Author: Steven Sahiounie

North Korea, whose contacts with the outside world remain limited even in a normal situation, was one of the first countries to introduce tough inspection and quarantine measures, canceling tourist visits, cutting off flights and rail travel and quarantining all workers coming home from abroad. Nearly three months into the COVID-19 outbreak, North Korean health officials maintain that the country has zero cases of the virus. The Korean Central News Agency reported last week that it there were no cases of COVID-19 in the country, but urged the public to remain vigilant. The agency reported that the country has enforced “strict, top-class…

The post of the Syrian Minister of Defence is presently occupied by Ali Abdullah Ayoub who was appointed on 1 January 2018 by President Assad. The United States has added Syrian Defence Minister Ali Abdullah Ayoub to its Specially Designated Nationals And Blocked Persons List, according to the official website of the US Treasury. Last year, the US Treasury sanctioned 16 individuals and entities associated with the Assad administration. The restrictions prohibited material support to the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, including shipments of oil to Syrian government-controlled ports, as well as material support to designated terrorist groups. Syria…

A car bomb attack left at least 20 injured in Southern Thailand. The attack occurred while the SBPAC secretary-general, RrAdm Somkiart Pholprayoon, was meeting with governors and health officials to discuss the coronavirus situation in five southern provinces. Surveillance video showed the bomber parking a pickup truck in front of the center and then placing another explosive device in the middle of the road before fleeing on a waiting motorcycle, said police Col. Naravee Binwae-arong of the Yala police station. After the first explosion, the SPBAC secretary-general had instructed local people who gathered to have a look to stay in the grounds…

At least 11 government troops were killed in a Taliban attack on a checkpoint in the Shahrak district of Ghor province;At least one policeman was killed and two others were wounded in an IED blast in Mazar-e-Sharif city, Balkh province;The Taliban claimsthat its forces had seiized a check point of government forces in the Shahrak district of Ghor province killing 15 fighters;Clashes between the Taliban and government forces broke out in the Nad Ali district, Helmand province. Casualties were reported

The latest Buk-M3 medium-range battlefield air defense system will take part in the Victory Day parade on Moscow’s Red Square on May 9th, Russian news agency TASS reported on March 16th. “The entire family of advanced models of the Army’s battlefield air defense missile systems will be demonstrated at the military parade in Moscow,” the Russian Defense Ministry said. “Four Buk-M3 self-propelled surface-to-air missile systems and four combat vehicles of the Tor-M2 anti-aircraft missile launchers will roll through in the mechanized column,” the press office reported. Also, three combat vehicles of the Derivatsiya anti-aircraft artillery system, four launchers and two…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The US and EU sanctions on Syria have taken a toll on the health and welfare of the Syrian people for many years.  They were designed to ‘hurt’ the Syrian government, but have only hurt the innocent unarmed Syrian civilians caught in the middle of a US-NATO-EU attack on the Syrian population for ‘regime-change’ which failed, but the sanctions linger on like outdated ammunitions. Cornelia Meyer, a macro-economist, has warned recently, “The battle for Idlib has brought the refugee crisis to a new boiling point. When coupled with the economic and psychological impact of…

By: Drago Bosnic A prominent Syrian general and military expert warned that Turkey’s continued support for the terrorist groups and their equipment with new war tools will lead to the inevitable collapse of the newly brokered ceasefire in Idlib, which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin signed last Thursday. “The information in the past few days indicates that Turkey is reinforcing the terrorists and their military equipment since signing a ceasefire agreement between the Turkish and Russian presidents,” General Mohammad Abbas told the Arabic-language al-Manar news channel on Tuesday. General Mohammad Abbas added that Turkey…

Russia’s top brass has received the first regiment set of S-400 ‘Triumf’ anti-aircraft missile systems this year from Almaz-Antey defense manufacturer, the Company’s press office reported on Thursday. The official handover ceremony took place at the Kapustin Yar proving ground in the southern Astrakhan Region, TASS reports. “We have delivered the first regiment set of S-400 ‘Triumf’ systems this year to the state customer ahead of schedule. The delivery/acceptance tests have passed successfully,” the press office quoted Almaz-Antey CEO Yan Novikov as saying. Upon its delivery to Russia’s Defense Ministry, the military hardware was tested at the proving ground where…

Russian and Turkish servicemen conducted a regular joint patrol mission in Syria’s Aleppo governorate, Oleg Zhuravlev, chief of the Russian Center for reconciliation of the conflicting sides in Syria, told reporters on Thursday. “A regular joint Russian-Turkish patrol mission was conducted along the route Jarih-al-Fawkani-Shakhli-al-Fawkani-Zor Mgar-Mishko-Koula-Mutuluja-Siftek-Salib-Jarih-al-Fawkani in the Aleppo governorate,” he said. Units of the Russian military police also carried out patrolling in the Aleppo and al-Hasakah governorates. Russia’s air taskforce conducted an aerial patrol mission from the Qamishli airfield, TASS reports. Zhuravlev recalled that in line with the Russian-Turkish agreements, a ceasefire had been declared in the Idlib de-escalation…

The United States conducted precision strikes on Thursday against Kata’ib Hizbollah facilities in Iraq in response to an earlier attack on Camp Taji, the US Department of Defense said in a statement. “Earlier this evening, the United States conducted defensive precision strikes against Kata’ib Hizbollah (KH) facilities across Iraq. These strikes targeted five weapon storage facilities to significantly degrade their ability to conduct future attacks against Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) coalition forces.These weapon storage facilities include facilities that housed weapons used to target U.S. and coalition troops,” the statement said. “These strikes were defensive, proportional, and in direct response to…