Author: Steven Sahiounie

The Turkish-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) forces announced on Wednesday, the arrival of a ship from Egypt to Libya carrying military equipment for the Libyan National Army (LNA). The media center for the “Anger Volcano” operation, which is being carried out by the GNA to repel the LNA attack on the capital, Tripoli, in a brief statement via Facebook that the ship arrived from Egypt to the port of Tobruk on Wednesday. The GNA forces stated that the ship had transported “40 containers containing military supplies and quantities of ammunition” and that it had been supplied to what it…

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said a raft of US sanctions do not stop humanitarian aid from reaching Tehran, even as the UN and rights groups say the penalties are crippling Iran’s healthcare system. “I’ve heard people talking about sanctions. The world should know there are no sanctions that prevent humanitarian assistance, medical supplies, pharmaceuticals from going to Iran,” Pompeo told reporters at a White House briefing on Wednesday, adding that the US offered to send aid but Iran refused. Tehran has repeatedly slammed the US pressure campaign – which makes effectively impossible the bank transactions necessary to purchase vital supplies…

The terrorist group Islamic State has claimed responsibility for shelling a US military base near Kabul. There were no casualties reported in the incident, but the attack comes amid a sensitive prisoner exchange with the Taliban. Rockets were fired on Thursday morning from a vehicle parked in the nearby Qalacha area, a spokesman for the Afghan interior ministry said. The car burned out in the aftermath. Purported photos of the launch site showed a five-projectile rack hidden inside the luggage compartment of a charred car. The attack comes as the Afghan government proceeds with the release of Taliban prisoners agreed…

Crude prices jumped 12 percent on Thursday after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and major producers led by Russia agreed to cut output by 20 million barrels a day, according to Reuters sources. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) surged 12 percent on the report of collective cuts to $28.36 per barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude gained 8.5 percent to $35.79 a barrel. Oil prices have collapsed after OPEC+ countries disagreed on production cuts last month, with Russia refusing to lower output. In response, Saudi Arabia ramped up its production to a record high of more than 12 million barrels…

Syria has officially asked for Russia’s assistance to combat the spread of the COVID-19 disease in the Arab country, which is under rounds of crippling economic sanctions imposed by the United States. Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad said in an interview with TASS news agency on Wednesday that Damascus had asked the Russian Health Ministry for aid in order to combat the spread of COVID-19. “Syria has addressed the Russian Health Ministry with a request to provide coronavirus detection equipment, as well as protection suits, testing and observation equipment… in order to help the Syrian nation overcome the coronavirus,”…

The central laboratory in the besieged Gaza Strip has run out of necessary supplies to process COVID-19 tests, the Palestinian health ministry says, as the densely-populated enclave faces a race against time to contain the fast-growing pandemic. The ministry on Thursday warned that the absence of such supplies would lead to a large backlog of pending tests amid a battle to curb further spread of the new coronavirus. Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman for the health ministry, said that the unavailability of lab supplies to run COVID-19 tests posed a new challenge to the ministry in its efforts to combat the pandemic. He stressed that the situation…

Saudi Arabia will provide $500 million in humanitarian aid for Yemen and $25 million more to fight the spread of COVID-19, the kingdom’s Vice Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman al Saud said on Thursday. On Wednesday, state Saudi media reported that the Saudi-led coalition had put military operations on hold for two weeks. The move was welcomed by UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths. “Today, Yemen may face an even bigger disaster in case of the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, that is why the kingdom has announced the allocation of $500 million for the UN humanitarian plan on Yemen in…

The Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, claims to have downed two Turkish unmanned aerial vehicles, LNA spokesman Ahmed Mismari said on Thursday. “LNA air defense forces have downed two Turkish drones. The first one was downed over the Okba Ibn Nafa airbase, the second one over the southeastern part of the capital [Tripoli], the Ain Zara district,” Mismari wrote on his Facebook page. Since the US-supported overthrow and assassination of the country’s long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has been torn apart between two rival governments. Tensions escalated last year after the LNA began its operation to retake…

The nomination follows the resignation of previous designated prime minister, Adnan al-Zurfi, after he failed to garner enough support to form a government. Iraqi President Barham Saleh has named intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi as the country’s prime minister-designate, state TV reported on Thursday. The nomination ceremony was held with the attendance of the country’s major political figures in contrast to the two previous ceremonies this year for PM-designates who have since stepped down from their posts. The newly-appointed prime minister now has a month to form a new cabinet and present it to parliament for approval. Al-Kadhimi’s designation comes as…

The coronavirus pandemic and the oil price collapse are rapidly deteriorating the sovereign rating outlook – with more multi-notch downgrades on the way, Fitch Ratings said in a statement. “We will continue to assess sovereign creditworthiness case-by-case as the crisis and policy responses evolve, and this commentary does not identify specific sovereigns that might be vulnerable to multi-notch downgrades. However, conditions that have typically formed the backdrop to such rating actions in the past are clearly coalescing again,” Fitch Ratings said. Just last week, Fitch downgraded Gabon, a small OPEC producer, in a multi-notch downgrade action, slashing the rating to ‘CCC’ from…