Author: Steven Sahiounie

Fayez Sarraj, the head of Government of National Accord (GNA) on Monday expressed optimism regarding the willingness of the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Khalifa Haftar, to follow the agreements reached during the Berlin conference. “After the Berlin conference we are cautiously optimistic about whether the other side will follow the agreements,” he told Al Jazeera TV channel. At the same time, Sarraj stated that the GNA had no domestic partner in the Libyan peace process. “We have no real partner to reach progress in the Libyan peace process,” he added. On Sunday, the international conference on Libya took place in…

Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi said that Tehran continues to adhere to the 2015 nuclear deal, adding that the European powers’ claims about Iran violating the deal were unfounded. Moscow warns Tehran against making ‘reckless steps’ to quit the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said. He added that Russia urges Iran to comply with its obligations to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, giving those who oppose the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) further reasons for escalation is “counterproductive”. “Opponents of the JCPOA and those who…

A car bomb exploded on January 18 targeting a convoy of U.S. forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) near a key gas facility in the eastern Syrian governorate of Deir Ezzor, according to the North Press Agency (NPA) A source in the SDF told the agency that the car bomb was parked on a highway leading to the Conico gas facility. “A Hyundai type car exploded in the village of Jadid Akkidat in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor yesterday evening, during the passage of two convoys of the International Coalition and the SDF,” the source told the NPA…

By Joaquin Flores 16 US military men with fatal injuries sustained during Iran’s retaliatory missile strikes on Ain Al-Assad base earlier this month have been taken to a hospital in camp Arifjan in Ahmed al-Jaber airbase in Kuwait, a leading Kuwaiti newspaper disclosed on Sunday. The Arabic-language Al-Qabas paper quoted informed sources as saying on Sunday that the 16 US militaries, included some whose bodies had been severely burnt and some others who had sustained shrapnel wounds, have been transferred to a US military hospital in Kuwait under strict security measures. It added that the wounded military men have gone under…

Lebanon’s Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri has urged politicians to urgently form a new government and “stop wasting time” to find solutions for the Lebanese economic crisis in order to “calm the popular storm.” “We feared for Beirut yesterday, but as usual, it has stitched the wounds of its sons from the ranks of the security forces and protesters and removed from its face the remains of anger, rioting and the smoke of blazes,” Hariri wrote on his official Twitter page on Sunday, after a night of violent clashes between security forces and protesters. “We plead to God for the…

Forces loyal to eastern Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar have shut off production at Libya’s major oil fields; an escalation that overshadowed an ongoing peace summit in the German capital Berlin. Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) said in a statement on Sunday that the major southwestern fields of El Sharara and El Feel were closing after forces loyal to renegade commander Haftar shut a pipeline. The shutdown would cut oil production by 800,000 barrels a day. Forces loyal to Haftar also blocked oil exports from the war-ravaged country’s main ports Saturday. The move to cripple the country’s main source of income came after Turkey’s…

The Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) have detained one of the leaders of the Daesh* terrorist group in the city of Al-Fallujah, Anbar province, the ISOF said. According to the statement published on Twitter, the detained Daesh commander was in charge of Daesh internal security in the city. On 15 January, The New York Times reported citing military officials that the United States had resumed joint military operations with Iraq following a two-week pause. The officials, according to the report, said the United States was eager to resume joint operations with Iraq against Daesh to disrupt any momentum the organisation may have gained from…

On 18 January, what began as a peaceful rally in Beirut soon turned violent, as protesters attempted to storm the parliament building’s fences and threw stones and firecrackers at law enforcement. Police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse them. Lebanese law enforcement has fired water cannons at protesters who were throwing stones near the parliament in Beirut during the second day of clashes, according to local media broadcasts. Alleged videos of police using water cannons against the demonstrators have appeared online, although the information hasn’t been confirmed yet. Police have reportedly fired back at the protesters with tear gas,…

The Turkish ultra-deepwater drillship Yavuz has begun the third cycle of gas exploration drilling in the Mediterranean off the Cypriot southern coast amid overlapping claims with Cyprus on maritime economic zones, a spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. “Turkish drilling ship Yavuz proceeded to licence area ‘G’ in the south of the Island last Friday to conduct its third drilling operation in line with the licenses granted to the Turkish Petroleum by the Government of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 2011. In this license area, as the co-owners of the Island, Turkish Cypriots have rights as much as…

Unidentified terrorists using unmanned flying vehicles launched an airstrike on Sunday targeting the Russian Hmeimim airbase in Syria. Air defence systems successfully thwarted the attack, and the military installation suffered no damage, according to the Russian Defence Ministry. Following the attack, the Russian Defence Ministry issued a statement. “The air defence missile systems of the Russian airbase were destroyed at a safe distance from the airbase. There were no injuries or material damage. Russia’s Hmeimim airbase is operating in normal mode,” the statement says. The ministry noted that three small-sized drones participated in the attack, approaching the base from the…