Author: Steven Sahiounie

Almost 166,000 Syrians had to leave their homes over the past seven days because of hostilities, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Friday. “Newly displaced families continue to seek shelter in camps, makeshift sites, communal shelters, with family, friends or acquaintances,” TASS quoted UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic as saying in Geneva. “Many of them have been displaced multiple times,” he added. The UN says over 1,600 Syrian refugees have been transported from the border areas to Iraq as of Friday morning. Most of them come from the towns in northern Syria, including Kobani, Amuda and Qamishli.…

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Israel has “fundamental rights” and retains “operational freedom” to operate in Syria, adding Washington will closely watch the Iraqi-Syrian border despite withdrawing troops. “Israel has the fundamental right to engage in activity that ensures the security of its people. It’s at the very core of what nation states not only have the right to do but an obligation to do,” Pompeo told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview. Pompeo made the interview shortly after completing a two-hour meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss developments in Syria and “the continued need to counter” what he called…

Secretary General of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has expressed opposition to calls for the resignation of Lebanon’s government, vowing not to allow anyone to “burn” Lebanon and cause chaos in the country. Speaking on Saturday following days of protest rallies across Lebanon, Nasrallah expressed solidarity for recent economic and anti-corruption demonstrations in the country, saying that the Hezbollah party is “determined to work hard” to solve the country’s problems and “not allow anyone to drown this country and take it to the abyss”. Nasrallah explained that the problems in the country were “systematic” and would not be fixed by a…

By Andre Vltchek It is very popular these days to talk and write about the “trade war” between the United States and China. But is there really one raging? Or is it, what we are witnessing, simply a clash of political and ideological systems: one being extremely successful and optimistic, the other depressing, full of dark cynicism and nihilism? In the past, West used to produce almost everything. While colonizing the entire planet (one should just look at the map of the globe, between the two world wars), Europe and later the United States, Canada and Australia, kept plundering all the…

By Stephen Lendman On Thursday in Ankara, Turkish President Erdogan met with Mike Pence and Pompeo, a joint statement by both sides issued following talks. See below.  Trump regime hardliners want their imperial agenda in Syria continued, notably aiming to undermine Russian efforts to restore peace and stability to the country, along with preserving and protecting its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Turkey is playing the US and Russia cards simultaneously, Erdogan wanting all he can get both countries to agree to that serve his revanchist interests. Agreements only work when fair, equitable, and all parties fulfill their obligations. US and Turkish…

By Elijah J. Magnier The United States of America emerged victorious from the Second World War, and came out stronger than any other country in the world. The allies- notably the Soviet Union- won the war but emerged much weaker. They needed to reconstruct their countries and rebuild their economies, with the US demanding huge retrospective payments for its support. The US became a superpower with nuclear bomb capability and an imposing power of dominance. Industrial countries rebuilt in what the Germans called their Wirtschaftswunder and the French les Trentes Glorieuses, the thirty years of post-war prosperity. Meanwhile the US leveraged its prosperity to spread its…

Turkey’s second largest state bank Halkbank has slammed the United States for using sanctions related to Iran over a current standoff with Turkey on the situation in Syria. Halkbank said on Wednesday that new charges filed in a US court against the bank claiming the lender had violated Iran sanctions was an attempt to further pressure Turkey over its current military operation in Syria. “These were filed as part of the sanctions introduced against our country by the US government in response to Operation Peace Spring,” said the bank of the military operation which was launched early last week in an…

Turkey has agreed to temporarily halt its military operation against Syria’s Kurdish-led militias, allowing them to withdraw from the country’s border, US Vice President Mike Pence said during a visit to Ankara. “Today the United States and Turkey have agreed to a ceasefire in Syria,” Pence said during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The ceasefire between the Turkish military backed by affiliated militants and the Kurdish-led fighters is set to last 120 hours, according to Pence. This time will be spent on the withdrawal of the Kurdish forces from the 20-mile strip along the Syrian…

French General Dominique Trinquand analyzed the situation of his country’s troops present in Syria. Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, the conflict has been marked by the presence and operations of various foreign forces. Among these forces are French troops, in a new chapter of Paris’s historical interest in Syria. During the civil war, France supported opponents of the Assad government. With the recent start of the Turkish operation Fountain of Peace, France has joined the group of countries that criticize Ankara’s activity in Syria. Commenting on the situation of French forces in Syria in an interview with…

By Elijah J. Magnier President Donald Trump has given the orders to begin a “deliberate withdrawal” of his troops and end the occupation of north-east Syria (NES). This is accelerating the race between the Turkish and the Syrian forces to control NES. Turkey is in a rush to establish its 30-35km wide safe zone on the borders with Syria in the US-occupied north-east territory, currently under the control of the Syrian Kurdish separatists. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is aware of the pressure his US ally, President Donald Trump is under for approving this operation, an operation which has made Trump even more unpopular…