Author: Steven Sahiounie

Due to an increase of attacks against the Russian-Turkish joint military patrol in Syria’s de-escalation zone, both countries trained to face the enemy.On Friday, Russia and Turkey worked out a strategy of joint actions in case one of their convoys gets attacked during a mission.The armies of both countries trained together simulating various scenarios such as reconnaissance of targets, the transport of damaged equipment, first aid and evacuating the wounded.Training exercises such as this one have become necessary, after Ankara failed to ensure the security of the M4 highway as per agreement.

Two Russian Tu-160 strategic missile carriers have broken their own world record for non-stop flight in their class, spending more than 25 hours continuously in the air, the Russian Aerospace Forces’ commander of long-range aviation Lt. Gen. Sergey Kobylash told reporters on Saturday.“Today, a new record for range and flight duration was set by two long-range flight crews on Tu-160 supersonic strategic missile carriers. The Russian Aerospace Forces pilots were in the air for more than 25 hours and covered more than 20,000 kilometers [12,400 miles],” Lt. Gen. Kobylash said.The previous world record, which was also set by a Tu-160…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator Hundreds of Lebanese migrants are taking to the sea in small boats in a desperate life and death struggle to survive the economic, political, and social collapse of the tiny nation once called the ‘Switzerland of the Middle East’. The chain of events culminating in the drowning of Lebanese recently began with the murder of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, next to the Israeli war on Lebanon in 2006, and then the horrific explosion which destroyed the Beirut Port on August 4, killing nearly 200 and injuring thousands more and was widely blamed…

Russia has no information suggesting North Korea is preparing to conduct submarine launches of ballistic missiles, Pyotr Ilyichev, the head of the Department of International Organizations at the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Sputnik on Saturday.Earlier this month, the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies claimed that North Korea was preparing a test of a medium-range submarine-launched ballistic missile, citing satellite images of a North Korean shipyard.“We have no such information. Such analytics in delicate matters should be approached with caution, as it often carries a purposeful political charge,” Ilyichev said.The diplomat said any “drastic” steps by North Korea would…

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that Russia was forced to create hypersonic weapons after the United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty) in 2002.“The withdrawal of the United States from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 forced Russia to start developing hypersonic weapons. We had to create these weapons in response to the deployment of the US strategic missile defense system, which was capable to actually neutralize, reset our entire nuclear potential in the future,” Putin said during a videoconference with Gerbert Yefremov, the Honorary director and designer general of Russia’s rocket and missile developer…

A twin airstrike on a Taliban base in the northeastern Afghan province of Kunduz has left 30 civilian casualties, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Saturday.“One airstrike was carried out in the Nikpai area of the Khanabad district of Kunduz, and when people gathered in the area another attack took place in which up to 30 civilians were killed and wounded,” an eyewitness told Sputnik.According to another witness, the airstrikes left 12 civilians killed, including children, and 18 others injured. The witness added that seven Taliban militants had been killed and two others had been injured as a result of the…

Neither side of the Russian-Turkish commission which is monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire in Syria has reported any violations over the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday.“The Russian side of the representative office of the joint Russian-Turkish Commission on issues related to violations of the truce recorded no ceasefire violations. The Turkish part of the commission did not record any instances of firing,” the ministry said in its daily bulletin.The Russian military did not hold any humanitarian operations in Syria in the given period, the Defense Ministry added.Russian officials also confirmed that almost 500 Syrian…

The commander of the naval forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Brigadier General Ali Reza Tungsiri, said that the Gulf region should be free of foreign presence and Iran could conduct joint maneuvers with the Gulf countries.Tungsiri told the ISNA newspaper, “The Gulf states should not make a foothold for Israel in the region, because that will cause them harm … Israel’s coming to the Gulf region will not be in the interest of the Gulf countries and will pose a threat to Iran.”Tungsiri stressed that Iran will not initiate any war, “but we will not fear it if it…

The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has been carrying out a combing operation against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS/Daesh) sleeper cells inside the Hama Governorate.Units from the Syrian Arab Army, along with the National Defense Forces (NDF), have targeted several Islamic State hideouts in the Khanasser countryside and eastern region of Hama, inflicting heavy damage on the terrorist positions.Video footage of the combing operation was captured by the Syrian field reporter, Abu Sham, who showed the SAA troops gathering and tracking the terrorist forces.

On Friday, the U.S. military announced that it was boosting its military presence in northeastern Syria despite previous efforts to limit its forces there.The spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, Bill Urban, said in a statement, as reported by Monte Carlo Al-Doualiya, that their leadership deployed the Sentinel radar system, intensified the sorties of American fighters over their allied forces and deployed Bradley combat vehicles to reinforce American troops in the area controlled by the U.S. military and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).A U.S. official, who asked not to be identified, stated that the number of armored vehicles that were sent…