Author: Steven Sahiounie

Syrian government troops have retaken a village in the country’s northeastern province of Hasakah from Turkish military forces and their allied militants following intense clashes. Syria’s official news agency SANA reported that heavy skirmishes broke out on Saturday afternoon when the Turkish forces and their mercenaries launched an offensive against the village of Um Shuaifeh near the border with Turkey. The report added that the battles involved heavy and medium weapons, noting that Syrian army soldiers finally managed to liberate the village and establish full control over it. They forced Turkish forces and their allies to retreat towards the village of…

Steven Sahiounie, political commentator Nearly 300 protestors in Iraq have been killed, and 9,800 wounded since protests began on October 1.  Security forces have cracked down on protestors while using live ammunition, rubber bullets, and tear gas.  The protests have been held in various locations across the country, but have been absent in the North.  The protestors are demanding an end to systematic government corruption which will need a rewrite of the constitution and new leadership, including a new parliament.  Iraq has the world’s second-largest reserves of crude oil, while the protestors have complained of poverty conditions, and lack of…

Earlier, amid repeated claims by President Trump that Washington would be “securing” and “keeping” Syria’s oil, US media reported that as many as 800 US troops would be kept in the war-torn country to keep the black gold out of the hands of both Daesh (ISIS)* and Damascus, the oil’s legitimate owner. US claims to Syria’s oil fields are absolutely illegitimate and have no basis in international law, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said. “They [the US] acknowledge and openly state that they are present there [in Syria] because of oil fields. No one has a right to Syrian…

Sixty-nine Palestinian nationals have been injured during the ongoing protests near the Israeli border in the Gaza Strip, Gaza Health Ministry Spokesman Ashraf Qidra has stated. “Sixty-nine Palestinians have been injured today in clashes with the Israeli troops on the border of the Gaza Strip, 29 of them have received gunshot wounds”, Qidra said. The march’s committee has announced that next week demonstrators would chant slogans in support of extending the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East’s mandate. On 1 November, Palestinians held protests near the Gaza border, timed to an anniversary of the…

A barrage of 17 rockets have come down near an Iraqi airbase housing American forces in the Arab country’s north, causing some material damage but no casualties. Iraq’s Armed Forces released a statement, saying the incident took place near the outpost in the town of Qayyarah in Iraq’s Nineveh Province on Friday. No person or group has claimed responsibility for the incident. The United States invaded Iraq in 2003 on the second leg of its so-called war on terror, which had it first stage a no-holds-barred attack against Afghanistan. Unremitting violence continue to plague both countries since then, with anti-American…

Turkey will not leave Syria until other countries pull out, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying on Friday. He also said that Ankara will continue its cross-border offensive against Kurdish fighters until every one of them has left the region, Reuters reports. “We will not let up until every last terrorist leaves the region,” Erdogan said, referring to the YPG, the main component of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which Ankara views as a terrorist organization. Speaking to reporters on a flight home from Hungary, Erdogan also said that Turkey “will not leave here until the other countries get…

Iranian air defense forces have shot down a foreign drone near the port city of Mahshahr, Iranian media reported, showing alleged footage of the intercept as proof. The US Central Command said it didn’t lose any of its UAVs. The drone was taken down on Friday by an Iran-developed Mersad surface-to-air missile, the Iranian Mehr news agency reported. Alleged footage of the takedown released by the Iranian side showed a missile being fired, followed by an explosion. Gholamreza Shariati, the governor of the Khuzestan province where Mahshahr is located, said a wreck of the drone was recovered from the marshlands…

The United States has offered up to $6 million in rewards for information about two senior al-Qaeda* terrorist group leaders, the State Department announced in a release. “The US Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) Programme is offering a reward for information on two senior al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leaders”, the release said. “RFJ is offering up to $6 million for information leading to the identification or location of Sa’ad bin Atef al-Awlaki and up to $4 million for information leading to the identification or location of Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi”. The State Department said al-Awlaki is…

Nationwide protests in Iraq erupted in October and have since escalated. People are demanding the government’s dismissal, as well as economic reforms, better living conditions, social welfare and an end to corruption. According to Iraqi authorities, cited by Reuters, local security forces on Thursday killed at least four people during a break up of a sit-in protest in the southern city of Basra. Earlier in the day, a security source said that at least 10 people, including four medical personnel, had been killed in the past 24 hours during the ongoing mass anti-government demonstrations in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.…

United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen says the opening round of talks aimed at finding a political solution to the ongoing conflict in Syria has been “better than expected”, with a new round due to be held in Geneva later this month. Speaking at a news conference at the end of the first round of the Constitutional Committee on Friday, Pedersen said, “I believe it has gone much better than most people would have expected.” He added that the committee discussed many key issues, including Syria’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and fighting terrorism, without elaborating. The UN envoy noted that discussions…