Author: Steven Sahiounie

The Kurdish-led Asayish forces have arrested a number of people, one of whom is recruiting fighters to join the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS/Daesh) terrorist organization, during a security campaign inside the Al-Hol camp in the Al-Hasakah Governorate. The Asayish forces announced that the apprehended people were believed to be members or linked to the Islamic State in the Al-Hol Camp, which is under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). In a video released by RT Arabic on Monday, dozens of vehicles can be seen entering the Al-Hol Camp, as the Asayish begin their security operation in the northeastern region…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator Rola Al-Khatib, a journalist for Al-Hadath, and Al-Arabiya, media outlets from Saudi Arabia, were attacked by children at the Al-Hol camp in north-eastern Syria which houses ISIS families.   The children had been indoctrinated by their mothers to regard any female not wearing a black headscarf and full-length cloak as an ‘infidel’. The children threatened to kill the journalist. She explained to them she wanted to help them by interviewing them, but the children reacted violently. The video shown by Al-Hadath on Saturday showed the children hurling insults at the reporter, calling her an infidel…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator On Mother’s Day in Syria, Sunday, March 21, the terrorists in the western countryside of Aleppo province launched missiles aiming at neighborhoods of Al-Salihin and Al-Firdous in east Aleppo.  The missiles slammed into houses, stores, and parked cars in the residential neighborhoods.  Two were killed, while dozens were injured, including small children.  The dead and injured were received at Aleppo University hospital and Al-Razi Hospital. The terrorists who launched the missiles perhaps are the very same persons who had once occupied east Aleppo. When the Syrian Arab Army was poised to enter into east…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator On March 11, the foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey, and Qatar met in a trilateral effort to push for a political resolution to the 10-year-old conflict in Syria. They held a joint press conference in Doha and issued a broad statement concerning the future of Syria, and their joint commitment to the UN peace process under resolution 2254. The trio emphasized their commitment to preserving the sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity of Syria while stating that the only solution to the conflict was a political settlement, while all agreed on fighting terrorism which…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator Syrian investors have about $42 billion in Lebanese banks. The corrupt Lebanese banking system has frozen those accounts and prevented withdrawals. The Syrian economic crisis is caused in large part by the Lebanese crisis. In the summer of 2019, the Lebanese crisis began with street protests. This was instigated by the US to create the conditions needed to freeze the Syrian money in the banks, thus preventing the rebuilding of Syria now that the war is over. The US strategy has two tracks: one to tie-up the Syrian money, and the other to put…

Last week, Iran rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims that Tehran was “clearly” behind the 25 February explosion on board an Israeli-owned cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman. On Sunday, the Lebanese broadcaster al-Mayadeen released alleged Iranian drone footage of an Israeli-owned cargo ship after it was hit by a blast in the Gulf of Oman in late February. The network posted the images to their YouTube channel. The 48-second clip specifically focuses on holes in the side of the MV Helios Ray, just above the waterline. The news outlet cited an unnamed Iranian official who purportedly provided the video as…

The spokesman for Yemen’s army says a new missile fired by the country’s armed forces and fighters from Popular Committees has hit a “sensitive” military target at Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport with high precision. According to Yemen’s al-Masirah news agency, Yahya Saree said in a tweet on Monday that Yemeni forces have used a new missile in this attack, which has hit a “sensitive military target” at the Saudi airport with extreme precision. He added that the new attack is in line with Yemenis’ legitimate right to defend themselves in the face of the Saudi-led aggression and in answer to the…

The European economy reportedly risks losing tens of billions of euro, as the slack pace of its anti-Covid inoculation program causes serious concern among investors over potential growth and poor progress in business re-openings. Distribution of vaccines across the European Union has been severely hampered by political divisions, supply disruptions, bureaucratic delays, an by plain public distrust. The single-currency bloc has administered eight doses per 100 people, compared to 33 shots for Britain and 25 for the US, Bloomberg’s Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker shows. The protraction inevitably holds back business resumption – services and tourism in most member states remain largely…

Saudi Arabia’s defense spokesman has accused Iran of supplying missiles and drones to Houthi rebels in Yemen, for use against Saudi targets. Meanwhile, the US has made similar accusations regarding Iran-backed forces in Iraq. Speaking on Saudi national television on Monday, Colonel Turki al-Malki accused Tehran of smuggling the weaponry into Yemen, where Houthi rebels have been launching cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia. In the most recent of these incidents, the rebels launched a drone attack on the world’s largest crude-oil terminal at Ras Tanura on Sunday. Saudi authorities said that there were no casualties and the facility’s output remained…

China saw its trade booming in the first two months of the year, with exports rising more than 60 percent in January-February compared to 2020 lows, when the Covid-19 outbreak rattled the world’s second-largest economy. Last month alone, outbound shipments spiked 154.9 percent year-on-year, marking a record monthly surge for Chinese exports. The sharp increase in exports, which was much higher than economists’ predictions, is partly explained by the low base from 2020, when exports fell over 17 percent as the government imposed lockdowns to contain the spread of the deadly virus. The surge in exports also came due to…