Author: Steven Sahiounie

On March 23rd, Politico published a piece looking into the crashing prices of oil, and specifically the US West Texas Intermediate benchmark. In it, it described the way US President Donald Trump initially praised oil and natural gas as “our gold.” “That’s our gold,” Trump declared. “That’s gold underneath our feet.” He did so during the ceremony when Shell Oil was beginning to build new natural gas processing facility, and celebrated the nation’s shale boom. The collapse of energy prices, due to the Saudi-initiated price war with Russia, has led to the cancelling of that project. The crash is also estimated to…

Case involves a 73-year-old man who arrived from Saudi Arabia via Tunisia around two weeks ago, local media reports War-ravaged Libya recorded its first case of the coronavirus on Tuesday, local media said, citing a health organisation which operates in areas held by both sides in the conflict. The Libya Observer reported that the case involved a 73-year-old man who arrived from Saudi Arabia via Tunisia around two weeks ago. Libya, which has been mired in chaos since the 2011 overthrow of longtime autocrat Muammar Gaddafi, is divided between the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord and a rival administration in the east which backs military commander Khalifa Haftar. Both administrations have imposed…

Human Rights Watch report says that some civilian activists in al-Mahrah governorate were illegally detained and transferred to Saudi Arabia. Saudi forces and their allies arrested, tortured and illegally transferred dozens of civilians who opposed their presence in Yemen’s southern governorate of al-Mahrah to the kingdom, according to a Human Rights Watch released on Wednesday. Former detainees told the rights group that they were subject to beatings and electric shocks after they were accused of supporting the kingdom’s opponents in the region. The detainees said the crackdown began after local leaders established a peaceful sit-in to oppose the presence of Saudi forces in the governorate in December 2017,…

Russian mobile medical teans and viral agent defense experts who have arrived in Italy for assisting the fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak will be working in the city of Bergamo, Lombardy region, the Russian Defence Ministry said on March 24. “It has been determined, following consultations, that Russian military experts, who have experience in fighting epidemics … across the whole world, will start fulfilling tasks in the Italian city of Bergamo,” the defense ministry’s statement reads. The Russian COVID-19 response team is now preparing for a 600-kilometer long road. It is coordinating documents and preparing vehicles and equipment for…

UPDATE: The Russian Defense Ministry commented on the incident saying that 2 Turkish soldiers were injured and 2 vehicles were damaged. *** On March 24, a Turkish military column became a target of an IED attack in southern Idlib. The incident reportedly took place in the village of Sefoen near the area of Jabal al-Zawiya. Pro-militant sources claim that a Turkish soldier was wounded and a military vehicle was damaged in the attack. The March 24 incident was the second IED attack on Turkish forces in Greater Idlib within the past 7 days. On March 19, 2 Turkish soldiers were killed and…

On March 23, Russian and Turkish forces carried out a second limited joint patrol in southern Idlib. The patrol involved six armoured vehicles and took place along a short chunk of the M4 highway west of the government-controlled town of Saraqib. This part of the highway remains the only safe place within the entire security zone, which was set to be established in the framework of the Russian-Turkish de-escalation agreement. After the March 23 patrol, the Turkish side got additional time to neutralize terrorists and radicals entrenched in the agreed to buffer zone. This was the second time when Moscow…

A cargo ship operated by the Russian Navy passed through Turkey’s Bosphorus strait en route to Syria on Tuesday loaded with ambulances, Reuters said. The Dvinitsa-50 ship, part of Russia’s auxiliary fleet, was reportedly carrying at least three military ambulances along with a shipping container on its deck. Russia operates a naval facility at Tartus in Syria and an airbase in Latakia. The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Tuesday that an immediate nationwide ceasefire is needed across Syria to enable an “all-out-effort” to stamp out the coronavirus and prevent it from ravaging a…

According to local reports, at least three explosions were heard at the Camp Taji military base north of Baghdad late Tuesday. The base houses both Iraqi and US forces. A reporter with Sky News Arabic said on Tuesday night that three explosions had been heard at Camp Taji, an Iraqi military installation that also houses a large number of US troops. ​US forces at Taji have come under attack repeatedly this month, resulting in the deaths of several members of the US-led coalition in Iraq. While Washington maintains the attacks were carried out by Kataib Hezbollah, a Shiite militia in Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), at the…

In opposition to health officials worldwide and proven COVID-19 novel coronavirus containment policies used by other countries, US President Donald Trump has shown by his bid to lift social distancing advisories by Easter that his focus remains on the economy and his presidential re-election, rather than the lives of the American people. During a Monday news conference that was noticeably missing Dr. Anthony Fauci, the immunologist who is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Trump insisted that it was of the utmost importance that the American people begin leaving their homes and resuming life as normal within weeks, rather…

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said that if necessary, Moscow would be ready to help Washington in the fight against the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-2019). “Our test kits have shown their high quality in China, Iran, have been transferred to Italy. Ordinary Americans should know – Russia, if necessary, will be ready to help the United States as it has repeatedly offered assistance in putting out fires in California,” the Russian Embassy quoted Antonov as saying in its Facebook statement. The number of registered coronavirus cases in the United States on Tuesday evening reached…