Author: Steven Sahiounie

Yemen has reported its first case of infection with the novel coronavirus in a southern province under the control of Saudi-sponsored militiamen loyal to the country’s former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. This has raised fears of an outbreak in an impoverished country where five years of a bloody campaign led by the regime in Riyadh have shattered the health system. The supreme national emergency committee for COVID-19 in Yemen said in a posting on its Twitter page on Friday that the case was diagnosed in the oil-producing Hadhramaut province. The committee said the infected patient has been identified in…

The Afghan government has reported that they released 100 Taliban prisoners on Wednesday, a move that came a day after the Taliban ended talks with them trying to secure the releases, declaring it to be a waste of time. The first releases of prisoners, 5,000 of which were promised in the US peace deal, was supposed to begin weeks ago. The Ghani government has repeatedly delayed releases since then, arguing that the Taliban can’t be trusted. The Taliban hasn’t been able to confirm the release yet, but they could either take the lesson that the Ghani government is slowly coming around, or…

Lebanese Prime Minister Dr. Hassan Diab received on Wednesday morning the Commander of the International Emergency Forces operating in southern Lebanon, General Stefano Del Cole in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Zina Akar, the Director of Intelligence in the Lebanese Army, and Brigadier Tony Mansour. “The situation is stable along the Blue Line,” Del Cole said. Diab said he “sent complaints about Israel’s violation of Lebanese airspace to the United Nations Secretariat and the UN Security Council,” stressing “the need to end Israeli violations with the help of the Security Council.” In turn, Diab expressed…

The Turkish-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) forces announced on Wednesday, the arrival of a ship from Egypt to Libya carrying military equipment for the Libyan National Army (LNA). The media center for the “Anger Volcano” operation, which is being carried out by the GNA to repel the LNA attack on the capital, Tripoli, in a brief statement via Facebook that the ship arrived from Egypt to the port of Tobruk on Wednesday. The GNA forces stated that the ship had transported “40 containers containing military supplies and quantities of ammunition” and that it had been supplied to what it…

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said a raft of US sanctions do not stop humanitarian aid from reaching Tehran, even as the UN and rights groups say the penalties are crippling Iran’s healthcare system. “I’ve heard people talking about sanctions. The world should know there are no sanctions that prevent humanitarian assistance, medical supplies, pharmaceuticals from going to Iran,” Pompeo told reporters at a White House briefing on Wednesday, adding that the US offered to send aid but Iran refused. Tehran has repeatedly slammed the US pressure campaign – which makes effectively impossible the bank transactions necessary to purchase vital supplies…

The terrorist group Islamic State has claimed responsibility for shelling a US military base near Kabul. There were no casualties reported in the incident, but the attack comes amid a sensitive prisoner exchange with the Taliban. Rockets were fired on Thursday morning from a vehicle parked in the nearby Qalacha area, a spokesman for the Afghan interior ministry said. The car burned out in the aftermath. Purported photos of the launch site showed a five-projectile rack hidden inside the luggage compartment of a charred car. The attack comes as the Afghan government proceeds with the release of Taliban prisoners agreed…

Crude prices jumped 12 percent on Thursday after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and major producers led by Russia agreed to cut output by 20 million barrels a day, according to Reuters sources. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) surged 12 percent on the report of collective cuts to $28.36 per barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude gained 8.5 percent to $35.79 a barrel. Oil prices have collapsed after OPEC+ countries disagreed on production cuts last month, with Russia refusing to lower output. In response, Saudi Arabia ramped up its production to a record high of more than 12 million barrels…

Syria has officially asked for Russia’s assistance to combat the spread of the COVID-19 disease in the Arab country, which is under rounds of crippling economic sanctions imposed by the United States. Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad said in an interview with TASS news agency on Wednesday that Damascus had asked the Russian Health Ministry for aid in order to combat the spread of COVID-19. “Syria has addressed the Russian Health Ministry with a request to provide coronavirus detection equipment, as well as protection suits, testing and observation equipment… in order to help the Syrian nation overcome the coronavirus,”…

The central laboratory in the besieged Gaza Strip has run out of necessary supplies to process COVID-19 tests, the Palestinian health ministry says, as the densely-populated enclave faces a race against time to contain the fast-growing pandemic. The ministry on Thursday warned that the absence of such supplies would lead to a large backlog of pending tests amid a battle to curb further spread of the new coronavirus. Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman for the health ministry, said that the unavailability of lab supplies to run COVID-19 tests posed a new challenge to the ministry in its efforts to combat the pandemic. He stressed that the situation…

Saudi Arabia will provide $500 million in humanitarian aid for Yemen and $25 million more to fight the spread of COVID-19, the kingdom’s Vice Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman al Saud said on Thursday. On Wednesday, state Saudi media reported that the Saudi-led coalition had put military operations on hold for two weeks. The move was welcomed by UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths. “Today, Yemen may face an even bigger disaster in case of the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, that is why the kingdom has announced the allocation of $500 million for the UN humanitarian plan on Yemen in…