Author: Steven Sahiounie

France denied on Friday that Juan Guaido, the leader of the opposition in Venezuela, is seeking asylum in its diplomatic headquarters in the capital city, Caracas, after the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Jorge Arreaza, said Guaido was hiding inside the French embassy. “Mr. Juan Guaido is not present at the French headquarters in Caracas … We have repeatedly confirmed this to the Venezuelan authorities,” said Agnes von der Mole, spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry. In response to a question about whether the Venezuelan dissident Leopoldo Lopez was at the residence of the Ambassador of Spain, and whether Guaido was located…

In an interview with Sputnik Radio (Arabic-language version), the military expert Dr. Amin Ahteit, stated that last night’s attack by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) was not the first time that they have used Lebanese airspace to bomb Syria. “Since Syria was able to restore its air defense platforms, Israel used Lebanese airspace to launch its aggression against Syria. It has taken four air routes from the south and north, and two in the center targeting the Damascus region and its surroundings, the Homs region and its surroundings, as well as Hama and its surroundings,” the military expert said. “They…

The U.S. Coalition and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) launched a new operation along the Syrian-Iraqi border on Friday, targeting a number of areas under the Islamic State’s (ISIS/ISIL/IS/Daesh) control. According to reports from eastern Syria, the U.S. Coalition and Syrian Democratic Forces began their operation in conjunction with the Iraqi Army, hitting a number of hideouts belonging to the Islamic State in the Khabour River area. The operation will attempt to clear the Islamic State zones of influence, which the terrorist group has built between the Syrian and Iraqi border. ISIS has recently resurfaced in several parts of Iraq and…

An American newspaper announced that Washington conducted the first test of what they called the ‘killer’ of the Russian S-400 air defense system. According to the newspaper The Drive, the United States conducted the first test of the “AGM-88G” missile, as it was designed to destroy enemy air defense systems. The experiment was conducted using the fifth generation F-18A Super Hornet fighter, as military experts highly evaluated the interaction of the fighter systems and the new missile. The newspaper pointed out that the test took place at the U.S. Naval Military Airport in Maryland. It is worth noting that the…

The Anatolia News agency announced on Friday that a Greek group wearing military fatigues opened fire on a Turkish police boat while the latter was patrolling the Mrayij River near the Turkish-Greek border. The news agency said that the Special Operations Police found near the Bashiurt border police station, the body of one of the asylum seekers beside a tree, while they were patrolling the Mrayij River. They explained that “a military camouflaged group opened fire from the Greek side towards the Special Operations Police boat while photographing the body.” The state noted that “the police immediately took their positions…

Libya’s government forces have regained control of the strategic town of Tarhuna in the southeast of the capital Tripoli, the last major stronghold of Libyan rebels under the command of renegade general Khalifa Haftar. “Our heroic forces have extended their control over the whole of Tarhuna,” Mohamad Gnounou, the military spokesman for Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA), said on Friday. The GNA’s operations room also announced in a statement that its forces had reached the center of Tarhouna after entering from four sides. Tarhuna was the main launchpad for the 14-month offensive against the capital that Haftar’s militias finally…

The Syrian Arab Army received its second batch of MiG-29 fighter jets from Russia. When exactly the first batch was delivered and what it consisted of remains entirely unclear. “In the framework of military and technical cooperation between Russia and Syria, the Russian side handed over the second batch of advanced and modernized MiG-29 fighter jets to Syria, during a ceremony at Hmeimim base,” a military source said, cited by Syrian state outlet SANA, said. “As of June 1, 2020, Syrian pilots will begin to carry out missions on those planes in Syrian airspace,” the source concluded. Footage of Su-24 bombers…

A special forces unit of the Egyptian Navy was reportedly ambushed by ISIS terrorists while on a mission in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula. The UK-based New Arab said the unit was carrying out a mission near the coastal town of al-Dhibah on June 3 when it fell into an ambush set by ISIS cells. Several boats of the Egyptian Navy intervened to evacuate the unit. However, they were targeted by the terrorists who managed to damage one of them. “Medical sources at the al-Arish Military Hospital confirmed to the New Arab that it recorded a number of…

For the second day in a row, hundreds of civilians took to the streets in the town of al-Shaddadi in southern al-Hasakah to protests against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The protesters condemned the killing of a local man, Mohamad Saleh al-Ali, by the SDF security forces, Asayish, a day earlier. Al-Ali was protesting along with hundreds other people against poor living conditions in al-Shaddadi and nearby areas when he was shot and killed by Asyaish personnel. The June 5 protests were not limited to al-Shaddadi. The protests expanded to the villages of al-Said Hamoud, al-Ottomaniyah and al-Awad. Security forces were again…

On June 5, unidentified gunmen attacked two soldiers of the Turkish Armed Forces in the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib. According to the Step News Agency, the attack took place on a road between the town of Sarmin and Idlib city, less than 2 km away from a checkpoint manned by militants of al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). “Turkish forces found two soldiers who were shot, one of whom was dead and the other in critical condition,” Step’s reporter in Idlib, Omar al-Omar, said. The dead service member was reportedly shot in the head, while the other received a…