Author: Steven Sahiounie

A lightning-quick rally in US equities is showing cracks, as investors face mounting evidence that the economy’s coronavirus-fueled woes may be far longer-lasting than many had anticipated. For weeks, hopes that massive stimulus from the Federal Reserve and U.S. government would set the stage for a recovery later in the year fueled a blistering rebound in stocks even as the worst drop-off in jobs since the Great Depression slammed the economy. But recent comments from top officials have undercut the case for a speedy economic recovery even as states ease lockdown restrictions, forcing investors to factor in a protracted downturn…

China says the United States is smearing the Asian country after Washington alleged that Chinese hackers were attempting to break into US COVID-19 research on developing a vaccine against the contagious disease. The US claimed on Wednesday that Beijing-linked hackers were trying to capture data from its research on ways of treating COVID-19-hit patients and developing vaccines for the disease. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) alleged that China’s purported efforts posed a “significant threat” to the US response to the pandemic, fueling already heightened tensions between the two countries. On Thursday, Beijing strongly rejected the…

Israeli military forces have shot dead a young Palestinian man in the West Bank as tensions continue to rise in the occupied territories on the eve of the 72nd anniversary of Nakba Day (the Day of Catastrophe). The Israeli military, in a statement released on Thursday, alleged that a 19-year-old Palestinian, whose identity was not immediately available, drove at high speed into soldiers standing next to a military observation post outside the Negohot settlement in the southern part of the West Bank city of al-Khalil, located 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Jerusalem al-Quds. The statement added that a 21-year-old soldier was injured in the…

A US-Taliban peace agreement has not put an end to the militant group’s attacks across Afghanistan. According to a report by Afghanistan’s interior ministry and the country’s intelligence body, National Directorate of Security, the Taliban have carried out more than 3,700 attacks since February 29th when the deal was signed. Four hundred and sixty-nine civilians, including women and children, were killed in the attacks across the country and 948 others were wounded. During the same period, Afghan forces who were on the defensive killed more than 2,000 Taliban militants and captured 173 of them in their operations. The Daesh terrorist group also recently…

The United Nations food agency says a record 9.3 million people are now food insecure in Syria, which has endured almost a decade of foreign-backed militancy and is under rounds of crippling economic sanctions imposed by the United States. The World Food Program said on Thursday that spiraling prices and the coronavirus pandemic have compounded the damage of the nine-year war. “Record high food prices & now COVID-19 have pushed families in Syria beyond their limits,” the WFP wrote on Twitter. “WFP estimates that a record 9.3 million people are now food insecure,” it added. A WFP spokeswoman said the figure has leapt from 7.9 million…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The US military has created a new base at Deir Ez Zor, in eastern Syria, after bringing in military supplies, the ‘Syrian Observatory for Human Rights’ (SOHR) reported on Friday. Massive reinforcements were observed in the al-Jazat area, just west of the oil-rich area of Deir Ez Zor.  Reports indicated some 300 trucks entered eastern Syria from western Iraq. 300 US military shipments reached al-Jazrat over the past few days, according to ‘SOHR’, based in the UK.  They further reported the US troops are expanding their base at the al-Omar oil field, to the…

The Saudi and UAE-backed forces in southern Yemen clashed on Monday, as tensions between the former allies continue to increase each day. According to reports from southern Yemen, the Saudi-backed Yemeni Army and UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council clashed inside the Shaqra area of the Abyan Governorate; this would result in casualties on both sides. For its part, Yemeni media sources stated that the Saud-backed forces entered the Abyan Governorate center at dawn on Monday and that the Southern Transitional Council forces withdrew. The Southern Transitional Council affirmed in a statement that the government forces launched an attack this morning against…

A video that has been widely shared on Twitter showed the moment and Iraqi Mi-171 helicopter fired on a vehicle carrying ISIS terrorists. The video shows a car passing on a bumpy road, while a helicopter is shooting at, and it stops shortly after being struck multiple times by the chopper’s machine gun.

The Libyan National Army (LNA) announced on May 10 that its units had eliminated a senior Turkish-backed Syrian commander. In a short statement, the army said that the commander, identified as Mohamed Hindawi, was killed in a special operation near the town of Ain Zara in the early hours of the morning. Ain Zara is located right to the south of the Libyan capital, Tripoli. The LNA’s media center released photos showing the dead body of Hindawi as well his military ID, which appears to be issued by Turkey. According to the LNA, Hindaw was commanding the 2nd Corps of Turkish-backed…

Washington may default on its debt obligations to China, as a form of “punishment” for the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, according to media reports, China – the second largest holder of US government debt – plans to throw a substantial amount of treasury bonds onto the market. If this indeed happens, economists are confident that this will inflict a crushing blow to the entire US securities market and the dollar. At the end of March, Senators Marsha Blackburn and Lindsay Graham demanded that Beijing be punished “for concealing information about the Wuhan outbreak that triggered a global health crisis.” In…