Author: Steven Sahiounie

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…

Several US senators sold off significant amounts in stocks shortly before financial markets plunged because of the coronavirus pandemic. The senators were briefed about the spread of coronavirus ahead of their sales. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee and is a member of the Senate Health Committee, dumped somewhere between $598,000 and $1.62 million in stocks in February, according to publicly available financial disclosure reports. Just days before starting to sell his stocks on Feb. 4, Burr penned a Fox News op-ed with Sen. Lamar Alexander, writing that the country was “better prepared than ever before…

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia and Saudi Arabia are not waging any wars over oil prices. He is certain that other states should not interfere in the partnership between the two countries. “There are no price wars between Russia and Saudi Arabia. There is a very unfavorable pricing environment for many countries,” he told reporters. According to him, Russia and Saudi Arabia have “good relations, a partnership.” “We do not think that anyone should intervene in these relations,” Peskov added. On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said that he was about to join in a discussion of…

Novosibirsk’s Vector Institute, which has developed a prototype of the coronavirus vaccine, will test it first on the most sensitive lab animals – lower primates and ferrets, Vector Institute Deputy Chairwoman on Research Yelena Gavrilova said on TV Friday. Earlier reports indicated that Vector has developed a prototype coronavirus vaccine. Now, it will be tested on the sensitive lab animals. It would allow determining the most effective dosage, frequency and administration method of the vaccine, TASS reports. “Currently, we have both vaccines based on known recombinant viruses and synthetic vaccine, developed on six separate technological platforms. We have already began…

Russia’s Republic of Ingushetia has declared a high alert regime to prevent the spread of COVID-19, which means that the regime is now active across the entire Russian territory, in all the 85 regions. “The high alert regime has been declared on the territory of the republic, following an order by the head of the region, Mahmud-Ali Kalimatov”, Kalimatov’s press service said on Friday. Meanwhile, seven coronavirus patients have recovered in the past 24 hours to a total of 12 since the start of the monitoring period, while 27,487 people remain under medical monitoring for potential symptoms of the infection…

Last week, the US military confirmed that they had staged “defensive precision strikes” on weapons storage facilities of the Iraqi Shia paramilitary group Kataib Hezbollah in retaliation for the group’s previous attack on the Camp Taji military base in Iraq that killed at least two American servicemen. NBC News has cited several unnamed US sources as saying on Thursday that the coronavirus pandemic prompted President Donald Trump last week to refrain from ordering a more aggressive response to an Iraqi paramilitary group’s recent attack on American troops in Iraq. The US sees Kataib Hezbollah as an Iranian proxy. According to the sources,…

The Russian Armed Forces have given the militants in Idlib until the end of March to withdraw from all areas around the M-4 Highway (Aleppo-Latakia Highway), Syrian military media reported on Tuesday. According to the reports, all militants group, including the Turkish-backed forces, must withdraw from the M-4 Highway and its surroundings. If the militant forces do not withdraw from the M-4 Highway, the Syrian Arab Army, alongside the Russian military, will resume their offensive in the Idlib Governorate. Given the recent build up of Syrian Army troops in southern Idlib, it appears that they will be focusing on the…

A military base equivalent to the Hmeimim Airbase in northeastern Syria has been revealed by satellite images, the Russian aviation publication Avia.Pro reported. “Russia has begun to establish in Syria its largest new military air base, which is said to be equipped no less than the Hmeimim Airport, and this has already been confirmed by satellite imagery,” Avia.Pro reported after posting a picture of the Qamishli Airport. According to Avia.Pro, the Russian military is converting the Qamishli Airport in northeastern Syria as their main installation in that part of the country. “According to information sources, the latest Russian military airbase in the…