Author: Steven Sahiounie

Tensions have been running high between one militant faction and the Turkish Armed Forces in northern Syria, especially after the group refused to send any more fighters to Libya. A source close to the Ahrar al-Sharqiyah organization confirmed to Sputnik Arabic that it had taken place because of the differences that broke out against the background of their refusal to send their fighters to Libya, in addition to the internal clashes between them on a regional and ethnic basis. Collective Defection The Sputnik correspondent in the Al-Hasakah Governorate said that several military brigades belonging to the Turkish-backed Sultan Murad group…

In May 2019, the US Commerce Department blacklisted Huawei, restricting sales of US goods and technology to the Chinese company. The US Department of Commerce appears poised to sign on to a new rule which, if adopted, would essentially allow US companies to work with Chinese tech giant Huawei on working out standards for the next-generation 5G networks. This move comes about a year after the Commerce Department blacklisted Huawei, placing it on their “entity list”, restricting sales of US goods and technology to the latter and leading engineers in some US tech companies to stop working with the Chinese…

After Prime Minister Boris Johnson allowed Huawei to build “non-core” parts of the UK’s 5G networks, the US has ramped up pressure on the country to reconsider, claiming the Chinese firm posed a security hazard, with Donald Trump previously suggesting that future intelligence-sharing with America’s “Five Eyes” allies could be at risk. US Republican senators are seeking to use legislation to block the stationing of two squadrons of F-35A Lightning II aircraft in the UK, scheduled for next year, over its decision to grant China’s Huawei access to the country’s 5G network, according to The Telegraph. The move, which is being led…

According to the Iraqi army, the attack has caused no casualties. It follows a series of rocket attacks on oil sites in Iraq, one belonging to a Chinese oil company and another to an American company. Three Katyusha rockets fell near Baghdad International Airport on Wednesday morning, the Iraqi military said in a statement. The rockets were reportedly launched toward the military part of the airport, causing no casualties but damaging the prison guards’ cafeteria and a water tank. The military published photos of the rocket launcher with a timer system it said was found in Baghdad’s al-Bakriya neighborhood, located north-east…

In late April, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered an address to the nation via a video conference on the situation around the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country, stressing that self-isolation measures should be extended until at least 11 May. In a live video, Russian President Vladimir Putin is holding an online meeting with the government on the implementation of previously-adopted novel coronavirus (COVID-19) response measures and is set to discuss recommendations on the easing of the self-isolation regime. Russia’s overall number of coronavirus cases has topped 155,000, while the death toll is over 1,450. More than…

Tehran has waged a low-intensity counterterrorism campaign against militants in the country’s northwest for several decades, accusing the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia of providing support to local separatists, and accusing officials in Iraqi Kurdistan of helping to arm and train the guerillas. Three Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) troops were killed a clash outside the town of Divandarreh, western Iran on Tuesday, Tasnim News has reported. An unknown number of terrorist gunmen were also said to have been killed in the fighting outside the Iranian Kurdistan Province town. An IRGC spokesperson did not clarify which militant group was involved…

The United States wants to maintain its space partnership with Russia, but will seek a “balanced” relationship, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said on Tuesday. “The partnership we desire is they launch on our rockets and we launch on their rockets,” Bridenstine said. “[From] 2011 to today, we put ourselves in a position where we were dependent on them launching our astronauts on their rockets.” Bridenstine stressed the importance of maintaining a good partnership between NASA and Roskosmos, the Russian space agency. However, the United States must not let itself fall again into a condition of dependency on Moscow, he added.…

According to a spokesman for the World Health Organization (WHO), France’s recent announcement of a Paris hospital’s treatment of a patient with the COVID-19 novel coronavirus on December 27 is understandable, considering when symptoms of the disease appeared in China. “The findings in France or in any similar scenario, helps to better understand the potential virus circulation of COVID-19,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said during a United Nations video conference briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday, reported Anadolu Agency. “It’s not surprising, given the earliest cases of COVID-19 had symptoms onset already in early December.” Lindmeier argued that judging by China’s…

The Iraqi Security Forces announced on Monday the killing of “Abu Qasurah”, the military leader of the Islamic State terrorist organization along the Syrian-Iraqi border. According to the Iraqi Security Forces, the high-ranking ISIS commander was killed by an explosion in the western part of the Al-Anbar Governorate, near the Syrian border. The military said in a statement that “the security forces implemented the Operation Black Desert, which was launched this morning under the supervision of the Joint Operations Command, to search areas western Al-Anbar, through a force of a modern buildup brigade within the Al-Jazeera Operations Command.” “We saw…

In a rare move, the Russian Federation gave Iran access to Syria’s Hmeimim Airbase in the western part of the country, a flight tracking app revealed this week. According to the reports, a Syrian IL-76 cargo aircraft was tracked flying from Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport to the Hmeimim Airbase near the coastal city of Jableh in Syria’s Latakia Governorate. The plane, which mostly travels from Tehran to Damascus, is under the watchful eye of the Israeli military, who has on several occasions attacked the cargo unloaded from the aircraft. Israel, with varying success, nevertheless destroyed several military facilities of the Iranian…