Author: Steven Sahiounie

The Syrian and Russian air forces carried out several airstrikes in the Arba’een Mountain region of Idlib last night, hitting a number of jihadist targets near the city of Ariha. A Sputnik News field source has now revealed what the Syrian and Russian air forces were targeting in Idlib. “The joint Syrian-Russian aircraft carried out before midnight on Sunday, a series of airstrikes on sites belonging to HTS gunmen in Jabal al-Arbaeen south of Idlib. The source said that the reconnaissance planes were able to detect the movements of the HTS gunmen when they were working to transport shipments of…

The Kremlin reiterated Russia’s position which calls for avoiding any action that could conflict with or hinder the political solution for the crisis in Syria. This came during a press conference on Monday, in a response by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov to a question about the Turkish aggression on Syrian territory. Peskov said that since the beginning, Russia has been reiterating on all levels its absolute rejection of any action that could conflict with or hinder the political solution for the crisis in Syria or could cause tension in it, asserting that this position hasn’t changed. He also noted that…

UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres said that the Turkish aggression on Syrian territories has forced nearly 160 thousand citizens to leave home. “The Turkish aggression on Syrian territories led to the displacement of 160 thousand persons,” Guterres said in a statement on Monday, calling for “an immediate decrease of escalation” and allowing the delivery of humanitarian aid without any obstacles. He expressed deep concern over escalating the situation in northern Syria, fearing the escape of terrorists from Daesh organization.

President Donald Trump earlier shared that he has been working with both aisles of the US Congress to hit Turkey with “powerful” sanctions over its military operation, which started on 9 October and targets Syrian Kurds. Washington may impose sanctions against Turkey for its offensive in northern Syria on 14 October with the related documents simply waiting for US President Donald Trump’s approval, Bloomberg reported, citing several anonymous sources. The planned sanctions were drafted by the Departments of State, Defence, and the Treasury over the weekend with the intent for them to be ready by Monday, the news agency added. The…

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the country is ready to restart nuclear talks with the member states of the P5+1 group if the United States removes all sanctions it has re-imposed on Iran after Washington quit a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran last year. Rouhani made the remarks in a press conference with domestic and international media outlets in Tehran on Monday. Answering a question about the possibility of talks between Tehran and Washington if the impeachment of US President Donald Trump leads to his dismissal and a new president takes office at the White House, he said Iran’s problem…

By Matthew Ehret For many years, the west has experienced an unfortunate drought of genuinely nationalist leaders. Where the concept of national sovereignty had once been considered a sacred component of a political leader’s mandate, decades of technocratic governance from above, monetarism and consumerism from below and asymmetric wars abroad has caused the word itself to be dragged through the mud of insanity. Somehow, over the years since WWII, the word “nationalism” increasingly became associated with “authoritarianism”, “fascism” and “isolationism”. If one were to be respected in polite society, to be associated with “nationalism” was political death for any sophisticated statesman.…

European Union foreign ministers must again condemn Turkey’s offensive in Syria and call for an arms embargo on Ankara, France’s top diplomat said on Monday. “This offensive is going to cause serious humanitarian devastation,” Jean-Yves Le Drian said as he arrived for a meeting with his EU counterparts in Luxembourg. The EU must also request that the United States hold a meeting of the coalition against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), Le Drian added. “France expects from this meeting… a specific demand to end the offensive,” according to the minister.

Steven Sahiounie, Middle East observer The US and Russian military officers met late last night in Al Farat, a small village north of Manbij, northeast of Aleppo, according to media ‘Al Mayadeen’.  The purpose of the meeting was to coordinate military movements in the area. As a result, the US military removed equipment from Manbij to an unknown location.   According to eyewitnesses, who reported to the Russian media ‘Sputnik’, 4 US military vehicles left Manbij traveling toward Al Golan Bridge, which connects Manbij with Ayn al Arab (Kobane). Analysts believe this paves the way for a major Syrian Arab…

Around 100 people have escaped from a camp guarded by Syrian Kurdish-led security forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Those who have escaped are women affiliated with Isis, the monitoring group said. There is a state of “anarchy” inside the Ain Issa camp, according to SOHR director Rami Abdulrahman, citing sources inside the holding facility. On Friday, five Isis fighters broke free from a jail in northeast Syria, amid Turkish shelling. Turkey last week launched ‘Operation Peace Spring,’ in northern Syria, after the US effectively green-lit the offensive. Kurdish authorities have maintained they are unable to monitor such…

Some 100,000 people have left their homes in northeastern Syria with a growing number staying in shelters and schools following this week’s Turkish military incursion in the region, the UN said on Friday. The autonomous Kurdish administration in northeast Syria said it started evacuating a camp housing 7,000 displaced people to protect them from Turkish shelling, AFP reported. The Mabroka camp, 12km (7 miles) south of the border, was hit by shelling “which posed a direct threat to the lives of more than 7,000 displaced people,” according to the statement. The civilians are due to be transferred to a camp known as…