Author: Steven Sahiounie

Andrew Osborn Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia is militarily ready for a Cuban Missile-style crisis if the United States wanted one and threatened to place hypersonic nuclear missiles on ships or submarines near U.S. territorial waters. The Cuban Missile Crisis erupted in 1962 when Moscow responded to a U.S. missile deployment in Turkey by sending ballistic missiles to Cuba, sparking a standoff that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. More than five decades on, tensions are rising again over Russian fears that the United States might deploy intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe, as a landmark Cold…

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said earlier this month that Tehran did not need anyone’s permission to continue boosting its military capabilities and developing its missile programme. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Washington would impose sanctions on 13 entities in Russia, China, Iraq, and Turkey, for “supporting Iran’s missile programme”. Pompeo, a Trump appointee, further added that sanctions against individuals and entities in those countries were “consistent with our efforts to use all available measures” to slow the development and eventual deployment of Iranian missiles. In particular, five Chinese and Turkish entities and individuals were included in the…

BY JEREMY SALT Clearly Colonel Myles B. Caggins III is both a patriot and a God-fearing man. As the communications director for task force Inherent Resolve in Iraq (stated mission the destruction of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria), he is far from home in Columbus, Ohio. His home church, the Edgwood Church of Christ, stays in touch with a steady flow of greeting cards and once he’s back he intends to treat the veterans who have been following him with a meal at Ed’s Southern Cooking. Colonel Caggins describes himself in interviews as a word warrior whose goal…

Steven Sahiounie, political commentator On February 21, 2020, Alex Crawford of SKY NEWS, a UK news media, filed an article concerning Idlib.  She had traveled to Idlib, in northwest Syria illegally, without any Visa to enter Syria.  She entered illegally across the Turkish border which is under the control of the Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, Jibhat al-Nusra, aka Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.  This group is not an armed Syrian opposition or rebels; they are internationally recognized terrorists, deemed so by the UN, the US and the UK.  Western journalists, from Jeremy Bowen of the BBC to Fred Pleitgen of CNN…

series of Russian airstrikes targeted the surroundings of Turkish “observation posts” in the so-called Greater Idlib region. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the posts are located in the Almastumah Camp, 6 km to the south of Idlib’s city center, and near the town of Shir Mughar in northwest Hama. Al-Mastumah’s post is one of many positions established by the Turkish military earlier this month, while Shir Mughar post was set up last year under the Sochi agreement. No Turkish casualties were reported as a result of the Russian airstrikes. However, equipment supplied by Turkey may have been destroyed.…

Yemeni armed forces have unveiled four domestically-built long-range, surface-to-air missile defense systems, which could act as game changers and alter the course of battle in the face of the deadly campaign led by Saudi Arabia against Yemen. The president of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Mahdi al-Mashat, who was speaking at a ceremony in the capital Sana’a on Sunday, identified the systems as Fater-1 (Innovator-1), Thaqib-1 (Piercer-1), Thaqib-2 and Thaqib-3. The systems have entered service following successful tests, the official announced. Yemeni Minister of Defense Major General Mohamed al-Atefy, Chairman of the General Staff Major…

 Head of Hamas’ political bureau Ismail Haniyeh will visit Moscow with a delegation in one week, the group’s deputy chief Saleh Al-Arouri has announced. “A Hamas delegation headed by Ismail Haniyeh will visit several Arabic and Islamic countries. In one week, the delegation will pay a visit to the Russian capital, Moscow”, Al-Arouri told the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV on Saturday. He added that the group was interested in maintaining relations with Russia, which supports the rights of the Palestinian people. Earlier this week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Bogdanov held…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed on Saturday that he intended to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron in Istanbul on 5 March to discuss the situation in Syrian Idlib. “I held telephone conversations with Putin, Macron and Merkel on Idlib. We will meet together on 5 March and discuss this topic again”, Erdogan said, speaking in Izmir province. On Friday, Erdogan said that the leaders of France and Germany had offered Putin hold a summit on Syria on 5 March in Istanbul. Earlier in February, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that…

Schools in the Iranian capital are closing for two days amid the spread of the new coronavirus in the country, the Tehran education department has announced. Schools will be closed on Sunday and Monday in order to ensure the safety and health of all students, the department said in a Saturday statement, adding that disinfection will be carried out at educational facilities in Tehran. Educational facilities will also be closed for different periods of time in other parts of Iran, including the province of Qom, where the first coronavirus cases were reported this week. All cultural events will be canceled…

The Russian Navy is closely watching the USS Ross, a guided-missile destroyer, as it heads north after entering the Black Sea, the National Defense Management Center said Sunday. “The Black Sea Fleet has deployed its capabilities to monitor the movement of the US Navy’s Ross destroyer, which entered the Black Sea at 6:30 p.m. [15:30 GMT],” the military said in a statement. This is the first time this year that the Arleigh Burke-class warship comes to the Black Sea for what the Pentagon bills as operations to enhance regional maritime stability together with NATO allies and regional partners.