Author: Steven Sahiounie

Sixty-six Iraqi security officers have been put on trial over the excessive use of force in dispersing protesters, government spokesman Saad Hadisi, said amid unrest in the Middle Eastern country. On Thursday, the spokesman said live on Al Arabiya that “1,600 demonstrators arrested for participating in protests have been released and 66 security officers faced trial”. The UN Human Rights Council said last week that at least 269 people had been killed in the protests. Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said that he would carry out a cabinet reshuffle and introduce changes to election laws. Mahdi said that the government’s…

by Tim Korso Lebanon has recently been rocked by weeks-long protests over the government’s plans to introduce a tax on online calls made via the WhatsApp messenger, leading to the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil has stated that former Minister of Finance Mohammad Ahmed Safadi has agreed to assume the post of prime minister in a new government, Lebanese MTV reported. Bassil further praised Safadi as an appropriate person to occupy the position, although his candidacy has yet to be approved by the country’s major political factions. The foreign minister said that consultations on the…

Iraq’s prominent Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has called on legislators to promptly introduce a fair electoral law that would restore people’s faith in elections in the wake of weeks of protests in the capital Baghdad and a host of southern cities. “No one can give the government legitimacy but the people… Passing a law that does not provide this opportunity to voters would not be acceptable or useful,” Ayatollah Sistani said in a statement read out by his representative Abdul Mahdi al-Karbalaei during a sermon in the holy city of Karbala on Friday. In a statement on Saturday,…

Syria’s Ambassador to the United Nations Bashar al-Jaafari says Takfiri terrorist groups operating in the northwestern province of Idlib continue to take civilians as human shields, stressing that it is the Damascus government’s duty to purge the area of their presence. Speaking at a UN Security Council session on the situation in the Middle East, Jaafari argued that whilst some members of the world body were hindering the efforts being made by the Syrian government and its allies to fight Daesh and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as al-Nusra Front, terrorist groups, others bragged about an alleged operation that led to the death of…

New figures from a US military watchdog group have tallied the incredible costs of the US war on terror since September 11, 2001, finding that well over $6 trillion have been dropped on dozens of conflicts in which some 800,000 people have died. “Since late 2001, the United States has appropriated and is obligated to spend an estimated $6.4 trillion through Fiscal Year 2020 in budgetary costs related to and caused by the post-9/11 wars,” the Costs of War Project reported in a November 13 paper. The Brown University-based project went on to note that the cost figure comprises “an estimated $5.4…

Every year, on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, references are made with the Cypriot capital of Nicosia, the last divided capital city of Europe. In Berlin, the wall fell under the weight of a political cosmogony and pressure from citizens, who dismantled the wall with their hands, hammers and other tools until Berlin was once again united. However, the partition of Germany and the division of Cyprus did not have the same starting point. Germany was divided between a communist east and a capitalist west after the Nazis were defeated by Soviet forces after the Battle…

Syrian state media is reporting that government forces have started deploying in areas close to the Turkish border in the northeast. Troops are deploying between the towns of Jawadiyeh and Malkiyeh, also known as Derik, according to SANA. The deployment began on Thursday, and Syrian border guards will be positioned at six points near to the border, state TV reported. The deployment is part of a deal reached between Russia and Turkey last month along much of the northeastern boundary that seeks to ensure Kurdish fighters leave the area, AP said. Russia and Turkey began joint patrols along a narrower…

Saudi Arabia is intensifying informal talks with the Houthi movement on a ceasefire in Yemen, Reuters reported sources familiar with the discussions as saying. Negotiations were launched in Jordan in late September, the sources said, with Riyadh taking sole responsibility for military efforts by the Arab alliance fighting in Yemen after the exit of its main partner, the United Arab Emirates. The discussions reportedly began after the Houthis offered to halt cross-border missile and drone attacks on Saudi cities if the Saudi-led coalition ended airstrikes on Yemen. A source said that “discussions on finalizing the security pact are moving very quickly…

By Paul Antonopoulos General Mohammad Baqeri paid tribute to the country’s missile system architect in a birthday speech. In recent years, amid a decades-old arms embargo by Western countries, Iran has created a wide range of internally designed ballistic and cruise missile systems, with officials repeatedly warning that these weapons would be widely used if Iran experiences any aggression. Iran owes its missile capabilities largely to the late Revolutionary Guards aerospace commander and ballistic missile designer Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Maj. Mohammad Baqeri said on Tuesday. “The efforts of the martyr Tehrani-Moghaddam have paid off and made…

by Tim Korso Islamic Jihad fired dozens of rockets at southern Israel after the country’s armed forces killed Baha Abu al-Ata, a senior commander in the organisation, in a strike on his home. Despite the two sides reportedly negotiating a ceasefire on 14 November, the Israel Defence Forces and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement have continued to exchange strikes for a third day in a row. Here is what you need to know about Palestinian Islamic Jihad and its history of confrontation with the Jewish state: Group’s Origins and Goals The group was founded by three Palestinian students, Fathi Shaqaqi, Abdul Aziz…