Author: Steven Sahiounie

Dozens of people have staged a demonstration in Lebanon to express their resentment over the acute economic crisis in the country, as nationwide anti-government demonstrations demanding departure of the ruling elite enters its seventh week. The protesters converged outside the building of the central bank, officially known as Banque du Liban, in Hamra neighborhood of the capital Beirut on Thursday evening, accusing the bank and all financial institutions of being partly behind the economic crisis that Lebanon, one of the most heavily indebted states in the world, is grappling with. Protesters chanted slogans against Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, blaming him…

The US Navy has inadequate surveillance assets to support and protect its expanded fleet, according to a new report by The Hudson Institute, which warns that when facing Chinese forces with increasingly long ranges, US commanders will be unable to “shape the combat environment”. In naval warfare, awareness and range are key. Fleets are by their nature projections of power that contest a given area of the sea, and their commanders must be aware of everything that comes into and goes out of that zone. A new report by the conservative Hudson Institute think tank warned that the US Navy doesn’t have…

Tens of thousands of protesters in Algeria marched on Friday to demand that a presidential election next month be canceled until the old ruling guard steps aside and the army quits politics. The marches, held across the country, marked the 41st consecutive week of protests, Reuters reports. The protest movement’s continued momentum now poses a major challenge to the military, which has pushed for the December 12 election as the only way to resolve the deadlock between the authorities and the leaderless opposition movement. After protests began in February, and the army pushed veteran leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika to quit in…

A second week-long round of Syrian talks has ended without a meeting of the group of 45 delegates meant to be negotiating on the constitution, United Nations Special Envoy Geir Pedersen has said. The Syrian government and opposition co-chairs were unable to agree an agenda for the constitutional talks, the UN envoy said in Geneva on Friday. “We have been trying to reach consensus but, as I said, we are not there yet,” Reuters quoted Pedersen as saying. The talks are intended as a step forward in what the UN says will be a long road to political rapprochement, followed by elections.

by Tim Korso The US has reportedly fortified its positions by the oil fields in north-eastern Syria despite the earlier decision to reduce its military presence in the Arab Republic and criticism from Moscow, which has called the American military deployment illegitimate. US President Donald Trump has reiterated his earlier statements regarding Washington’s control of Syria’s oil fields, repeating the formula that the US should “keep the oil” at least six times in less than a minute during a speech during a surprise visit to Afghanistan on 28 November. “We also started leaving [Syria] because it’s secure, but we didn’t leave totally –…

At least 27 demonstrators have been shot dead and 152 others had been injured amid increasing protest violence in the south of Iraq and the country’s capital of Baghdad, media reported, citing sources. Al Arabiya reported that those wounded were registered in the city of Nasiriyah on Thursday. According to the outlet, 12 protesters had been killed in the city of Najaf in the authorities’ crackdown on demonstrators who set the Iranian consulate on fire in what the broadcaster called an uprising against Iraq’s Iranian-backed government. Moreover, more than 25 people had been killed by the security forces in Nasiriyah.…

Cyprus’ Foreign Ministry on Friday decried an agreement between Turkey and Libya’s UN-backed government to delineate the maritime boundaries between the two countries as a serious breach of international law. The ministry said a memorandum of understanding which the two countries signed has no legal validity and can’t undermine the rights of Cyprus or other eastern Mediterranean countries, AP reports. It also said Turkey’s “distortion” of international law doesn’t afford it any legal rights and demonstrates that Ankara “is alone in its views.” Turkey doesn’t recognize Cyprus as a state and is conducting exploratory gas drilling in waters where the…

Ankara has recently stated there is no need to continue the offensive in northern Syria, stressing, however, that the operation will continue until all its goals are achieved. Troops from the Syrian Arab Army downed a Turkish drone on Thursday, the SANA news agency reported. The reconnaissance UAV was hit during a flight over al-Hasakah Province and recovered by the Syrian military near the settlement of Hamu. The report comes amid ongoing clashes between the Syrian Arab Army and the local Ankara-backed militants, who boosted their presence in the region during Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring in October. During its offensive in northern…

The members of the Houthi movement, operating in Yemen, have shot down a Saudi helicopter near the border with Saudi Arabia, Yahya Sarea, the group’s military spokesman, said on Friday. “Yemeni air defences have been able, thanks to God, to shoot down a Saudi Apache aircraft with a new surface-to-air missile, which we will reveal later,” Sarea said in a statement, as quoted by Yemeni Almasirah media network. The incident is said to have occurred near the border with the Saudi region of Asir, which borders the northern part of Yemen. Saudi Arabia hasn’t confirmed the claims yet. Earlier in…

BY SHARMINE NARWANI Data from two foreign polls tell a very different story about protests in Iran. The economy is tough, but a majority of Iranians back their government’s security initiatives and reject domestic upheaval. On November 15, angry Iranians began pouring onto the streets to protest sudden news of a 50% fuel price hike. A day later, peaceful demonstrations had largely dissipated, replaced instead by much smaller crowds of rioters who burned banks, gas stations, buses and other public and private property. Within no time, security forces hit the streets to snuff out the violence and arrest rioters, during which…