Author: Steven Sahiounie

sources in the Libyan National Army (LNA) claimed that a Turkish unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) was shot down near the al-Wati’ah Air Base in the country’s western part. The sources released footage of the UCAV wreckage burning in a desert area near the air base. Observers identified the UCAV as a Chinese-made Wing Loong II, a type that’s known to be used by the UAE Air Force (UAEAF) and not Turkey. The UAEAF operates Wing Loong II UCAVs from air bases in eastern and central Libya to support the LNA against the Turkish-backed Government of National Accord (GNA). GNA supporters…

Saudi Arabia has reportedly asked members of the regime of former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi residing in the capital Riyadh to leave and suspended financial support provided to them. The decision comes as slumping oil prices and the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have saddled the kingdom with its worst financial crisis in decades. Citing an official with the self-proclaimed Riyadh-backed Hadi government, the Arabi21 news website reported on Friday that Saudi authorities had informed officials and employees in the Yemeni presidency and the prime minister’s office, in addition to a number of ministries, about their decision. The source, who was speaking on condition of…

A government watchdog fired suddenly by Donald Trump was investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said a Democratic lawmaker who accused the president of committing a potentially illegal act of retribution. Trump sacked State Department Inspector General Steve Linick late on Friday in his latest abrupt dismissal of an official tasked with monitoring wrongdoing inside a government agency. Eliot Engel, who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he had learned that Linick had opened an investigation into Pompeo. “Mr. Linick’s firing amid such a probe strongly suggests that this is an unlawful act of retaliation,” the congressman said in…

Iraqi army troops and police forces of Diyala province have launched a joint counterterrorism operation in the eastern parts of the country. In a statement, carried by the Arabic-language al-Masdar news agency, security forces said on Saturday that they had commenced “part of the Diyala Operations Command represented by the 5th Infantry Division of the Iraqi Army and the Diyala Police Directorate are conducting raids in southern Bahriz.” Bahriz is a town in the eastern province of Diyala located about ten kilometers south of Baqubah, the provincial capital, and 40 kilometers north of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. The statement added that the goal of…

The United Arab Emirates cabinet minister in charge of foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, has denied media reports claiming Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed has died. “I spoke to Abdullah bin Zayed today, which we do every day. We had a long laugh over the fakes spread by Qatari accounts,” he tweeted on Saturday. ​He wished long life and health to the nation’s top diplomat and said he was praying for “wisdom and reason” for UAE neighbours. The UAE, Bahrain and Egypt tore up diplomatic ties with Qatar in 2017 after Saudi Arabia accused it of condoning terrorism, and blocked Qatari news outlets…

Last year, top lawyers for Maryland and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against US President Donald Trump alleging that the president was illegally profiting from foreign and state government visitors to his hotel in downtown Washington. On Thursday, Virginia-based 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Trump’s efforts to end a lawsuit alleging his ownership of a hotel in Washington D.C. violates anti-corruption provisions of the country’s constitution. The case will now return to a judge in Maryland for further proceedings. Trump opened the Trump International Hotel, that is situated on Pennsylvania Avenue, not far from the White House, shortly before being…

On Wednesday, US special envoy for Iran Brian Hook warned that the US would force a unilateral “snapback” of all UN sanctions against Iran if the Security Council did not extend its arms embargo, promising that the embargo would remain in place “one way or another.” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has accused the US’s top Iran official of making fresh “foolish claims” about the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal, noting that Washington has no business talking about the terms of an agreement it’s not part of. “Making foolish claims by US officials is nothing new,”…

Top stories in the Russian press on Thursday, May 14, prepared by TASS Izvestia: Ukraine dismayed by EU association deal Kiev seeks to review its association agreement with the European Union, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Vadim Pristaiko said. According to the official, European countries have not opened up their markets for Ukrainian goods while just a minute amount of products are exempt from duties. This is not the first time that Ukrainian officials have voiced their intentions to evaluate ties with Brussels, Izvestia writes. The association agreement between the EU and Ukraine was drafted hastily and as a result the…

James Jeffrey, the US special envoy for Syria and defeating the Islamic State, has made quite a frank confession of how he sees his job and that of US troops there: to create a new Vietnam or Afghanistan for Moscow. “Our military presence, while small, is important for overall calculations. So we urge the Congress, the American people, the president to keep these forces on, but again this isn’t Afghanistan, this isn’t Vietnam, this isn’t a quagmire,” Jeffrey said on Tuesday, during a video event hosted by the Hudson Institute. My job is to make it a quagmire for the…

The Syrian Armed Forces have sent more reinforcements to the Daraa Governorate on Thursday after sending a large convoy overnight. According to a military source in Daraa, the Syrian Army sent more reinforcements from the 4th Armored Division to the outskirts of Tafas, where they are planning to launch a new operation to clear the town of its remaining militants. The source told Al-Masdar that the Syrian Army is preparing to cordon off Tafas and launch a big operation to arrest the remaining militants behind the execution of nine soldiers in the nearby town of Mazrib last week. He added…