Author: Steven Sahiounie

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…

According to the Russian Reconciliation Center, terrorists attacked Syrian Army ‘ positions twice in Idlib, with each time involving up to 50 militants. The province remains a major stronghold of terrorist from various factions. Syrian army have repelled terrorist attacks in the province of Idlib, the Russian Center for Syrian Reconciliation reported on Saturday. According to the Russian military, up to 30 terrorists have been killed or wounded. There are no casualties among the Syrian military. “Militants from the terrorist group Tahrir al-Sham [ormerly known as the Al-Nusra Front*] with the support of the Syrian National Army launched two attacks…

China, Iran and Russia kicked off four days of joint naval drills starting on Friday in the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean. The exercise is aimed at “deepening exchanges and cooperation among the navies of the three countries, and demonstrating the goodwill and capability of the three sides to jointly safeguard world peace and maritime security,” a statement by the Chinese Defense Ministry said. A detachment of Baltic Fleet ships consisting of the Yaroslav Mudry Neustrashimyy-class frigate , the Yelnya tanker, and the Viktor Konetskiy sea tugboat stopped at the Iranian port of Chahbekhar to participate in Russian-Iranian-Chinese maneuvers. This…

Algeria will become the first country to procure an expert version of Russia’s Su-57E (E – export) fifth-generation stealth multirole fighter jet, Algerian media outlet “MenaDeefense” repoted on December 27. According to the report, the delivery contract was already signed. Under the contract, Algeria will reportedly receive 14 Su-57E fighter jets, 14 Su-34 fighter-bombers, and Su-35 multi-role fighters. The contract is allegedly set to be implemented by 2025. The decision to obtain Su-57E jets was reportedly made by the Algerian leadership during the 2019 MAKS-2019 Air Show (Aug 27, 2019 – Sep 1, 2019). In 2018 and 2019, Su-57 fighter jets…