Author: Steven Sahiounie

The Tripoli-based Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) forces have achieved a new advance near the capital city after clashing with the Libyan National Army (LNA). According to the GNA’s official Facebook page, their forces scored a big advance south of Tripoli, capturing several sites along the Ramleh axis. The leadership of the “Burqan Fury” operation confirmed on its Facebook page, Saturday, that its Mahjoub brigade were “advancing strongly” at the Ramleh axis and the vicinity of Tripoli Airport, noting that those forces took control of two cars equipped with weapons and destroyed six others and forced the Libyan Army…

A mysterious small unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) has crashed near the town of Qarah Tapah in the western Iraqi province of Diyala. ISIS cells in the region found the UCAV’s wreckage and destroyed it. The terrorist group’s news agency, Amaq, released on May 29 photos of the wreckage. The UCAV design is identical to that of Lebanese Hezbollah’s “Mirsad” and the Yemeni Houthis’ “Samad-2.” Drones of the same type were also spotted in Syria, where they were being used by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) or its allies. Unlike the drones spotted in Lebanon, Yemen and Syria, the one…

The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and Iranian-backed forces are amassing a large strike force in the southern countryside of Idlib, according to opposition sources. On May 29, opposition sources said large reinforcements of the army and its allies arrived in the cities of Saraqib and Ma`arat al-Nu`man as well as the Zawiya Mountain. The sources also reported an increase in reconnaissance sorties over Greater Idlib. Syrian and Russian warplanes patrol the region on a regular basis. Nevertheless, no airstrikes have been carried out so far. The SAA’s 25th Division, previously known as the Tiger Forces, and Lebanon’s Hezbollah maintain a strong…

The Turkish Ministry of National Defense announced on May 30 that its forces had foiled an infiltration attempt by Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria. “Five terrorists of the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party]\YPG [the People’s Protection Units] organization were neutralized while attempting to sneak into Operation Peace Spring region,” the ministry said in a press release. The ministry also released a short video showing Turkish forces detecting the infiltration attempt with ground-based surveillance systems and a drone. Then, the infiltrators were targeted with heavy howitzers. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is affiliated with the YPG, is yet to comment…

On May 30, the Libyan National Army (LNA) announced that its units had eliminated a prominent Turkish-backed Syrian commander. According to the army, the commander, Murad Abu Hamoud al-Azizi, was killed during clashes on a highway leading to the Tripoli International Airport, a few kilometres south of the capital. Al-Azizi was leading militants from the Sultan Murad Division in Libya. The group is one of the Turkish-backed factions which deployed militants in Libya to support the Government of National Accord (GNA) upon Turkey’s order. In the last few weeks, the army eliminated several Syrian commanders. One of them was Mohamed Hindawi who…

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) announced on May 30 that the Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) had received a new batch of Mig-29 fighter jets from Russia. A military source told the state-run agency that the new fighter jets were handed over to the SyAAF during an official ceremony in the Russian Hmeimim Air Base in southern Lattakia. The source said the fighter jets were “advanced” and “upgraded.” “These warplanes, which are more effective than their previous generation, flew from the Hmeimim Air Base to their deployment areas in Syrian air bases,” the source said. According to the source, the…

On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that Russia’s attitude toward US sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project remains unchanged, and that Moscow considers any restrictions to be a manifestation of unfair competition and a violation of international law. The Akademik Cherskiy pipelaying ship left the Nord Stream 2 logistics facility in the German port of Mukran on Thursday morning, data from the Marine Traffic and Myshiptracking portals has confirmed. Two hours after departing, the vessel inexplicably dropped anchor about 6.5 km southeast of the port. It’s not immediately clear what motivated the ship to change locations.…

Global oil prices accelerated growth to 5 percent on Friday evening, and the price of WTI crude futures rose above $35 per barrel for the first time since March 11. As of 18.33 GMT, the price of July futures for WTI crude rose by 4.63 percent to $35.27 per barrel. Brent crude futures for August delivery were trading up 4.41 percent to $37.62 per barrel. Minutes earlier, the growth of both crude brands exceeded 5 percent. The situation on the global oil market has been volatile since early March when the World Health Organisation declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.

Protests have flared up across the United States over the past four days following the death of an African American man in police custody, and while many are demonstrating peacefully, demanding justice for the victim, some groups have taken advantage of the resulting turmoil by engaging in violence and looting. The death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American resident of Minneapolis, who was pronounced dead shortly after being brutally pinned to the ground by police and was struggling to breathe as one of the four officers pressed a knee to his neck, has triggered ongoing state-wide unrest, which kicked off in…

Moscow has repeatedly denied accusations of involvement in the Libyan civil war, stressing that it wants to see a diplomatic settlement in the war-torn country, and recalling that it was a NATO military intervention in the country in 2011 which turned Libya into a failed state. The United States may send a brigade of troops for training purposes to Tunisia to counter the alleged ‘Russian threat’ to regional security, US African Command (AFRICOM) announced, citing a May 28 telephone conversation between AFRICOM Commander Gen. Stephen Townsend and Tunisian Defence Minister Imed Hazgui. “As Russia continues to fan the flames of…