Author: Steven Sahiounie

The North Korean leader recently disappeared from the public for nearly a month, sparking rumors regarding his health status. He returned at the beginning of May for a ribbon-cutting event without any explanation about his absence, further fuelling the speculation. Head of the North Korean spy agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), Jang Kil-song was removed from his post along with the head of Kim Jong-un’s security, Yun Jong-rin, the Korea Herald reported, citing a document obtained by South Korea’s Unification Ministry. The Korea Herald reported that Kwak Chang-sik will become the new Supreme Guard, protecting DPRK’s leader, while South Korean…

US President Donald Trump announced in April that the United States would suspend funding, accusing the organisation of botching the new coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak response. The Trump administration is set to partially restore funding to the World Health Organisation, according to a draft letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “[The administration will] agree to pay up to what China pays in assessed contributions”, the letter, obtained by “Tucker Carlson Tonight”, says. “That is why I’ve decided the United States will continue to partner and work with the World Health Organisation …”, it continues, apparently on behalf of President Trump. “China owes a massive…

Moscow sold a major part of its US treasuries in 2018, when the country first raised the idea of reducing the use of the dollar, including in international trade, due to Washington using it as an instrument of pressure on sovereign states. Russia reduced its ownership of US Treasury securities by $9 billion to a record-low of $3.824 billion between February and March 2020, US Treasury data shows. The sudden drop was preceded by a brief period, where the Russian Central Bank was slightly increasing its holdings of US government bonds. Since reaching the last low of $8.5 billion in July…

On Saturday, the TASS news agency quoted a military source as saying that Russia had begun production of the latest generation of Su-35 jets for Egypt, under a signed contract with Cairo. The source said to the agency: “At the Gagarin Komsomolsk-on-Amur plant, production of the Su-35 has begun, which is to be delivered to the Egyptian Air Force under a contract which concluded in 2018.” The source pointed out that “the timing of delivery of the first batch of aircraft to the Egyptian side and for a reason related to the special restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic has…

Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (Hashd Al-Sha’abi) announced on Friday that they repelled an Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS/Daesh) attack near the Samarra Dam in the Salaheddine Governorate. The PMF stated that “the 3rd Regiment of the 7th Brigade in the Popular Mobilization Forces thwarted the infiltration of an enemy boat carrying a group of members of the organization,” referring to “confronting the terrorists before they were forced to flee.” They added that “the Popular Mobilization Forces searched the area during a subsequent operation and found a small boat belonging to ISIS in the area containing food supplies.” The Iraqi Armed Forces have…

The Iranian Noor New Agency reported on Friday that the U.S. attempts to disrupts an Iranian fuel shipment to Venezuela will have face repercussions. “In the early hours of Saturday morning, local time, in response to reports that American warships were sailing towards the Caribbean, the United States intends, like pirates, to create insecurity in international waterways. It will create a serious risk and will certainly not pass without repercussions,” the Noor Agency said, as quoted by Reuters. A senior official in the Trump administration said that the United States is considering measures it could take in response to a…

Turkey issued a strong condemnation of the Libyan National Army (LNA) leader, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, accusing him of intensifying attacks on civilians. The statement also called on NATO to intervene in order to stop the Libyan National Army and its supporters, especially Egypt, the UAE and France. Haftar and his supporters have become more aggressive by launching attacks targeting civilians,” he said, considering that it was similar to what he described as “the Syrian regime’s aggression against its people.” . “They are targeting civilians, including hospitals. Why this aggression?! Because they are beginning to lose their edge in the…

The Army Command – Orientation Directorate issued a statement on Saturday, in which it indicated that through its follow-up on one of the files pertaining to financing of terrorists, the Intelligence Directorate arrested a Syrian national who has been living for a long time in Lebanon and working in the domain of illegal money transfers, by sending money outside Lebanon in favor of one of the terrorist entities. Through the confessions he made about the ways he was transferring money from Lebanon, the Intelligence Directorate managed to identify a group of people (Lebanese and Syrians) working in the field of…

The Russian Ambassador to Iran, Levan Dzhagaryan, sat down for an interview with the Mehr News Agency on Saturday to discuss a number of topics, including Syria and the rumors about Iran, Russia, and Turkey agreeing to remove Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad from power. When asked directly about the claims that Iran, Russia, and Turkey agreed to remove the Syrian President, Dzhagaryan responded: “We are not the countries to decide the future of Syrian people and President Assad. Once again, I would like to confirm our position. The future of President Assad and Syria will be decided by Syrian people…

With Washington’s backing, Israel is planning to move forward on controversial plans to annex a broad swath of the West Bank, particularly the Jordan Valley, as early as this summer. PM Netanyahu last month issued a likely time table of “within two months”. Arab nations, especially in the gulf, have remained uncharacteristically mum about the whole thing as they focus on countering Iran (which has, it should be noted, actually brought Saudi Arabia into a quiet ‘covert’ intelligence sharing relationship with Israel over the past couple years). But Jordan on Friday finally went on the offensive, with King Abdullah telling the German magazine Der Spiegel that Israeli annexation of parts of the…