot down after the incident. The Military Times’ source also…

The United States has imposed sanctions on some UAE-based companies, alleging they had ties with Iran’s Mahan Air. The US Treasury released a statement Wednesday, targeting the United Arab Emirates-based Parthia Cargo and Delta Parts Supply FZC. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin repeated the anti-Iran allegations that Mahan Air is “a tool to spread its destabilizing agenda around the world.” The United States will continue to take action against those supporting this airline,” he claimed. The Treasury baselessly blamed the two companies “for their material support of Iranian airline Mahan Air.” “Parthia Cargo and Delta Parts Supply FZC are being designated…

The Iranian President’s Chief of Staff, Mahmoud Vaezi, dismissed the U.S. claims about seizing four Iranian fuel tankers, stressing that the ships and cargo do not belong to the Islamic Republic.“Neither the ships nor their flags belong to Iran,” Vaezi told reporters after a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Wednesday, Fars News reported.“The cargo on these ships had already been sold and we had already been paid as well,” he added.The Wall Street Journal had claimed in a report on Friday that the Trump administration has for the first time confiscated cargo in vessels allegedly loaded with Iran fuel in…

A picture published by the Greek newspaper Kathimerini on Wednesday revealed the damage sustained to the right side of the stern of the Turkish “Kamel Rais” ship after it collided with a Greek frigate on August 12th. “The collision occurred when the ship, the Kamel Rais, sought to obstruct the Greek frigate, Lemnos, which was monitoring the movements of the Turkish survey ship over the Greek continental shelf in the eastern Mediterranean,” the newspaper said. Greek defense sources told the newspaper that the attempt to obstruct the Greek ship forced them to turn around in order to avoid a head-on…

Egyptian presidential spokesman Bassam Radi announced on Wednesday that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with the commander of the 2nd Field Army, the head of the Army Engineering Authority, and the head of the Financial Affairs Authority. The presidential spokesperson stated that Al-Sisi directed “to continue to maintain competence and the highest levels of readiness and combat readiness to carry out any tasks entrusted to members of the armed forces to protect Egypt’s national security, in light of the current challenges in the region and the great capacity of the Egyptian Armed Forces in all branches, specialties and armament systems.…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The verdict was finally delivered Aug. 18 by presiding Judge David Re, of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), based near The Hague in The Netherlands. The trial, which began in 2014 and cost about $1 billion, found that there was no direct evidence implicating the leadership of Hezbollah, or of the Syrian Arab Republic in the attack which killed Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on Feb. 14, 2005.  Salim Ayyash was found guilty of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act, killing Rafik Hariri, murdering 21 others, and attempting to murder 226 more in…

The incident was said to have taken place in Deir ez-Zor province, northeastern Syria. A Russian major-general was killed and two troops were injured in Syria Tuesday after vehicles they were traveling in were hit by an improvised explosive device (IED), the Russian Ministry of Defence has announced. The blast was said to have taken place near the At-Taim oil field, about 15 km outside the city of Deir ez-Zor, with the Russian convoy said to have been hit while returning from a humanitarian action. “As a result of the explosion, three Russian servicemen were injured. During evacuation and while…

Khaked Iskef، Syrian Journalist Unidentified gunmen targeted a Turkish military vehicle while it was participating in the joint Russian-Turkish military patrol Monday morning in Idlib countryside on (Aleppo-Latakia) highway. Private field sources reported that the Turkish vehicle was hit by an “R.P.G” shell shortly after it left “Tarnaba” village in Idlib countryside, damaging it completely and wounding slightly a Turkish soldier inside it.  After completing the patrol, the sources indicated that the Turkish forces worked to carry out an inspection campaign within the vicinity of the targeting site, during which a missile launch base was found within close range of…