Author: Steven Sahiounie

Beijing has stopped allowing US Navy vessels to visit Hong Kong and “sanctioned” foreign NGOs after President Donald Trump signed a bill, which targets China over its response to anti-government protests and riots in the city. Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, said on Monday that China will no longer review requests by the American warships to dock in Hong Kong. The nation has already barred several US Navy ships from visiting Hong Kong in recent months. Hua also announced that the country has sanctioned NGOs, such as Human Rights Watch (HRW), Freedom House and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), for…

Turkish military forces have claimed the lives of at least 11 civilians, including eight children, in an artillery attack that struck near a school in the northwestern Syrian province of Aleppo.The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Monday that the shelling took place in the Kurdish-held town of Tal Rifaat as students were leaving the building and left 21 others injured. Rami Abdel Rahman, the Observatory head, said most of those killed in the attack had been displaced from the Syria’s northwestern region of Afrin, which was captured last year by Turkish troops. The strategic town of…

Russia started deliveries of the air defence systems to Turkey in July, and they are expected to become fully operational by April 2020, according to Ankara. “Turkey has to acquire those Russian S-400 defence systems – the move won’t decrease NATO’s defence capability, but will boost it instead. We’re doing it, however, not for the sake of the NATO, but to bolster our air defence”, member of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s administration Ismail Safi stated. The arms deal between Moscow and Ankara became a major concern for Washington, which urged Ankara to break the agreement and even sanctioned Turkey over the…

Despite its arguably aged military arsenal, Iran seems to be pretty good at maintaining American partrollers to keep a keen eye on what’s going on in the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, which has of late seen a number of tanker attacks. The Iranian Air Force’s museum-vintage P-3 Orion patrol planes have proved airworthy, as 11 November saw an Iran-owned Lockheed P-3F Orion pass in close proximity to the US Military Sealift Command dry-cargo vessel USNS Alan Shepard and USS Normandy, an accompanying US Navy cruiser, The National Interest reported. Navy photos captured the moment when the four-engine P-3…

By Stephen Lendman Launched cross-border on October 9, east of the Euphrates River, Turkish aggression is all about President Erdogan’s aim to annex northern Syrian territory. So-called “Operation Peace Spring” has nothing to do with peace, nothing to do with protecting Turkey from cross-border attacks, nothing to do with combatting ISIS and likeminded terrorist groups Ankara supports. Clashes continue between Ankara-backed terrorists and Syrian forces, no ceasefire as falsely declared by Turkey on October 22. Turkish forces continue ground and air attacks after the artificially declared ceasefire. According to Kurdish YPG commander Mazloum Abdi, Erdogan wants northern Syria ethnically cleansed of Kurds.…

By Margaret Griffis During November, at least 373 people were killed and 3,136 were wounded. Mass graves gave up 73 bodies as well. October saw 433 deaths and thousands more wounded. Protests continued last month, but the Iraqi government ceased giving official casualty reports in October. In November, at least 203 dead and 3,026 were wounded, according to media reports. According to Dr. Ali Albayati, a member of Iraq’s High Commission for Human Rights, the casualty numbers for the protests are likely 409 dead and 17,745 injured. These figures are from October 1 to about November 30. It is unclear how accurate they are. Many of the wounded avoid seeking medical help…

Sarah Abed, independent journalist and analyst Trade between the European Union (EU) and the Islamic Republic of Iran has dropped roughly 74.92% percent this year from January to September compared to last year during the same timeframe, due to US-imposed sanctions, according to the European statistical office. The top three trading partners in the European bloc were Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. Analysts at the European Council on Foreign Relations have described the US’s secondary sanctions as abuse of its global financial dominance. Iran’s commodities exports have fallen 94% and imports have declined 51.15%. Before the sanctions, the EU was Iran’s main trading…

The Israeli premier has been going through some tough times lately, as he is currently facing criminal charges on corruption, including bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, with three corruption cases in total. 5,000 protesters have gathered at Habima Square, Tel Aviv, demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resign, The Times of Israel reported on Saturday. The demonstrators were holding signs with slogans “Strong democracy, strong Israel” and “Netanyahu, resign, Israel is more important” written on them. According to the newspaper, the Movement for Quality Government advocacy group was behind Saturday’s rally. Ex-IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan was also captured on…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced the day that TurkStream, the 917 km pipeline across the bottom of the Black Sea, will officially be commissioned in Istanbul, capping an ambitious energy project with success. TurkStream will be operative from January 8, 2020, Erdogan said on Saturday, according to local press. Moscow had earlier confirmed that President Vladimir Putin is likely to attend the opening ceremony in the Turkish city. The pipeline runs from Gazprom’s Russkaya compressor station, located near the southern city of Anapa, all the way to the Turkish town of Kiyikoy, where it connects to other pipelines. Comprising two…

The United Nations says Israeli authorities have demolished or confiscated 39 Palestinian buildings in the occupied West Bank over the past two weeks, on the grounds that they lacked the required construction permits. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its biweekly Protection of Civilians Report on Saturday that the Israeli demolitions, which took place between November 12 and 25, led to the displacement of 63 people, and badly affected 380 others. The report added that 35 of the targeted buildings, including two which were being used for humanitarian purposes, were located in the so-called Area C. Area…