Author: Steven Sahiounie

Fighters from Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement have managed to seize a ‘suspected vessel’ off the western coasts of the impoverished country in the Red Sea, but will release it once it proves to belong to South Korea after completing legal procedures, a top Houthi official says. Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the Chairman of the Supreme Revolutionary Committee of Yemen, made the remarks in an interview with Reuters on Monday. “Yemeni coast guards… are checking to see whether (the vessel) belongs to the countries of aggression or to South Korea, in which case it will be released after completing legal procedures. The…

By Sarah Abed Washington’s latest attempt to dissuade an ally from making arms deals with Russia came in the form of a letter sent on last Wednesday to Egyptian officials warning them that they could face sanctions if they continued with their $2 billion dollar Su-35 fighter jets contract. In addition to sanctions, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper warned Egyptian Defense Minister Mohamed Ahmed Zaki that “Major new arms deals with Russia would — at a minimum — complicate future U.S. defense transactions with and security assistance to Egypt,” in Wednesday’s letter. The United States sends Egypt $1.3 billion annually in military assistance.…

By Nauman Sadiq In July 2015, the security officials of Afghanistan and Pakistan were holding an important meeting in Islamabad to initiate a dialogue process with the Taliban when the Afghan National Directorate of Intelligence publicly announced that Taliban chief Mullah Mohammed Omar had died two years ago in 2013. Though the Taliban immediately announced Mullah Akhtar Mansour as Mullah Omar’s successor, who was also killed in an American drone strike a year later in May 2016 while returning to Pakistan from a visit to Iran, it transpired that for two years prior to the revelation of Mullah Omar’s death, the affairs of…

The price range for Saudi Aramco shares published on Sunday ahead of an IPO indicates that the value of the oil giant is between $1.6 trillion to $1.7 trillion, which falls short of the initial $2 trillion target. The indicative price range for about 3 billion shares that Saudi Aramco offers is between 30 riyals ($8) and 32 riyals ($8.53) per share. This would bring anywhere between $24 billion and 25.6 billion into its coffers, depending on the final price that is to be announced on December 5. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. raised $25 billion in its 2014 IPO. The…

Two Palestinian teenagers, aged 13 and 14, were seriously injured in clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Sunday, citing a Red Crescent report. “Two Palestinian teenagers were seriously injured in clashes with Israeli soldiers at the Jalazone refugee camp in the West Bank,” the report said, as quoted by the agency. The agency said, citing local sources, that Israeli forces had broken into a refugee camp and started provoking students who returned after classes, triggering clashes near the school. Earlier in the day, Palestinian border control said all checkpoints on the border…

The US Air Force strategic unmanned aerial vehicle RQ-4B Global Hawk made a many-hour reconnaissance flight off the coast of Syria, where the Russian naval base in Tartus and the Russian Hmeimim airbase are located. According to the monitoring data from PlaneRadar.ru, the drone made a series of flights near Russian bases, at times approaching them at a distance of 35–45 km. Further data showed the aircraft along the coast of Israel and Lebanon, from where it could technically observe the area of the Syrian capital of Damascus.  The flight was carried out at an altitude of about 16 thousand…

Tehran introduced quotas for petrol sales on Friday and subsequently increased fuel prices. The decision sparked protests across Iran in Mashhad, Shiraz, Ahvaz and several other cities. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has backed the government’s move to increase petrol prices that led to protests across the country. The Iranian state TV quoted Ayatollah as saying that the decision to introduce a spike in prices should be implemented. Addressing the issue of the protests, Khamenei stated that they were spurred by foreign influence. “Some people would definitely get upset over this decision… but damaging and setting fire (to property) is not something…

Libya’s internationally-recognized government, based in the west of the country, has seized a Libyan Airlines aircraft operating from Benghazi in the east. The aircraft was seized at Misrata airport after it flew there for maintenance from Benghazi’s Benina airport on Sunday. “The problem was fixed by the company’s engineers at Misrata airport and after preparing the plane for takeoff, it was stopped by Hussain Ballaou, the assistant manager of Misrata airport,” the airline’s Benghazi management said in a statement on Facebook. The carrier’s Benghazi spokesman, Ezzedine al-Mashnoun, said the incident was causing serious disruption to the flight schedule. The plane operates three flights…

A rocket has reportedly struck the heavily fortified Green Zone in the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad. The rocket attack on the zone, which houses government buildings and many foreign embassies, caused no casualties or major damage, Reuters further quoted two unnamed police sources as saying on Sunday. Diplomatic sources also said aerial bombardment sirens sounded after a blast. Citing an unnamed security source, Iraq’s Arabic-language al-Sumeria television said a rocket, whose type was unknown, hit a spot “near” the Green Zone. Iraq has been beset by public unrest since October with street protests in several Iraqi cities over unemployment and…

By Andrew Korybko The Port Of Discord Georgian banker Mamuka Khazaradze, the co-founder of the country’s largest universal bank and the man behind the Anaklia Port project, recently had a falling out with the government after being charged with money laundering and thus decided to form his own political party called “Lelo” in an attempt to unseat his opponents during next year’s parliamentary elections as revenge. This in and of itself wouldn’t be an event worthy of international attention had it not been for the fact that the US Embassy in Georgia signaled its support for him after the charges were made and reiterated that it…