Author: Steven Sahiounie

On April 8, the Houthis’ media wing released a new episode of its “Jihad Fields” series, featuring the headquarters of the Saudi-led coalition near al-Hazim military camp in the northern province of al-Jawf. The Houthis captured the headquarters, the nearby al-Hazim military camp and al-Hazim’s town center earlier this year in a large-scale operation. The attack was a major blow to the Saudi-led coalition and its local proxies. In the new episode of Jihad Fields, the Houthis show off containers of large calibers projectiles, which had been left behind by Saudi forces. A field commander of the group claims in the video…

Syrian Arab Army (SAA) troops and locals prevented U.S. forces from conducting two patrols in the northern al-Hasakah countryside. The first patrol was intercepted in the noon. U.S. forces were prevented from entering the town of Hammo, southeast of the border city of al-Qamishli, by the locals who gathered around an SAA checkpoint. A few hours later, a convoy of U.S. forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) attempted to patrol the northern al-Hasakah countryside. However, the convoy was intercepted by the locals and SAA personnel near the town of Khirbat al-Asad. Several similar incidents took place in northeast Syria…

Dozens of Saudi-led soldiers and Saudi-sponsored militiamen loyal to Yemen’s former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, have been killed when Yemeni army forces and their allies fired a domestically-manufactured ballistic missile at their camp in the southern Yemeni provinces of Abyan. The spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, said on Wednesday afternoon that Yemeni missile defense units launched a Qassim missile at al-Shajeri camp as Saudi coalition forces and their mercenaries were preparing to sneak towards areas in the province. He added that the missile hit the designated target with great precision, leaving dozens of coalition members and Saudi-paid militiamen killed and injured. Saree highlighted that Yemeni Armed…

The Yemeni army says the Saudi-led coalition has carried out nearly 300 air strikes across the country over the past week. Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the spokesman for Yemen’s Armed Forces, made the announcement on Tuesday, saying that the air raids were conducted on a number of governorates — among them Bayda, Ma’rib and Sana’a — and resulted in the killing of civilians. Saree also warned that the escalation would not go unanswered. “The dangerous escalation of aggression will not pass without an appropriate response, and it is our duty to defend our people and our country,” the Arabic-language al-Masirah…

Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), also known as Bank Markazi, says the country has won a legal battle in Europe to dismiss a US attempt to have Iranian funds blocked and handed over to Washington for compensating the so-called victims of terror. Abdolnasser Hemmati said on Wednesday that courts in Luxembourg had taken Iran’s side in a dispute over $1.6 billion worth of Iranian funds hold by Clearstream, a securities depository, which Washington had sought to block and confiscate. “Through Bank Markazi’s legal follow-up, the US attempt to have CBI’s funds in Europe confiscated and transferred was…

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Wednesday that the Egyptian government will extend a nationwide night-time curfew by 15 days until April 23 to counter the spread of the coronavirus. Airports will stay closed until the end of the month, he said in a televised news conference, adding that the curfew would now start one hour later at 8pm local time (1800 GMT) each evening. The government also extended the closure of schools and universities, while malls, cafes and shops will close at night and on weekends. Many in the country of 100 million people live in fertile rural areas…

Russian President Vladimir Putin is delivering opening remarks at the beginning of a meeting with regional heads held via a videolink. The meeting will concern the response to measures to battle COVID-19. Russian medical staff will receive an additional 10 billion rubles in funding amid the coronavirus pandemic in Russia, President Putin said on Wednesday in his address to regional heads broadcast by state television. “We decided on the additional payments to doctors, nurses, and medical personnel due to the special working conditions and increased workload. Funds from the federal budget for these purposes – more than 10 billion rubles -…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The story-line of this new movie seems to be from a “Hollywood” script: terrorists, battle scenes, and prison torture.  However, it is based on a true story unfolding in Libya.  “Shugaley” tells the story of a Russian sociologist, and his translator, who were captured in May 2019 by terrorists in Libya on the orders of the Government of National Accord (GNA).   Russian sociologist Maxim Shugaley, and his Arab translator Samer Sweifan, were in Libya carrying out sociological research for “The Foundation for the Protection of Traditional Values”, a Russian think-tank. While in Libya,…

Italy is the country hit third hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic, with Lombardy being one of the main hotbeds of the disease in the nation. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Italy has jumped by 3,599 to 132,547, while the death toll has risen by 636 to 16,523 in the past 24 hours. “At the moment, there are 93,187 persons currently infected with the disease, which means an increase of 1,941 compared to yesterday. … Unfortunately, we have registered 636 new deaths”, Angelo Borrelli, the head of Italy’s Civil Protection Department, said at a press conference. The figures released…

Last week, US President Donald Trump ordered to deploy 1,000 military personnel, consisting mostly of doctors, nurses, and healthcare specialists to New York City amid the novel coronavirus outbreak. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo stated on Monday that the state’s healthcare system “is at maximum capacity today,” adding that pressure on hospitals is “unsustainable at this rate.” The statement comes as the death toll in the state has reached 4,758. On Saturday, the state of New York recorded its largest daily increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases as 10,841 positive tests were reported on Saturday, with the death toll…