Author: Steven Sahiounie

The Russian Defenсe Ministry’s centre for Syrian reconciliation has not registered any fire coming from militants in Idlib over the past 24 hours, the centre’s head, Rear Admiral Oleg Zhuravlev, said on Saturday. “Over the past day no instances of fire from the side of the illegal armed groups controlled by Turkey have been registered. A special round-the-clock communications channel for coordination between the Russian centre for reconciliation and the Turkish side continues to function”, Zhuravlev said at a daily briefing. Russian army planes also carried out patrols along a fixed route in northern Syria. The reconciliation centre once again…

Iran remains the country worst hit by the new virus in the Middle East, with the death toll climbing to 3,452 on Sunday. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has stated that “low-risk economic activities” will resume in the country as of 11 April amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. According to him, the move will be implemented “under the supervision” of the Iranian Health Ministry. “Two thirds of all Iranian government employees will work out of the office from Saturday […] the decision does not contradict stay at home advice by the health authorities”, Rouhani pointed out. The statement comes after he said…

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force head Qasem Soleimani was killed on 3 January, when the US military conducted a drone airstrike on Baghdad International Airport that had been authorised by President Donald Trump “aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans”. Iranian outlet Tasnim on Sunday reported that Hezbollah leader Ali Mohammed Younis was assassinated in southern Lebanon overnight. According to reports, his body was found by the side of a road with stab and gunshot wounds between the towns of Qaqiyat al-Jisr and Zutar al-Gharbiya to the south of Nabatiyeh. The reports also mention that Younis was a close…

by Oleg Burunov Late last month, the US-led international coalition’s headquarters in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh near the Syrian border was reportedly transferred to the Iraqi Army, who earlier took over several local military bases left by coalition troops. Colonel Myles Caggins, spokesman for the combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), has announced that the US-led anti-terror coalition is leaving an air base located in central Iraq. He tweeted on Saturday that “after months of planning”, at least 500 CJTF-OIR troops had departed the Taqaddum (Habbaniyah) Air Base, transferring $3.5 million in property to the Iraqi government,…

The Iraqi security forces have found a burial of Daesh* victims in the country’s western Anbar province, the Iraqi National Intelligence Service said in a statement on Sunday. “Based on accurate intelligence information, teams of the 7th military intelligence brigade together with a squad of the 29th infantry intelligence brigade destroyed a hideout of IS [Daesh] militants in Al Huda area of the Hit district in Anbar and seized a motorcycle and other materials. As a result of a thorough search in the hideout, a group burial of soldiers and civilians who were executed by IS [Daesh] gangs was discovered,”…

Iraq’s biggest Shiite armed groups announced in a joint statement that U.S. troops in the country will be dealt with as an occupation force from now on. The groups citied the U.S. refusal to withdraw its forces from Iraq and its “continues aggression” on the country as the reasons for their decision. “You [U.S. forces] have proven to everyone that you are occupation forces and that you only respect the language of force, on these bases you will be dealt with and be aware that all operations which were carried out against you were only a minor response to your…

Ankara is expected to activate the S-400s in the coming weeks, but Washington has not given up on its plans to get the much-feared weapons out of Turkey. Stick has not worked, apparently, so now is the time to offer some carrot. The United States may come to Turkey’s aid in Idlib in exchange for dropping plans to deploy Russia’s S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. United States ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison floated the idea of providing an unspecified assistance “package” during a press briefing on Wednesday. “We hope that Turkey will also not put the Russian missile defence system in their…

The Russian president and members of the cabinet and oil industry officials met on Friday to discuss the situation on the global energy markets. Oil prices suffered their worst decline in decades in March after Russia and Saudi Arabia failed to reach a deal on output cuts amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The current slump in demand for oil could lead to shortages in the future when the global economy enters a period of economic recovery, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. The situation on energy markets remains difficult, with demand continuing to fall, Putin said, speaking to officials and…

Early on April 3, ISIS cells launched a “hit and run” attack on positions of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies in the southern Deir Ezzor countryside. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) claimed that ten fighters of the Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, one of the Iraqi groups supporting the Damascus government, were killed or injured in the attack. “During the attack, the organization [ISIS] used RPGs as well as heavy machine guns … violent clashes between the two sides lasted for hours,” the monitoring group’s report reads. Local sources revealed that the attack targeted military positions…

The US Navy has fired the commander of an aircraft carrier who had warned American sailors aboard the vessel would die unless the coronaviru-hit ship was evacuated. Captain Brett Crozier, the commanding officer of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt with 5,000 people onboard, had called for help to save the lives of his sailors after an unconfirmed number tested positive for Covid-19 more than a week ago while the carrier was in the pacific. In a letter, which was published by the San Francisco Chronicle and caught the Navy by surprise, Crozier described how bleak the situation was onboard the…