Author: Steven Sahiounie

Libyan government forces have reportedly shot down three Sukhoi fighter jets operated by rebel forces under the command of renegade general Khalifa Haftar. The Turkish state news agency Anadolu said the forces of the internationally-recognized government of Libya shot down three Sukhoi-22 warplanes on Friday, also targeting several tanks, artillery, armored vehicles, and heavy weapons belonging to Haftar’s militia. The government forces had a day earlier announced the destruction of three fuel tankers that had been on their way to supply the rebels in the south of the capital, Tripoli. The Libyan forces also said they had targeted an ammunition…

The number of Syrian militants who were killed fighting for the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya has risen to 165, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) revealed on April 5. According to the London-based monitoring group, nine militants from the Mu’tasim Division, the Sultan Murad Division, the Northern Hawks Brigade, the al-Hamza Divsion and the Suleyman Shah Brigade were killed during clashes with the Libyan National Army (LNA). “According to the observatory’s sources, the dead [militants] were killed during clashes on the axes of Salah Al-Din neighborhood south of Tripoli, the Ramla axis near Tripoli airport and…

The so-called US-led military coalition purportedly formed to fight the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group has reportedly airdropped military and logistical equipment to oil-rich areas it has occupied in Syria’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr, as Washington and some of its regional allies vie to seize oil reserves and plunder natural resources in the war-battered country. The Arabic-language Enab Baladi weekly newspaper, citing a video published by the local North Press news agency, reported that a military transport aircraft offloaded its cargo near al-Omar oil field in the eastern countryside of Dayr al-Zawr. The report noted that the operation took place late on Saturday. Back…

The Russian Defenсe Ministry’s centre for Syrian reconciliation has not registered any fire coming from militants in Idlib over the past 24 hours, the centre’s head, Rear Admiral Oleg Zhuravlev, said on Saturday. “Over the past day no instances of fire from the side of the illegal armed groups controlled by Turkey have been registered. A special round-the-clock communications channel for coordination between the Russian centre for reconciliation and the Turkish side continues to function”, Zhuravlev said at a daily briefing. Russian army planes also carried out patrols along a fixed route in northern Syria. The reconciliation centre once again…

Iran remains the country worst hit by the new virus in the Middle East, with the death toll climbing to 3,452 on Sunday. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has stated that “low-risk economic activities” will resume in the country as of 11 April amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. According to him, the move will be implemented “under the supervision” of the Iranian Health Ministry. “Two thirds of all Iranian government employees will work out of the office from Saturday […] the decision does not contradict stay at home advice by the health authorities”, Rouhani pointed out. The statement comes after he said…

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force head Qasem Soleimani was killed on 3 January, when the US military conducted a drone airstrike on Baghdad International Airport that had been authorised by President Donald Trump “aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans”. Iranian outlet Tasnim on Sunday reported that Hezbollah leader Ali Mohammed Younis was assassinated in southern Lebanon overnight. According to reports, his body was found by the side of a road with stab and gunshot wounds between the towns of Qaqiyat al-Jisr and Zutar al-Gharbiya to the south of Nabatiyeh. The reports also mention that Younis was a close…

by Oleg Burunov Late last month, the US-led international coalition’s headquarters in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh near the Syrian border was reportedly transferred to the Iraqi Army, who earlier took over several local military bases left by coalition troops. Colonel Myles Caggins, spokesman for the combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), has announced that the US-led anti-terror coalition is leaving an air base located in central Iraq. He tweeted on Saturday that “after months of planning”, at least 500 CJTF-OIR troops had departed the Taqaddum (Habbaniyah) Air Base, transferring $3.5 million in property to the Iraqi government,…

The Iraqi security forces have found a burial of Daesh* victims in the country’s western Anbar province, the Iraqi National Intelligence Service said in a statement on Sunday. “Based on accurate intelligence information, teams of the 7th military intelligence brigade together with a squad of the 29th infantry intelligence brigade destroyed a hideout of IS [Daesh] militants in Al Huda area of the Hit district in Anbar and seized a motorcycle and other materials. As a result of a thorough search in the hideout, a group burial of soldiers and civilians who were executed by IS [Daesh] gangs was discovered,”…

Iraq’s biggest Shiite armed groups announced in a joint statement that U.S. troops in the country will be dealt with as an occupation force from now on. The groups citied the U.S. refusal to withdraw its forces from Iraq and its “continues aggression” on the country as the reasons for their decision. “You [U.S. forces] have proven to everyone that you are occupation forces and that you only respect the language of force, on these bases you will be dealt with and be aware that all operations which were carried out against you were only a minor response to your…

Ankara is expected to activate the S-400s in the coming weeks, but Washington has not given up on its plans to get the much-feared weapons out of Turkey. Stick has not worked, apparently, so now is the time to offer some carrot. The United States may come to Turkey’s aid in Idlib in exchange for dropping plans to deploy Russia’s S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. United States ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison floated the idea of providing an unspecified assistance “package” during a press briefing on Wednesday. “We hope that Turkey will also not put the Russian missile defence system in their…