Author: Steven Sahiounie

Syrian President Bashar Assad has issued a decree granting amnesty and commuting sentences for all crimes committed before Sept. 14 this year, a move which could see thousands of prisoners released across the conflict-torn Arab country. According to Syria’s official SANA news agency, the Sunday’s decree by the presidency would reduce the death penalty to life sentence with hard labor, and life sentences to 20 years, among other punishments. The pardon would include freeing some prisoners detained under a 2012 “terrorism law.” Those imprisoned under the 2012 law over “conspiracy” or failing to inform the authorities of an act of “terrorism”…

US President Donald Trump has confirmed the death of Hamza bin Laden, the son of al-Qaeda’s dead leader Osama bin Laden. Trump said in a statement released by the White House on Saturday that bin Laden was killed in a counter-terrorism operation near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The young bin Laden, who was around 30 years old, had emerged as a high profile member of al-Qaeda and a possible candidate for the leadership of the terrorist group “The loss of Hamza bin Ladin not only deprives al-Qaeda of important leadership skills and the symbolic connection to his father, but undermines important…

BY SUSAN DIRGHAM In pursuing the truth about the war in Syria, we could begin by examining a pivotal month in the war: August 2013. In doing so, we may come to realize that supporting the people of Syria might require us to re-assess our assumptions about the war, our allies’ actions in the war, and the direction of our government’s foreign policy. Pursuing the truth might put us in step with millions of Syrians who may or may not support the current president but who definitely don’t support the US and UK foreign policies toward their country, nor support…

raq’s security forces detained six terrorists, who planned to carry out an attack against Shiite Muslims during the annual pilgrimage of Arbaeen, the organization’s press service said on Saturday. “The security services of the city of Samarra [north of Baghdad] were able to detain a network of terrorists consisting of six criminals planning an attack during the pilgrimage of Arbaeen,” the statement read. Earlier, the Baghdad Operational Command reported that 78 people have been detained in Iraq since August on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks during the Shiite Ashur holiday, celebrated earlier in September. The Shiite Arbaeen pilgrimage will take…

Tunisia is holding a presidential election this weekend, with 7 million registered voters choosing a new leader from among 26 candidates. Sunday’s first-round vote is only the second democratic presidential election Tunisia has had since its “jasmine revolution” brought down Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011 and triggered the Arab Spring uprisings across the region. Amid accusations of smear campaigns and corruption, there’s no clear front-runner. However, PM Youssef Chahed, jailed media magnate Nabil Karoui, and Abdelfattah Mourou of the moderate Islamist party Ennahdha are receiving attention, AFP said. Chahed’s main competitor is his own defense minister, Abdelkrim Zbidi,…

 A group of assailants from a militant sleeper cell reportedly attacked a Syrian police station in the western countryside of the Daraa Governorate on Saturday. According to a military report from Daraa, the assailants, who were believed to be members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), attacked the police station in the large town of Nawa, causing several casualties as a result of the attack. A source told Al-Masdar that the assailants used assault rifles and hand grenades in their attacks, which included a number of checkpoints near the town of Nawa. The Free Syrian Army and Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham…

A senior Russian official has said that his country and Iran are devising joint schemes that could protect financial transactions between the two from sanctions imposed by third parties. Presidential aide Yury Ushakov told reporters on Friday that among those measures would be to launch more coordination between Iran’s SEPAM, the main messaging system used by banks in the country, and its Russian equivalent, to facilitate settlement of payments. Ushakov said the interaction would allow banks in the two countries to circumvent sanctions imposed by other countries, a clear reference to the United States. “To protect bilateral trade and economic…

During an attack on Friday, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) nearly struck a Turkish observation post in the southern countryside of the Idlib Governorate, a source from the military told  the Media According to the source, the Syrian Arab Army was heavily shelling the southern region of Idlib, when their forces nearly hit the Turkish observation post that was located just north of the Hama Governorate. The source said the Turkish military informed the Russian Armed Forces about the incident that took place on Friday, as it was the first time the Syrian Arab Army nearly hit an observation post…

Experts say critical oil supplies lost due to Yemeni attacks on Saudi Arabia’s production plants can only be compensated if the United States eases its sanctions on sale of crude by Iran. Sandy Fielden, an analyst at Morningstar, a global financial services firm based in the US, said on Saturday that the current oil stocks in Saudi Arabia, the biggest oil exporter in the world, would not suffice to compensate for a loss of around 5 million barrels per day (bpd) that could be caused by attacks earlier in the day targeting the kingdom’s vital oil facilities located east of…

The US Department of Defence is going to send around 150 troops to northeastern Syria to carry out joint patrols with Turkey, US media has reported. The move will be part of a series of military and diplomatic steps, taken by the United States over recent weeks to ease tensions in relations with Turkey due to Washington’s ongoing support for Kurdish units, operating in northern Syria, The New York Times reported on Thursday. US military and diplomatic officials have refused to comment on the issue. The United States currently has less than 1,000 troops in Syria, who are involved in fighting the remnants of…