Author: Steven Sahiounie

The leader of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement has warned Saudi Arabia about the consequences of its ongoing campaign of blockade and aggression against the country. According to a statement by the spokesman for Ansarullah, Mohammed Abdul-Salam, during a meeting with the visiting United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths in the capital Sana’a on Monday, Abdul Malik Badruddin al-Houthi highlighted the fact that the Saudi military option had miserably failed to advance peace and security in the region. The Ansarullah leader also urged an end to the conflict and the lifting of the blockade, while calling for a solution…

by ROBERT FISK Burning tires do not a revolution make. The pictures are good, the television footage dramatic. Brave words sound good, but soundbites don’t bring down governments. Certainly not the Lebanese government, whose sectarian elites have been running their country in a cesspit of corruption ever since the French mandate decided after the First World War that Lebanon should be a sectarian country run by dividing Christians, Sunni Muslims and Shia in a mutual pact of patriotism, fear, jealousy and distrust. (The British, remember, did the same in Palestine, Cyprus – yes, and Northern Ireland too. The French did it in Syria.) It’s not just…

The Russian military described the US scheme as nothing less than “international state banditism.” MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Russian Defense Ministry published satellite intelligence images proving that oil from Syria was sent abroad under the guard of US servicemen before and after the defeat of the Daesh terrorists, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Saturday. The ministry spokesman said that “the space intelligence images showed that oil was actively extracted and massively exported for processing outside Syria, under the reliable protection of US troops, before and after the defeat of the Daesh* terrorists.” Commenting on the satellite…

Libya’s coastguard said on Monday that it had intercepted dozens of Europe-bound migrants off the Mediterranean coast. A rubber boat with 53 African migrants was stopped off Libya’s western town of Abu-Kemmash, about 25km (15.5 miles) from Tunisia, the previous day, said the coastguard spokesman, Ayoub Gassim. The migrants were returned to shore and taken to a detention center in the capital, Tripoli, AP quoted him as saying. The EU has partnered with Libya’s coastguard and other local groups to stem the dangerous sea crossings. Rights groups say those policies leave migrants at the mercy of armed groups or confined…

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) says several columns of US forces have crossed through the al-Walid border crossing point between Iraq and Syria and been redeployed in bases in north and northeast Syria, in a reversal of President Donald Trump’s earlier order to withdraw all troops from the country. The Britain-based war monitor  said on Monday that over the past three days more than 500 US soldiers in addition to military and logistical equipment had arrived at a base located on the M4 Motorway, which runs parallel with Syria’s northern border with Turkey and links the town of Tal Tamr…

American mechanized forces have begun deploying at Syrian oil fields, ostensibly to stop the remnants of Islamic State from seizing them, and will respond with “overwhelming force” to protect them. Following the withdrawal of US forces from northern Syria earlier this month, and the killing of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Saturday night, American forces in Syria apparently have a new mission: protect the oil. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said at a press conference on Monday that American mechanized forces have already deployed to protect oil fields in eastern Syria. The mission, on its…

An Iraqi security source says two mortar rounds have hit a military base north of the country’s capital, Baghdad, where US troops are deployed. “Two rounds landed inside the Taiji base and exploded, and a third landed outside it and did not detonate,” the source said without giving any details on possible damage or casualties. No group or individual has so far claimed responsibility for the attack on the US forces’ base, which comes as a wave of anti-government protests has been sweeping major cities in the country, including the capital city. Earlier on Monday, the government imposed a curfew in the…

By Timothy Alexander Guzman Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir has recently called out Iran for its alleged “support of terrorist groups, its ballistic missile program and its destabilizing effect” in the Middle East even though Iran has not attacked a country in more than 200 years. The Saudi Gazette, an English-language online daily newspaper published in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia who describes itself as “The Tone of Truth and Moderation” reported on October 21st ‘Iranians are on a rampage — Al-Jubeir’ on a Q&A event that took place at the Chatham House, a think tank based in London with…

On 27 October, US President Donald Trump confirmed media reports that Daesh* terrorist group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died as a result of a US Special Forces operation in Syria’s Idlib province. Daesh has named a successor to Baghdadi following the US operation in Syria, Newsweek reported. Abdullah Qardash (a.k.a. Hajji Abdullah al-Afari), who was earlier nominated by Baghdadi to run the group’s ‘Muslim affairs’, is set to take over Baghdadi’s position, according to the report. Little is known about Qardash other than that he is a former Iraqi military officer who once served under late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, the report says.…

By Drago Bosnic A leading Lebanese newspaper revealed the role played by the US embassy in the October protest rallies in Iraq which turned violent. The Arabic-language al-Akhbar paper wrote on Saturday that it has gained access to a security document that shows the US mission’s role in organizing a secret formation to add fuel to the flames of unrest in Iraq last month. According to the newspaper, the US embassy has formed a high committee of protests, which coordinated field activities during the protests and the embassy provided it with intelligence and a number of politicians and government workers supported it.…