Author: Steven Sahiounie

Yemeni air defense units have thwarted a Saudi airstrike against strategic and residential areas in the central province of Ma’rib, says the spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree. Saree said in a post published on his official Twitter page on Sunday that a squadron of Saudi-led warplanes sought to bombard areas in Sirwah district at 10:03 p.m. local time (1903 GMT) the previous day, when the domestically built, long-range Fater-1 (Innovator-1) surface-to-air missile defense system intercepted the jets and forced them off Yemeni airspace. The high-ranking Yemeni military official said the aircraft left the area without carrying out…

The Lebanese army on Sunday, March 22, deployed helicopters to fly over cities, blasting out messages to urge people to stay at home. Lebanon has been on lockdown over the coronavirus epidemic since March 15. Army handout video shows a helicopter flying over Beirut, announcing: “Dear citizens, for your safety, the army command asks you to stay in your homes and not to leave except for extreme necessities and to avoid gatherings.” As of Sunday, Lebanon confirmed 230 cases of coronavirus and four deaths. The country’s borders, ports, and airports have been shut until March 29 and residents are being obliged…

A top leader of the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement has asked Saudi Arabia’s King Salman to order the immediate release of dozens of Palestinians, who are languishing in jails across the ultra-conservative kingdom, citing the threat posed by the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the highly contagious new coronavirus. Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas political bureau, in a letter addressed to the Saudi monarch pleaded with him to make a quick decision and order the freedom of Palestinian detainees in Saudi prisons. “In light of the pandemic of the novel coronavirus that has spread across the globe, due to fears for the lives of…

A recently released video shows how the Iranian Army’s Air Defense Force warns off an intruding F-18 fighter jet several times in southern Iran, forcing it to leave the country’s airspace immediately. The video, released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), dates back to the first day of the Iranian New Year (started on March 20) and shows Iranian Army’s Air Defense Force warning the intruding fighter jet, whose nationality has not been revealed, to get away from the country’s border after it approached the Iranian airspace on Friday, Tasnim news agency reported. The Iranian forces warned the fighter jet that…

Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov has said the recent breakup of the OPEC+ oil output cut agreement and subsequent collapse in oil prices was the “Arab partners’ initiative”. “Russia’s position has never been to collapse oil prices. This is our Arab partners’ initiative. Actually, the prime minister spoke about this. I can confirm this since I participated in the meeting where the directives were drawn up”, Belousov told the broadcaster Rossiya 1. According to Belousov, Russia’s basic idea was to maintain the OPEC+ agreement. “At least for a quarter with a possible extension for a year. But the Arab partners behaved…

by Tim Korso So far, top US politicians and congresspeople have managed to avoid contracting the coronavirus with President Trump and Vice President recently announcing that they had tested negative for the infection. The US military has started preparations for implementing a set of secret contingency plans that can be set in motion if the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak starts endangering the integrity of the American government and the ability of local authorities to uphold order, Newsweek reported citing documents obtained and accounts of anonymous military sources. According to the media, in the worst-case scenario, the US military might actually start running the…

An airstrike in Afghanistan’s northern province of Kunduz killed 11 members of one family, eyewitnesses told Sputnik on Sunday. According to the eyewitnesses, an airstrike hit the Yakatot area of ​​Kunduz Imam Sahib district last night and killed children and women among others. Afghan forces have not commented on the incident so far. In addition, there was a severe fight in the are as a result of Taliban* attacks on security checkpoints in Kunduz’s districts of Dasht-e-Archi, Khan Abad and Imam Sahib last night, Kunduz police spokesman Hajarullah Akbari told Sputnik. “During the clashes, 24 armed Taliban were killed and 19 others…

By Elijah J. Magnier Following Iraqi president Barham Saleh’s nomination of Adnan al-Zarfi (Zurufi or Zurfi) as the new Prime Minister, Iraq has entered a critical stage. The Shia block is divided. The 30 days given to al-Zarfi to nominate his cabinet will lead either to a quorum of the parliament recognising his new cabinet and in consequences to a bloody future that could lead to unrest and even partition of Iraq or absence of a quorum. Why did President Saleh nominate al-Zarfi? In 2018 Speaker Mohamad Halbousi proposed Barham Saleh as President. The proposal was adopted by “Al-Fateh”, the largest Shia coalition, with the…

the Turkish military established its 44th “observation post” in the so-called Greater Idlib region in northwest Syria. According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the post was established near the town of Bsanqul in the western Idlib countryside. The town is located less than 2 kilometers to the northern of the strategic M4 highway. In the last two days Turkey established two similar “observation posts” near the town of Ram Hamden in northern Idlib and al-Jinah in northwest Aleppo. Moreover, Turkish military reinforcements continued to arrive in Greater Idlib. Two convoys, consisting of 110 military vehicles, entered the Syrian region on March…

the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) deployed fresh reinforcements near the key town of Ayn Issa in the northern Raqqa countryside. According to local sources, the reinforcements, which arrived in the morning, included dozens of troops and around a 100 military vehicles. These forces were reportedly deployed inside the 93th Brigade Base, southwest of Ain Issa. A day earlier, clashes between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Turkish forces broke out north of Ain Issa. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) claimed that both side suffered causalities. Ayn Issa, one of the larges towns in northern Raqqa, hosts a coordination…