Author: Steven Sahiounie

A Yemeni maritime official says the Saudi-led coalition has impounded more than a dozen ships carrying energy derivatives and food destined for the conflict-plagued and impoverished Arab country, despite the fact the vessels had earlier acquired necessary permits from the United Nations. The unnamed official at Hudaydah port told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network on Wednesday that 13 ships have been marooned at the port of Jizan in southwestern Saudi Arabia. He added that the vessels had undergone inspection by the United Nations and obtained the relevant papers. The remarks come a day after Yemen Petroleum Company announced in a statement that the Saudi-led coalition…

The Iranian consulate building in Najaf was set on fire several times last month amid protests that rocked the south of Iraq. An attack on Iran’s consulate in Najaf showed signs of being organised and was not carried out by Iraqi demonstrators, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said. “According to our information, the attack on the consulate was not perpetrated by the Iraqi people, it was an organized attack,” Rabiei said, as cited by the government information website. On Tuesday, media reported that anti-government protesters in Najaf set the Iranian consulate on fire for the third time. The consulate was first…

by Oleg Burunov Last week, Iranian General Allahnoor Noorollahi announced that Tehran is ready for “the greatest war against the greatest enemy”, adding that the Islamic Republic’s missile systems are aimed at 21 American military bases in the Middle East. CNN has cited several US defence and administration officials as saying on Wednesday that “there has been consistent intelligence in the last several weeks” indicating a possible Iranian threat against US forces and interests in the Middle East. The sources referred to alleged movement of unspecified Iranian troops and weapons that Washington fears “could be put in place for a potential attack, if…

By Dr. Barbara G. Ellis As Lebanon’s massive, countrywide, anti-government demonstrations continue, the vacuum provides time for those ardent, long suffering protesters to create the most responsive anti-austerity government in the Middle East. If any populace in that region could do it, it’s Lebanon’s well-educated, smart younger generations who predominate in the uprising. However, most of those of us who have newspapered in Beirut tend to agree with long-time (43 years ) Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk who observed that it had a classic, fatal flaw: Bring down the regime, the government, the masters of deceit, the cancerous centres of power: that is their…

By Elijah J. Magnier There is little doubt that Sayyed Moqtada al-Sadr controls the streets in Iraq and can make peaceful protests violent when he chooses. Notwithstanding the presence of several smaller players and those genuinely asking for serious reforms, Sayyed Moqtada can move the street in the direction he wants. However, the strategic objectives of Sayyed Moqtada are unknown to all politicians in Iraq, and perhaps outside Mesopotamia as well. Whoever wins a large number of MPs and the largest number of ministers has been always had the capacity to ask for the resignation of the government and its Prime Minister. He…

Tehran has said the US should offer compensation to ordinary citizens whose lives have been damaged during the violent protests openly backed by Washington. Iranians have filed more than 360 lawsuits seeking compensation from the US for the damages caused by the widespread rioting and looting during anti-government protests, as well as for other “crimes committed by the US against our nation,” judiciary spokesperson, Gholam Hossein Esmaeili, told reporters on Tuesday. Esmaeili accused Washington of inciting and supporting the unrest, stressing that American actions directly hurt ordinary Iranian citizens. The courts have awarded over $130 billion in damages to be paid by…

The US Navy has signed a $22 billion contract for the building and delivery of nine nuclear-powered attack submarines. America’s largest military shipbuilding company, Huntington Ingalls Industries, announced on Monday that its Newport News Shipbuilding division and teaming partner General Dynamics Electric Boat had been awarded their biggest contract to date. “Today’s contract maintains the Virginia-class build rate that provides continued stability to our workforce and to the 5,000 suppliers that will support submarines for the next decade,” said Dave Bolcar, Newport News’ vice president of submarine construction. Bolcar claimed the new contract would ensure America’s “national security and the…

A US drone strike against an Afghan village in Alisher, Khost Province destroyed a home, killing a family of six, including multiple children. The Khost Provincial council confirmed the incident, and criticized the matter. The Pentagon had initially claimed the incident killed three Taliban fighters, but has since confirmed that they are “aware” of reports of civilian deaths, saying they are working with local officials on this. The US killing civilians and insisting they killed fighters has been a recurring problem for decades in Afghanistan. While the Pentagon often agrees to joint inquiries into the reports of civilian deaths, they rarely publicly…

A cousin of ringleader of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was purportedly killed in a US military operation in Syria, has been captured in Iraq’s oil-rich northern province of Kirkuk. Hisham al-Hashemi, an Iraqi security analyst, wrote in a post published on his Twitter page on Wednesday that “forces from the Hawija police station had managed to arrest a Daesh commander identified as Hamed Shaker Saba’ al-Badri inside the city of Kirkuk. He is the cousin of Baghdadi and better known by the nom de guerre Abu Khaldun.” Hashemi added that Abu Khaldun was “one of the most senior Daesh leaders, who…

US President Donald Trump has criticized French President Emmanuel Macron for describing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as “brain dead”. During a meeting on Tuesday with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in London on the sidelines of a meeting of alliance leaders Trump said his French counterpart’s comments were “very insulting” and “nasty.” “I think that’s very insulting … NATO serves a great purpose,” Trump insisted. Trump said he had been “very surprised” by Macron’s “tough” statement which he regarded as “very disrespectful.” “It’s a tough statement. When you make a statement like that, that is a very, very…