Author: Steven Sahiounie

Over the June 12th – 14th weekend, protests in the US continued, with reduced numbers and noticeably less violence. Calls to defund the police haven’t subsided and many mayors are mulling the measure. When asked about growing calls to defund police departments across the country, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said that it’s important to place more investment in marginalized and underrepresented communities, especially those of color. “The status quo has failed everyone,” she said. “We have to do better to invest in communities and we should not be investing here and there based upon race or ethnicity,” she added. “So, I agree…

Turkey launched its new operation in northern Iraq called “Claw-Eagle” on June 15th, the Defense Ministry announced. The operation is being carried out against PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) positions in northern Iraq. Operation Claw-Eagle has already started and it struck suspected PKK targets in several regions in Iraq’s north, according to a tweet from the military, which claimed 81 PKK targets were targeted, including shelters and caves. “The Claw-Eagle Operation has started. Our planes are bringing the caves down on the terrorists’ heads,” the defence ministry said. The defence ministry said the air operation targeted the PKK in its stronghold…

Members of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), a group originally formed to fight the Daesh terrorist group, in the country, now help bury the victims of the coronavirus at a special COVID-19 cemetery in the outskirts of Najaf. Body bags arriving in ambulances, personnel in full protective suits praying, handling bodies, and burying a victim of COVID-19 were seen at the site on Sunday. As bodies often arrive at night, volunteers carry the coffins to the Muslim and Christian graves with the help of vehicles’ headlights. The new graveyard is located next to Wadi Al-Salam Islamic cemetery, believed to be…

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is in Turkey on a working visit to discuss, among other things, breathing a new life into the two countries’ trade ties that have been hit hard by the new coronavirus’ pandemic. “The countries’ ties are close in various areas. During my trip to Turkey, we will talk with the country’s authorities about the resumption of economic relations following the coronavirus,” he said upon landing in Ankara. The volume of trade exchanges between Iran and Turkey declined significantly in the first quarter of 2020 amid the viral spread and the United States’ illegal sanctions targeting the…

Afghanistan’s government and Taliban have agreed to hold their first high-level meeting in a long-awaited peace process in Qatar. Both sides announced on Sunday that the talks — known as the intra-Afghan dialog — will be held in the Qatari capital Doha, where Taliban reached a peace agreement with the US earlier this year before engaging in the political process with Kabul. No date has been announced for the meeting, but it is expected to take place within one week after the release by the Afghan government of 5,000 Taliban prisoners. Kabul has already released 3,000 prisoners under the agreement…

Turkey is reportedly planning to set up two permanent military bases in Libya following the Tripoli government’s operation to retake areas seized by rebel forces under the command of renegade general Khalifa Haftar. Citing military sources, Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak, reported earlier this week that Ankara was planning to set up a military base in the strategic Misrata port and also use the al-Watiya airbase, located south of the Libyan capital, Tripoli. The report added that the Misrata facility would serve as a naval base with permanent assault and reconnaissance capabilities, where auxiliary aircraft could be stored. Tripoli, it added, would…

A report says the United Arab Emirates has allegedly provided financial support to the anti-Turkey PKK militant group in Iraq’s northern semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. A security source at the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) told the London-based al-Araby al-Jadeed newspaper that the authorities had imposed limitations on money transfers coming from the UAE. The source said any money transfers exceeding $1,000 coming from the UAE to the region’s foreign exchange companies and banks required a “proof of approval” from security authorities. The move comes amid reports that the UAE has provided financial support to anti-Turkey Kurdish militants in recent months. The source,…

Turkish occupation mercenary groups on Sunday set fires to large areas of wheat and barley fields in Abu Rasin town in Hasaka northern countryside. Civil sources told SANA reporter that Turkish occupation and its mercenaries of terrorist organizations set fires to large areas of the cultivated fields with wheat and barley affiliated to Tal Ward and Rabba’at villages in Abu Rasin town. The sources pointed out that fires extended to large areas and reached the houses of people near al-Aresha where the Turkish occupation forces are positioned in Ras al-Ayn countryside in south west of Hasaka.

The United States has confirmed its plans to further decrease the number of servicemen deployed to Iraq, the joint statement of the governments of the United States and Iraq said. “On the security partnership, the two countries recognised that in light of significant progress towards eliminating the Daesh* threat, over the coming months the US would continue reducing forces from Iraq and discuss with the Government of Iraq the status of remaining forces as both countries turn their focus towards developing a bilateral security relationship based on strong mutual interests. The United States reiterated that it does not seek nor request permanent…

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called on South Korea on Friday to release billions of dollars of Iran’s oil-export revenue that was blocked by Korean banks after Washington imposed sanctions on Tehran, the presidential press service said in a statement, adding that the frozen funds were needed to counter the COVID-19 pandemic. Rouhani held a telephone conversation with the head of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), Abdolnaser Hemmati, urging him to pursue the case of freeing the Iranian assets. “South Korea’s ban on Iran’s use of central bank resources to buy basic goods, medicine, and humanitarian items is not acceptable…