Author: Steven Sahiounie

Terrorists attacked the Al-Rayyan gas station, the South Central region gas factory, the Ebla gas factory and the Homs refinery, Syria’s state-run news agency SANA reported. According to the report, the attack was carried out with shells dropped by unmanned aerial vehicles. Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources Eng. Ali Ghanem said in a statement to SANA that terrorists and their sponsors have gain targeted the oil sector and its facilities on Tuesday dawn, particularly Ebla Gas Factory, South Central Gas Factory, al-Rayyan Gas Station and Homs Refinery.Minister Ghanem added that immediately the firefighting brigades which are affiliated to the oil…

Chinese policymakers are reportedly preparing measures for backing up the country’s economy following the coronavirus outbreak, which is expected to negatively impact the first-quarter growth. The government is debating whether to lower the planned 2020 economic growth target of around six percent, policy sources told Reuters. They said that China’s central bank is likely to lower its key lending rate on February 20, and cut banks’ reserve requirement ratios (RRRs) in the coming weeks. “Currently, monetary policy is being loosened, but the central bank will follow a step-by-step approach and watch the virus situation,” one of the sources said. China Development…

The European Union on Tuesday rejected US President Donald Trump’s proposal for the Middle East and expressed concern about Israel’s plans to annex more Palestinian land. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell underlined the bloc’s commitment to a two-state solution, based along the 1967 lines, with the possibility of mutually agreed land-swaps, made up of Israel and “an independent, democratic, contiguous, sovereign and viable state of Palestine.” Borrell also said that the US initiative “departs from these internationally agreed parameters.” The EU was especially concerned by statements “on the prospect of annexation of the Jordan Valley and other parts of the West Bank,” Borrell added.…

The European Union will extend indefinitely the time limit to resolve disputes in the Iran 2015 nuclear deal to avoid having to go to the UN Security Council or triggering new sanctions, the EU’s top diplomat said. “We are in agreement not to go directly to a strict time limit which would oblige (us) to go to the Security Council,” the EU’s Josep Borrell told reporters during a visit to Tehran on Monday. In remarks broadcast on Tuesday, he said “the willingness is not to start a process that goes to the end of JCPOA, but to keep it alive,” referring to the…

The IRGC commander was killed on 3 January in a US airstrike as he was leaving Baghdad International Airport, dramatically escalating tensions between the US and Iran. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander, Qassem Soleimani, was carrying a message related to the Saudi-Iran mediation as he was travelling to Iraq, when he was assassinated by the US forces, Iran’s ambassador to the country has stated. The message contained the Islamic Republic’s stance on the possibility of rapprochement between Tehran and Riyadh.But it was never delivered since immediately upon his arrival in Iraq on 3 January, Soleimani was killed in an…

The United States supports Turkey’s military action against the Syrian army in Idlib, seeing it as an act of self-defence, US State Secretary Mike Pompeo said in a statement. “We stand by our NATO Ally Turkey in the aftermath of the attack, which resulted in the death of multiple Turkish personnel serving at an observation post used for coordination and de-escalation, and fully support Turkey’s justified self-defence actions in response”, Pompeo said. He blamed Syrian forces for the escalation of violence in Idlib province, in the country’s northwest. According to Pompeo, a mortar bomb attack on 3 February hit Turkish…

A growing number of US troops diagnosed with varying degrees of brain trauma from the January 8 missiles strikes conducted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are eligible for the Purple Heart service award, according to the Department of Defense. Speaking to reporters during a recent news briefing, Jonathan Hoffman, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, referenced the criteria for service members to be awarded the military’s Purple Heart medal – which recognizes who have been injured or killed in the line of duty. The Pentagon spokesman explained that in the case of traumatic brain injury…

By Elijah J. Magnier On the third of January, after midnight, news about the assassination of Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani, Brigadier General Hussein pour Jaafari, Colonel Shahroud Muzaffari Nia, Major Hadi Tameri and Captain Wahid Zamaniam reached the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad. Officers at the embassy were in contact with the convoy, and suddenly the communication was interrupted. Sardar Soleimani had diplomatic immunity and had been officially asked by the Iraqi government to help in defeating ISIS. Moreover, the convoy was attacked just before an Iraqi checkpoint that knew the Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes was in convoy along with his protection team. The news…

All that glitters is not gold and any similar weapon is not necessarily as an Iranian weapon,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi told reporters in a press conference in Tehran on Monday. “Medicine and medical goods are sent to them (the Yemenis) with difficulty; then how could military equipment go through and sent to them?” he asked. Mousavi said that the Yemeni nation has made astonishing progress in the military field and manufacturing weapons and military equipment after facing the Saudi-led aggression. His remarks came after experts claimed in a report to the Security Council that some of the new…

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz expressed their readiness to coordinate efforts within OPEC+ format to stabilize the situation on the international oil markets, which saw crude prices plummeting amid a deadly coronavirus outbreak in China. The two leaders “extensively discussed” the present situation and agreed to “maintain contacts” on various levels, Kremlin said in a statement. OPEC+ is a format that involves the members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major oil producers, including Russia, which earlier already coordinated reduced oil supply to support prices. The news comes amid reports that oil prices fell by…