Author: Steven Sahiounie

Previously, Ankara and the UN-recognised Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) presiding in Tripoli signed an agreement on military cooperation in November 2019. The Turkish parliament has passed a bill giving a green light to the deployment of Turkish troops in Libya after discussions were held on 2 January. 325 lawmakers voted in favour of the motion, while only 184 rejected it. “A Libya whose legal government is under threat can spread instability to Turkey. Those who shy away from taking steps on grounds that there is a risk will throw our children into a greater danger”, said Ismet Yilmaz, a member of…

After signing a memorandum of understanding last year, the Mediterranean trio is taking the next formal step towards building a route for delivering billions of tons of fuel from the region to Europe. The move comes shortly after Turkey and Libya agreed to delineate maritime borders, affirming claims to the zone that the pipe might run through. Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have joined the ceremony at which their countries’ energy ministers signed a trilateral gas agreement, formally moving ahead with building the EastMed pipeline to Europe. The summit, which…

On 31 December, protesters in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad set fire to the outer fence of the US embassy and then the checkpoint gate, reportedly in response to recent American airstrikes against the Iraqi Shia Kata’ib Hezbollah militia. Washington blamed Iran for the raid, while US President Donald Trump threatened Tehran with retaliation. Former Obama-era undersecretary for political affairs, Wendy Sherman, lambasted Trump for his foreign policy, claiming that it has led to the attacks on the US embassy in Baghdad. “It is President Donald Trump’s failed policy toward Iran that has brought us to this combustible moment,” she…

Steven Sahiounie, political commentator The US government has long faced a dilemma in dealing with Turkey and Qatar, who pose as partners on the global stage. The US has maintained relations with both while being increasingly concerned with their malign behavior. Both support the Muslim Brotherhood, finance terrorists, promote extremist ideologies such as Radical Islam, and openly host and partner with Hamas and al-Qaeda. Turkey and Qatar are ‘brothers in arms’ and share an affinity for Radical Islam that shapes their regional engagement.  The Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey is the home of the US Air Force 39th Air Base…

Steven Sahiounie, political commentator The ‘Rat Line’ is now doing a ‘U-Turn’ and taking terrorists, who are working as mercenaries for Turkey, from Syria through the Port of Ceyhanli and arriving in Misrata, Libya. Hilary Clinton, then-Secretary of State under Obama, ordered ‘The Rat Line’, which was a transit line of Al Qaeda terrorists, weapons and machinery from Libya to Turkey. Those terrorists were fresh from the killing fields of Libya, having murdered, raped and looted Libya in their mission to remove Qaddafi, who was the leader of one of the 7 countries to be ‘taken down’, according to General…

Russian military police have taken over another base that was recently abandoned by the United States in northern Syria, the state-run TASS news agency reported Thursday. U.S. troops reportedly held the former school building as a base north of Raqqa, the former de facto capital of the Islamic State terrorist group, until “days ago.” Russian television showed soldiers hoisting the national flag on its rooftop and armored vehicles assembling nearby. “The unit will be deployed by day’s end and we’ll start patrols today,” TASS quoted Russian military police officer Arman Mambetov as saying. The Defense Ministry’s TV Zvezda news channel reported that special units…

In a move meant to seal the deal on a long-sought Afghanistan peace deal, which would see the US withdraw from the country after 18 years, the Taliban has announced that they are approving a weeklong ceasefire across Afghanistan. The Taliban leadership in Quetta was already reported to be generally in favor of such a move as part of a peace deal, and confirmed it on Wednesday. Taliban council members are broadly supporting the plan. The US and Taliban were on the verge of a peace deal months ago, but President Trump ended the process at the time. With the talks restarted,…

the Houthis’ media wing released a video of a series of attacks on vehicles of the Saudi-led coalition and its proxies along the Saudi-Yemeni border. The video shows the destruction or vestiges of at least 8 armored vehicles and pick-up trucks. They were attacked by the Houthis in the area of al-Ajashir in Saudi Arabia’s Najran province and in al-Dhurah in the northern Yemeni province of al-Jawf. Improvised-explosive devices (IEDs) equipped with passive infrared (PIR) sensors or remotely-controlled detonators, were apparently used in these attacks. The Houthis are allegedly manufacturing such IEDs with help from the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard…

Russian and Chinese warships joined Iran’s Navy and Revolutionary Guards vessels on Friday for four days’ worth of maritime exercises in the Gulf of Oman and the northern Indian Ocean, simulating search and rescue, anti-piracy and shooting drills. The US Navy is concerned that the recent lull in hostilities with Iran following this summer’s string of escalatory actions in the form of tanker sabotage attacks, ship seizures and drone shootdowns may be repeated, Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly has said. “I think they’re going to continue to perform provocative actions over there,” Modly said, speaking to Reuters on Friday. “And I…

Over 450 people have been killed in Iraq since mass protests started in the country in early October; demonstrators accuse the political system of being “corrupt”. Protesters broke into an oil field in the city of Nassiriya in southern Iraq on Saturday, forcing employees to cut off electricity from its control station, Reuters reported, citing sources. The oil field produces 90,000 barrels of crude per day. The protesters chanted “no homeland, no oil” as they broke into the facility, the agency quotes sources as saying. Although protesters had previously blocked entrances to refineries and ports, this is the first time…