Author: Steven Sahiounie

Steven Sahiounie, political commentator Note: this is part 2 of a 2 part investigation of the FSA, Turkey and their connection to the murder of a Syrian Priest and his father. In part 1 of this investigation, we learned about Father Hovsep Bedoyan, the head of the Armenian Catholic community in Qamishli, and the priest’s father, Abraham Bedoyan, who was killed November 11, on the road leading from Qamishli to Deir Ez Zor, were they were headed to check on the rebuilding of the Forty Martyr’s Armenian Apostolic Church in Deir Ezzor, which was destroyed in 2014 by terrorists who…

Protesters in the Iraqi city of Najaf have stormed the Iranian consulate and burned the building to the ground. The destruction comes after two months of continuous protests in Iraq, during which 350 people have died. A crowd of protesters lit the building ablaze on Wednesday. Diplomatic staff within managed to escape beforehand, Reuters reported. After attempting to disperse the crowd, authorities in Najaf issued a curfew. Video footage shared on social media shows protesters cheering as the building went up in flames, smoke spewing out of the walled compound housing the consulate. Among their many grievances, the protesters claim…

Nearly a dozen African refugees have lost their lives and many more sustained injuries when artillery shelling targeted an area in Yemen’s mountainous northwestern province of Sa’ada, as Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies press ahead with their military aggression against the crisis-hit Arab country. A local source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that the Saudi-led military coalition carried out heavy artillery shelling on al-Raqou area in the Monabbih district of Sa’ada province on Wednesday evening. The source added that the artillery shelling killed at least ten African refugees and injured 22 others…

By Tim Anderson Palestinians are calling for people internationally to take action against the companies complicit in Israel’s systematic demolition of Palestinian homes. This article focuses on British university partnerships with JCB, Caterpillar, HSBC and Volvo – four companies which are complicit in the home demolition policy. We also focus on six British universities: Sheffield Hallam University’s partnerships with JCB, Caterpillar and VolvoWarwick University’s partnership with JCBNMITE Hereford’s link to JCBCambridge University’s links to CaterpillarLoughborough University’s partnerships with CaterpillarUniversity College London Centre for Ethics and Law’s sponsorship from HSBC In addition 27 UK universities hold investments in HSBC (either directly or indirectly), five invest in Caterpillar and four invest in Volvo. Some of the information in this article…

Protests broke out in several provinces earlier in November over the government’s decision to suddenly increase the price of gasoline, with some of the rallies turning violent and leading to casualties among protesters and security forces. At least 8 people with alleged links to the CIA were detained by Iranian authorities amid the ongoing protests in the Middle Eastern country. “These elements had received CIA-funded training in various countries under the cover of becoming citizen-journalists,” the Iranian Intelligence Ministry was quoted as saying by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). “Six were arrested while attending the riots and carrying out (CIA)…

Despite US President Donald Trump’s repeated declarations of victory over Daesh, the US has – once again – announced a resumption in operations against the group. While the tug-of-war between the commander-in-chief and the Pentagon is apparent, one expert points out that there is one thing both parties can agree on: oil. In a Saturday press conference, US Air Force Maj. Gen. Eric Hill announced that, following operations on November 22, a US-led coalition was able to not only capture a “significant amount” of small arms, ammunition and explosives, but also detained over a dozen Daesh soldiers. “As long as Daesh…

The Lebanese armed forces have detained four men, who broke a window of a bank and attacked the offices of a political party in the western city of Tripoli during ongoing anti-government protests, the army said in a statement. “Due to the group attacking the offices of a political party and a bank branch, the army patrol has detained four people in Tripoli. One man threw a grenade at the servicemen, but it did not detonate”, the statement said. One serviceman was injured as a result of the men throwing stones at them during the time of the arrest. The…

by Oleg Burunov In an interview with Syria TV earlier in November, Bashar Assad remained downbeat about US President Trump’s announcement on the elimination of Daesh* leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The Syrian President suggested that the operation to kill al-Baghdadi was nothing but a trick, since US policymaking “is no different from Hollywood”. In an interview with the French magazine Paris Match published on Wednesday, Syrian President Bashar Assad confirmed his sceptical stance on the destruction of Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by US special forces, also quipping at President Trump’s words of thanks to Damascus for its alleged contribution to the operation.…

By Robert Fantina It has been interesting to watch the slow-moving arc of justice, or some semblance of it, at play in Israel and the United States. The trajectories of both nations has been somewhat astounding. In the United States, the past several decades, at least since the administration of Ronald Reagan, have seen the country move to a position of less tolerance for minorities, less care for the poor, more governmental policies to benefit the rich, and an ever-increasing reliance by politicians on corporate donations. Let this writer hasten to explain that the U.S. was never a place of tolerance and care…

By Simon Watkins From the moment that the U.S. re-imposed sanctions in earnest on Iran late last year, Pakistan has been looking at ways to resuscitate a deal that had been agreed in principle before the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) last May. This deal involved moving as much gas as Pakistan needs from Iran’s Asalouyeh into Pakistan’s Gwadar and then on to Nawabshah for further transit if required. At the same time, China has been in long-running discussions with Pakistan over the specific projects that Beijing wanted to place in Pakistan as part of…