Author: Steven Sahiounie

At least six people are injured after a political argument outside a mall in Hong Kong spiraled into a violent knife attack, according to local media. The assailant was beaten by bystanders and is among those hurt. A tense political dispute is said to have broken out between the suspect and a group of people in CityPlaza mall in the Tai Koo district. A person then took a knife from a bag and assaulted several individuals. One of the victims was described as lying unconscious in a pool of blood, while others sustained only minor injuries. The assailant was stopped by…

BY ERIC ZUESSE Clear and convincing evidence will be presented here that, under U.S. President Barack Obama, the U.S. Government had a detailed plan, which was already active in June 2013, to take over Russia’s main naval base, which is in Sevastopol in Crimea, and to turn it into a U.S. naval base. There can now be no question that the war in Ukraine started, and resulted from, the U.S. Government’s plan to take over all of Ukraine, and especially to take over that Russian naval base, in Crimea, which then was in Ukraine. The war in Ukraine didn’t start at…

US forces evacuated their positions alongside Syrian Kurdish militia in northern Syria last month, shortly before Turkey started a military operation in the border area, but left several hundred troops behind in the war-torn country, with President Trump recently confirming that the US would be “keeping the oil.” The Syrian Arab News Agency has published footage it says shows US military vehicles leaving Syrian territory and being transferred into Iraq at the Al Waleed border crossing point. According to SANA, the convoy included a total of 55 vehicles. Syrian media reported that a column of US troops had crossed the…

Thousands of people in Lebanon have held a rally in support of President Michel Aoun, after more than two weeks of anti-government demonstrations that ultimately forced Prime Minister Saad Hariri to step down over a troubled economy. Supporters mostly rallied outside the presidential residence, the Baabda Palace, near the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on Sunday to pay tribute to Aoun, 84, ahead of a rival rally planned in the capital to demand a complete overhaul of a political system allegedly beset by corruption. The supporters of the president, a retired general-turned-head of state, filled up a two-kilometer-long highway leading to the…

Yemeni army soldiers and fighters from allied Popular Committees have killed at least six Saudi soldiers during separate attacks in the kingdom’s southwestern border regions as part of their retaliatory raids against the Riyadh regime’s deadly campaign against their crisis-hit country. The Qatari al-Jazeera television news network reported that Yemeni forces and their allies fatally shot the troopers during different exchanges of fire over the past two days.’ Meanwhile, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the Chairman of Yemen’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee of Yemen, has sharply criticized Sudanese authorities for the participation of militiamen from the Northeast African country in the Saudi-led military aggression against Yemen.…

Earlier this week, Iraqi President Barham Salih announced that Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi agreed to resign on condition that the parties agree on his successor. One person was killed and 91 others injured during the protests in Iraq’s capital of Baghdad, the country’s security and medical sources have said. On Thursday, Iraqi President Barham Salih announced that Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi had agreed to step down following demands from protesters but provided that the country’s parties agree on his successor. Mr Salih added that he was ready to hold early elections in the country if new election legislation were to be adopted.…

Turkey says it will send foreign members of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group back to their home countries in Europe after the suspected militants were captured by the Turkish army troops during Ankara’s cross-border offensive into northeastern Syria. Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu made the remarks in a press conference on Saturday, saying that Ankara would return the captured militants to their countries of origin despite the unwillingness of European countries to take them in. “We will send the captured Daesh members to their countries,” Soylu added, complaining about European inaction on the matter. Turkish military forces and militants of…

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday approved the go ahead of the initial public offering of state oil giant Aramco, which will be announced on Sunday, five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The world’s top oil company will announce its intention to float on November 3, the sources told Reuters, adding that “the crown prince finally gave the green light.” Saudi Aramco officials and advisers have held meetings with investors throughout the past few days trying to achieve as close to a $2 trillion valuation – the largest IPO in history – as possible ahead…

Iran and Syria struck an agreement on long-term cooperation in electricity market on Saturday, with Tehran hoping to export electricity to the Arab Republic in the future, the Iranian Energy Ministry said. The memorandum of understanding was signed by Syrian Electricity Minister Zuhair Kharboutli and Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian. “We plan and intend, after creating the necessary infrastructure to implement this program, to sync power grids of Iran and Syria within three years”, Ardakanian said. He noted that, in the future, there would be a possibility of electricity transfer between Iran and Syria through Iraq. The minister recalled that Iran and…

BY KHALED ISKEF For many years, Abu Malik Cheg Cheg had been known in the south of Syria for being the biggest arms dealer, selling a variety of arms, ammunition and military equipment to all factions. Taysir al-Sharif was known as Abu Malik Cheg Cheg after he was introduced to the world of weapons trading and expanded his activities to supply the armed factions leaders with ammunition and weapons. He also had a wide network of connections with arms dealers in Syria and the region, especially Bedouin traders in Lejat known as “the Birds” who acted as brokers in arms trade…