Author: Steven Sahiounie

The death toll in Israeli air strikes on Syria has risen to 52, including 38 government soldiers and seven members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, a war monitor said Saturday.Friday’s strikes fueled concerns of a wider regional conflagration.They targeted “a rocket depot belonging to Lebanon’s Hezbollah” near the Aleppo airport in northern Syria, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.It was the latest deadly raid on Iran-backed forces in Syria, where Hezbollah has been backing the government in its fight against opponents since the 2011 Syria civil war erupted.Israeli strikes on targets in Syria have increased since Israel’s war…

The Russian Emergencies Ministry’s department in the Moscow Region has revised the number of people injured in last week’s terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall upward to 551. “As of 6:00 a.m. Moscow time (3:00 a.m. GMT – TASS) on March 30, 2024, there were 695 casualties, including 15 children, in the terrorist attack, of whom 144 people, including five children, have been killed,” the ministry said in a statement. Health officials told TASS that the majority of people hurt in the attack have been receiving outpatient treatment. On the evening of March 22, a terrorist attack targeted the music…

Employees of over 130 diplomatic missions took part in the mourning flower laying ceremony on at the makeshift memorial at the Crocus City Hall in remembrance of the victims of March 22 attack on March 30, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in its state protocol. “The memorial event was attended by heads and employees of over 130 diplomatic missions (over 250 people)” the message reads. “We are deeply grateful to honorable representatives of the diplomatic corpus for their solidarity with the Russian people at such a difficult hour.” The mourning ceremony, which started with a minute of silence, was attended…

A new report says the administration of US President Joe Biden has authorized the transfer of billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets to Israel in recent days amid the regime’s genocidal war against the Palestinians in Gaza. Pentagon and State Department officials said the new arms packages include more than 1800 bombs, The Washington Post reported. According to the report, these are 2000-pound devices that can demolish entire city blocks and are rarely used in populated areas. Israel, however, has used them extensively in Gaza. Some Democrats, including allies of President Biden, say the US government has a responsibility to…

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Friday welcomed the order by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) asking for additional provisional measures, including “unhindered provision” of aid to Gaza. In a statement, OIC stressed the need to immediately implement these measures, providing basic services, humanitarian aid, and medical supplies to Palestinians across the Gaza Strip. OIC called on the member states of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to pressure Israel to implement the court’s orders as well as the UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire. On Thursday, the ICJ urged…

During a telephone call tonight, the President of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev, congratulated President Mahmoud Abbas on the holy month of Ramadan. During the call, President Abbas briefed his Bulgarian counterpart on the latest developments in the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, especially in the Gaza Strip, emphasizing the urgent need to immediately halt the genocidal war waged against the Palestinian people. President Mahmoud Abbas emphasized the necessity for international intervention to establish mechanisms for the entry of humanitarian, relief and medical assistance into the Gaza Strip at scale, in order to prevent the forced displacement of its population.…

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has announced another reshuffle in his presidential office. Among other officials, Zelensky dismissed Sergey Shefir from the post of his first aide, while Alyona Verbitskaya was removed from the position of the country’s ombudswoman for the rights of prisoners of war and a presidential adviser, according to decrees published on the Ukrainian president’s website. Shefir is believed to be an old friend of Zelensky. According to media reports, he was responsible for Zelensky’s daily schedule. Shefir is the head and founder of Kvartal-95 Studio. On Friday, Zelensky fired two other presidential office officials and dismissed the…

Japan is preparing to resume funding to the UN’s crisis-hit Palestinian refugee agency, which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, the government said.Once the sixth-largest contributor to the agency, Japan joined more than a dozen countries in pausing funding after Israel claimed that 12 of UNRWA’s 13,000 Gaza employees were involved in the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attack.Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa met with UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini in Tokyo to discuss the agency’s measures to strengthen governance and transparency. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement: “Japan and the UNRWA confirmed that they will advance final coordination about necessary efforts…

The United States has welcomed the formation of a new Palestinian autonomy government, signaling it is accepting the revised Cabinet lineup as a step toward Palestinian political reform.The Biden administration has called for “revitalizing” the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority in hopes that it can also administer the Gaza Strip once the Israel-Hamas war ends. The war erupted nearly six months ago, triggered by an Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.In a statement late Friday, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the United States looks forward to working with the new group of ministers “to deliver on credible reforms.”“A…

Several Palestinian citizens were killed and others sustained injuries this morning in an Israeli shelling that targeted the premises of the Al-Shujaiya Sports Club, located east of Gaza City. WAFA correspondent reported that at least 10 civilians were killed and 30 others injured as Israeli drones carried out the attack on the Al-Shuja’iya Sports Club, located east of Gaza City. Additionally, five civilians were reported killed, with 20 more wounded, in another Israeli airstrike targeting the Gaza Industrial Zone, also east of Gaza City. Simultaneously, Israeli occupation forces shelled the southwestern areas of Khan Yunis city, south of the Gaza Strip,…