Author: Steven Sahiounie

The Pentagon has announced a plan for a sizable reduction of American troop numbers in Afghanistan before the end of November, the month in which the US presidential election will be held. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Saturday that the United States would lower the number of its forces currently deployed in Afghanistan from about 8,600 to below 5,000 troops by the end of November. “We are going down to a number less than 5,000 before the end of November,” Esper said in an interview with Fox News. The figure would be the lowest since the United States invaded…

Lebanon’s Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad has stepped down from her position, citing the failure of the government to carry out reforms and the recent deadly explosion in the capital Beirut. She announced her resignation on Sunday, saying the move was out of respect for all those who were killed, injured and still missing as a result of the Beirut blast, and in response to the people’s demand for change. “I apologize to the Lebanese people whose aspirations we were unable to meet … change remained elusive,” Abdel-Samad said before announcing her resignation on live TV. She was appointed as…

Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab says he will request early parliamentary elections in a bid to defuse a worsening political and economic crisis in the cash-strapped Arab country following a devastating explosion at Beirut port earlier this week. “In reality, there is no way out of this structural crisis without early parliamentary elections, in order to produce a new political class and a new parliament,” Diab said in a televised speech on Saturday evening. The premier noted that he will introduce a draft bill for early elections during a cabinet session on Monday. Diab then called on all political parties in…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The sonic blast at the Port of Beirut on August 4 produced a huge white mushroom cloud that enveloped the port and then rose into the evening sky just after 6 pm. However, the cloud of confusion and disbelief still fogs the minds of the Lebanese people, who demand answers and accountability. President Trump’s favorite news source, “Fox News”, falsely reported that the Port of Beirut was controlled by Hezbollah, the Lebanese political party and resistance movement. Hassan Koraytem is the General Manager of the Port Authority of Beirut, and a member of former…

French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Beirut on Thursday, to make an official visit in the wake of a warehouse explosion that killed more than a hundred people in the city. Shortly after his arrival at the Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Macron took to Twitter to post in Arabic, “Lebanon is not alone.”Macron pledged to arrange more French, European and international aid to Lebanon in the coming days, adding that Lebanon faces a political and economic crisis and there is a need for an urgent response to it. The French President also said that Lebanon will continue to…

The head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Karim Hemti, announced on Thursday, the dispatch of two planes filled with humanitarian aid to Lebanon.The President of the Red Crescent Society stated that the two Iranian planes are carrying 15 tons of medical materials and medicines, 45 tons of food, and a field hospital that will be established in Beirut in coordination with the Lebanese Red Cross, accompanied by 13 specialist doctors and 16 civil defense personnel.He said that Lebanon announced that it did not need camps or pitching tents, and therefore it was not sent to it.“We will be with…

The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has seized a large amount of foreign-supplied weapons that were left behind by the militant forces in southern Syria.During their combing operations in the Daraa, Al-Quneitra, and Damascus governorates, the Syrian Army found various weapons and large quantities of ammunition, including American bombs and Israeli-made mines, left behind by the militants. A source in the competent authorities stated in a statement to SANA that the army uncovered 180,000 rounds of ammunition, RPGs, machine guns, and mines. The source added that among the seizures were also “American-made bombs, Israeli-made individual mines, heavy and medium machine guns,…

The head of the Port of Beirut said that no explosives were stored near the substances that blew up inside the 12th ward, the Sputnik News Agency reported. According to the head of the facility, those were dangerous materials, but “not to this extent”.He also said that Customs and State Security had sent letters to “remove the explosive materials, but for six years we have been waiting to address the issue with no result”.In the meantime, the Lebanese authorities have decided to use the port of Tripoli as a temporary replacement for the port of Beirut, devastated by the blast.The…

Yousra Abdulmalik After it has caused the collapse of the health sector system in Yemen over five years of war, the US-Saudi –led aggression coalition , waging a brutal military campaign against Yemen, is reportedly holding fuel ships for the country , that may result in stopping hospitals and vital institutions. The Yemeni Oil Company said that the aggression forces hold 19 oil ships, including three ships carrying diesel and two ships loaded with domestic gas, reaffirming that the aggression continued to detain (14) oil ships with a total tonnage of (359,030) tons of gasoline and diesel materials, and for…

Eslam abdelmagid eid، journalist and political commentator With the escalation of tensions between Washington and Beijing, led by the trade war between the two parties, which recently reached its fullest stage. In addition to the successive accusations of the US administration made by President Trump, which blames the Chinese side and holds him responsible for the spread of the Corona virus, describing it as the Chinese virus. The American administration did not suffice to this extent in its conflict with China, but began to ignite another war called space war, which was known in the eighties of the last century…