Author: Mideast discourse

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is headed by Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais, who said on August 18 that the OPEC+ oil production deal wants to keep Russia part of the alliance beyond 2022. “We would love to extend the deal with Russia and the other non-OPEC producers … it’s very hard for me to imagine that the deal will not continue,” Al Ghais said. “This is a long-term relationship that encompasses broader and more comprehensive forms of communication and cooperation between 23 countries. It’s not just in terms of production adjustment,”…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator Turkish President Recip Tayyip Erdogan told reporters recently, that Ankara needs to “secure further steps with Syria.” He added, “You have to accept that you cannot stop political dialogue and diplomacy between countries. There should always be such dialogue.” Ankara’s goal, he added, was not to defeat Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu disclosed previously that he spoke with his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad, at a Non-Aligned Movement summit held in Belgrade in October 2021, in the first public high-level meeting between Turkish and Syrian government officials since 2011. In…

Vladimir Rogov earlier told that Ukrainian saboteurs, according to preliminary information, were planning to carry out a terrorist attack at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant Ukrainian saboteurs who planned to seize the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant were trained in the UK, Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the military-civilian administration of the Zaporozhye Region, said during a Rossiya-1 TV broadcast on Thursday. “Not just studied English <…> but underwent special training under the guidance of the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI-6. After that they returned to Ukraine, <..>, through Warsaw, ending up in Odessa and from there,…

A number of unmanned drones from the United States, “Israel”, and Gulf allies are aimed at targeting Tehran in the Gulf region. The US Navy, along with “Israel,” Saudi Arabia, and other Middle Eastern countries, is working to establish a network of unmanned drones to limit Iran’s military in the region; a program that the Pentagon hopes will serve as a model for operations around the world. US commanders declined to reveal the number of airborne and marine drones deployed by the US and its partners or to provide data on where and how they are employed, citing secret information.…

Early on September 1, a Chinese-made CASC CH-4 combat drone of the Iraqi Air Force (IQAF) crashed near Balad Air Base in the northern Iraqi province of Saladin. The drone crashed into a house in the town of Yathrib. The violent crash wrecked the house and started a fire. However, the residents of the house survived with some minor injuries. Iraqi security sources said that the drone was about to land in Balad Air Base when it faced a sudden technical failure. The CH-4B, which was designed to carry out reconnaissance and combat missions, has an endurance of 30 to…

Russia has launched week-long military drills involving forces from China and other nations, an exercise that shows growing defense cooperation between Moscow and Beijing as they both face tensions with the United States. The large-scale maneuvers also seem to be intended to demonstrate that Russia has sufficient military might for enormous drills even as its troops are engaged in action in Ukraine. The Russian defense ministry said the Vostok 2022 (East 2022) exercise will be held until September 7 at seven firing ranges in Russia’s Far East and the Sea of Japan, and that it involves more than 50,000 troops…

IAEA inspectors have reached the facility in Ukraine amid an escalation in fighting The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors have reached the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine amid reports of renewed shelling and combat. The Russian news agency RIA Novosti published a video of the convoy with UN experts arriving at Europe’s largest nuclear facility on Thursday. The visit comes hours after the Russian Defense Ministry accused Kiev of dispatching commandos in an attempt to seize the plant. According to Russian officials, the attack has been repelled. Russian troops took control of the facility shortly after Moscow…

The Israeli occupation forces storm the Balata and Qalandia refugee camps and kill two Palestinian youths. Two Palestinian youths were martyred at dawn, Thursday, when the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed the Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus, and the city of Al-Bireh in the occupied West Bank. According to local media, the first martyr was identified as Samer Khaled from the Balata refugee camp. Simultaneously, the IOF stormed the Um Al-Sharayet neighborhood in Al-Bireh, followed by violent confrontations, and shot dead the Palestinian youth Yazan Afana from the Qalandia refugee camp. A few days ago, 11 Palestinians were wounded by IOF fire…

Belgrade says drills on the boundary with Kosovo are “routine” as deadline looms in document dispute Serbian Army units kicked off exercises near the administrative boundary with Kosovo on Wednesday. Though their timing coincides with the deadline given by Pristina authorities for implementing the controversial ban on Serbian documents, Belgrade insists the drills are entirely routine. “The training is carried out to preserve the high level of combat readiness of the units involved, and their capability to, if needed, quickly react to establish peace and security along the administrative line,” the Serbian Defense Ministry said in a statement. “Particular attention is paid to…

Two persons were killed and three others injured in a blast that rocked Police District 17 of Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday, spokesman of the Interior Ministry Abdul Nafi Takor said. “A Toyota Corolla car, carrying explosive device, exploded in Police District 17 in today’s afternoon, killing two countrymen and injuring three others,” Nafi said on his Twitter account. Without providing more details, the official said that security personnel had reached the area and initiated an investigation. The blast coincided with the first anniversary of the withdrawal of the U.S.-led forces from Afghanistan. The Taliban-run administration celebrated the first anniversary…