Author: Steven Sahiounie

By: Darius Shahtahmasebi While much of the international and domestic US media focuses on the Trump impeachment scandal, there are many signs that a major conflict could break out in the Middle East. Will Christmas go off with a monumental bang? Iran can move in and out of the media focus as other stories and scandals begin to steal the spotlight, but in the background the pressure being mounted against Tehran is heating up on multiple fronts. For example, the US recently rolled out a fresh load of sanctions against Iranian companies, including its largest airline, accusing it of “weapons of mass…

The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies have launched a large-scale military operation against terrorist groups in the southeastern part of the so-called Greater Idlib region. The operation, which was launched in the afternoon of December 19, is reportedly led by the SAA’s elite 25th Special Forces Division, previously known as the Tiger Forces. Large units of the army and many pro-government forces are participating in the operation. SAA troops are now storming Umm Jalal in southeast Idlib. Russian and Syrian warplanes are targeting the town, which is also being pounded by the army’s artillery. According to pro-government activists, al-Qaeda-affiliated…

The Iraqi Armed Forces launched a massive operation to eliminate the remnants of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS/Daesh) terrorist organization along the western border of the country. According to the Iraqi security forces, their troops targeted the Islamic State hideouts in the southern part of the Al-Qa’im District, Wadi Houran, and Al-Husseiniyat. This operation was coordinated with the Popular Mobilization Units’ (Hashd Al-Sha’abi) Al-Anbar forces, who have been carrying out daily search-and-destroy missions against the Islamic State. The Iraqi security forces noted that the operation is also being conducted in coordination with the Iraqi Air Force, U.S.-led Coalition, and army. In…

Saudi Aramco has begun exploring oil fields in Syria’s northeastern province of Deir ez-Zor, and the company’s official delegates have just visited the areas formally located in the zone of responsibility of the United States. Experts interviewed by Nezavisimaya Gazeta believe that potential presence of Saudi business in Syria’s northeastern region can serve as a positive factor. Riyadh has repeatedly provided active assistance there. Currently, the oil wells in that part of Syria need specialized upgrading and maintenance. Many were damaged either as a result of hostilities, or intentionally during the retreat of IS and its cohorts. “Saudi presence in…

By Drago Bosnic The US Congress passed a defense bill for 2020 that includes new sanctions on contractors who are helping build Gazprom’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, as the curbs are aimed at preventing its completion, which is still expected this year. The US Senate has voted for a $738 billion defense budget, which includes sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and military assistance to Ukraine, according to the results of the vote, Sputnik reported. The vote in the Republican-controlled Senate was 61-6 in favor of the National Defence Authorisation Act, or NDAA. The legislation calls for mandatory sanctions…

Algeria swore in Abdelmadjid Tebboune as president on Thursday as the protest movement debates its response to his offer of dialogue to end a months-long political crisis. Tebboune, a former prime minister who casts himself as a reformer, was elected last week in a vote the opposition regarded as a charade intended to keep the ruling elite in power, Reuters said. The army saw Thursday’s election as the best way to end 10 months of weekly mass protests that helped oust Tebboune’s predecessor Abdelaziz Bouteflika in April. Since the election, the weekly Friday and Tuesday protests have gone ahead as…

At least five people, including three children, have lost their lives and several others sustained injuries when a car rigged with explosives went off in an area of Syria’s northeastern province of al-Hasakah, controlled by Turkish military forces and their allied militants ever since they launched a ground offensive against militants from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack took place on Thursday afternoon in Tal Halaf village, which lies west of the strategic border city of Ra’s al-Ayn. On November 26, a car bomb killed at least 17 people and wounded 20 others in…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that nothing can hold back yet another arms race and thus international security will be damaged if the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with the United States is not renewed. The Russian leader made the comments during his annual end-of-year marathon news conference in Moscow on Thursday, stressing that the US has not yet reacted to any Russian proposals over the treaty. “We are ready until the end of the year to extend the existing agreement, the New START treaty,” Putin said, adding, “But thus far there has been no answer to any of our…

Earlier Thursday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani revealed that a sanctions-happy Washington had slapped his country with over 90 sets of restrictions against the Iranian state, Iranian companies and Iranian nationals in the past year-and-a-half alone. The United States has imposed sanctions on two top judges on the Revolutionary Court, the Treasury Department said in a press release Thursday. According to the Treasury, the designations target Mohammad Moghisseh and Abolghasem Salavati, the heads of two branches of the Tehran Revolutionary Court. The judges have been added to the Treasury’s so-called ‘specially designated nationals and blocked persons list’, a listing comprising literally thousands of names and…

The move follows media reports that the majority of Lebanese lawmakers selected former education minister Diab as the candidate for the post of prime minister. Lebanon’s President Aoun has named former education minister Hassan Diab as the country’s next Prime Minister in a televised statement broadcast by Lebanese media. Aoun previously delayed a parliamentary session to appoint a new prime minister, just a week after consultations had to be similarly postponed in the wake of the withdrawal of businessman Samir Khatib from the race. Khatib had been touted as a likely candidate for the vacant position. Former Prime Minister Saad…