Author: Steven Sahiounie

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The Lebanese population faces between six to twelve hours of electricity cuts per day, and in some rural areas, there is simply no electricity provided by the government grid. Amid the backdrop of decrepit infrastructure, government corruption, devalued currency, and widespread poverty, Lebanon began talks with Israel concerning their maritime borders in the gas-rich Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday at the UNIFIL headquarters at Naquora.  The UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL has been monitoring the disputed land boundary since Israel’s’ military withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000, ending a 22-year occupation. The two sides met together…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator Latakia: Friday morning in the coastal city of Latakia, Syria seemed normal at first. Even though the October weather was still far hotter than normal, not many noticed the unusually strong winds wiping through the countryside, filled with olives, citrus, and various fruit and nut trees. The usual cooler, humid breezes blowing eastwards from the Mediterranean were replaced by a westerly wind blowing out to sea in a sudden reversal of normal weather patterns. The olive trees were heavy and ready to be harvested. In a usual year, there would already have been at…

A week after the heated debate with Biden, who raised allegations of Trump’s ties with Moscow that have long been proven false, POTUS ordered the release of all documents related to the so-called Russiagate in a bid to end the longstanding “hoax”. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has commented on recent allegations by Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who accused Trump of being “Putin’s puppy” during the first debate, saying that such remarks only characterise the level of political culture, or lack thereof, of the former US vice president. Putin added that such remarks also benefit Russia’s global image, as they suggest…

White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien said on Wednesday that the pace of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan could leave as few as 2,500 troops in the Central Asian country by early 2021. O’Brien’s comments mark the lowest definitive number given by a Trump administration official about troop number reductions in Afghanistan since US President Donald Trump’s comments in early August, which said there would be roughly 4,000 troops in Afghanistan by November, when the US presidential election is being held.

Persian Gulf state Qatar has formally requested to purchase advanced F-35 stealth aircraft from the United States. If permitted, Qatar would become the second Middle Eastern state to use the jets after Israel. On Wednesday, Reuters reported, citing sources close to the deal, that Doha had issued a formal request to obtain the fifth-generation fighter jet. The US State Department refused to confirm or deny the deal, saying it will not do so before the offer is formally presented to Congress. US President Donald Trump has said he “would have no problem with” selling the F-35 to Gulf states, but noted on September…

new survey has revealed that Arab populations continue to overwhelmingly oppose the recognition of Israel and the establishment of ties with it, despite recent decisions by rulers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain to normalize with the Tel Aviv regime. The 2019-2020 Arab Opinion Index was based on face-to-face interviews conducted with 28,000 individual respondents across 13 Arab countries, including Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt and Mauritania, between November 2019 and September 2020. The result showed that the nations viewed Israel as the primary threat their country was facing. When asked whether they would “support or oppose diplomatic recognition of Israel by…

The former director of the CIA and the National Security Agency under George W. Bush has endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, warning against the consequences of US President Donald Trump’s re-election. “If there’s another term for President Trump, I don’t know what happens to America,” retired Gen. Michael Hayden said in a 90-second video ad. “Truth is really important, but especially in intelligence,” he continued. “President Trump doesn’t care about facts. President Trump doesn’t care about the truth. He doesn’t listen to his experts.” Hayden, 75, who is suffering from aphasia as a result of a stroke in 2018, further continued his statement with a…

The U.S. State Department expressed Washington’s “deep concern” over reports of Turkey’s preparations to test the S-400 missile defense systems it had purchased from Russia.“We are aware of these reports and continue to categorically oppose Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems,” a State Department spokesman said Tuesday, as reported by the Tass News Agency.The Turkish newspaper Yeni Akit reported earlier Tuesday that the Turkish army may soon conduct tests on S-400 systems near the shore of the Black Sea.The newspaper published video clips that it said showed the army transporting parts of the S-400 system towards the northern…

The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has been involved in heavy clashes with the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS/Daesh) this week, as the terrorist group has launched several attacks between the Hama and Homs governorates.According to a field source in the Homs Governorate, the Islamic State launched a powerful attack on the Syrian Arab Army’s positions in the Al-Sa’an District of southeastern Hama this week, prompting the latter to deploy reinforcements and their air force to the front.The source told Al-Masdar that the Syrian Army suffered several casualties during the advent of the clashes, but once reinforcements and their air force arrived at…

The Artsakh Defense Army (ADA) has destroyed multiple Azerbaijani oil depots this week that belonged to the latter’s armed forces near the Karabakh region.“Destruction of another large stockpile of vital oil products of the Azerbaijani army in the result of brilliant operations of the Artsakh Defense Army,” the Press Secretary of the Armenian Ministry of Defense, Shushan Stepanyan, reported on Wednesday afternoon.In the video posted by the Armenian Ministry of Defense, the footage shows smoke billowing from several sites after the Artsakh Defense Army scored direct hits on the Azerbaijani oil depots. The first video was already shared by Stepanyan,…