Author: Steven Sahiounie

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…

Steven Sahiounie, political commentator Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated in a Friday radio interview that he had not been previously aware that former US Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch had been under surveillance in Ukraine. “Until this story broke, the best of my recollection, I’d never heard of this at all,” said Pompeo. During the interview, Pompeo failed to defend Yovanovitch or to express concern about the alleged stalking of a US diplomat. Lev Parnas, a US citizen of Ukrainian birth, worked closely with Giuliani in searching for political dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine. Messages Parnas provided to the House…

The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies have launched an intense bombing campaign against fortified positions of terrorists in the vicinity of Aleppo city. On January 16 morning, the army’s artillery began pounding terrorists’ positions and fortifications in the northwestern, western and southwestern outskirts of the city’s center. The Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) and the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) are also carrying out airstrikes on these regions. According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the towns of Khalsah, Khan Tuman, Kafr Naha and Anjara were targeted Earlier, a military source told the Syrian Arab News…

Six civilians were killed and 15 others were injured on January 16 in a new rocket attack on the city center of Syria’s Aleppo. A source in Aleppo Police Command told the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) that militants stationed in the western and northwestern outskirts of the city launched three rockets at the district of al-Sukari at peak time. “The wounded were taken to the Academic and the Al-Razi Hospitals in the city for treatment and first aid,” the source told the state-run agency. There was no immediate claim for the attack. However, Aleppo city’s western and northwestern outskirts…

Several Turkish service members and Syrian militants, including a commander, were killed on January 15 in a booby-trapped car explosion. Syria TV, a pro-opposition channel based in Turkey, said that the explosives-laden car exploded inside headquarters of the so-called Syrian National Army (SAN) in the town of Suluk in the Turkish-occupied part of northern Raqqa. “Two Turkish soldiers and five personnel of Ahrar al-Shariqyah [an SNA faction], including commander Thabit al-Hewish (Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Armani), were killed in the booby-trapped car explosion,” the channel reporter said. According to the reporter, the car blew up when the Turkish soldiers and their…

Commander of eastern Libyan forces Khalifa Haftar is committed to the ceasefire in the northern African country, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Thursday. General Haftar has signaled his readiness to contribute to the success of the Libya conference in Berlin and is willing to participate, the German Foreign Ministry tweeted. The commander “has repeated his commitment to observe the existing ceasefire,” the ministry tweeted Maas as saying after meetings in Benghazi. Haftar failed to sign a binding truce accord with the Tripoli-based government at talks in Moscow this week.

Yemeni separatists and forces loyal to the country’s UN-recognized government are pulling back from a key southern city, military officials said Thursday. The pullout from Zinjibar, the capital of southern Abyan province, which was envisaged under a Saudi-brokered peace deal, began this week, AP reported, citing the officials. Fighting that had broken out in August, between the secessionists and troops loyal to Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, threatened their alliance in the Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting the Houthi rebels since 2015. The fighting prompted Saudi Arabia to pressure both sides to the negotiating table in Riyadh, where…

The Taliban have offered a brief ceasefire to the United States, a move which could lead to the resumption of talks between the two sides and withdrawal of thousands of American troops from Afghanistan. The ceasefire offer was reportedly handed to Zalmay Khalilzad, Washington’s envoy for talks with the insurgents, late Wednesday in Qatar, a Persian Gulf Arab country where the Taliban maintain a political office. Taliban officials familiar with the negotiations on Thursday confirmed that the offer was made to US negotiators in Doha. “It is an offer for a ceasefire either for seven or 10 days,” media outlets quoted an unnamed…